Serving Crazy With Curry B [Paperback]

Malladi Amulya (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2004

On the morning Devi decides to take her life, fate conspires against her. Fate in the form of her mother, Saroj, who uses her spare key to let herself into her youngest daughter's apartment when she thinks she's at work. But, having lost yet another job, and knowing she will never live up to the example her oldest sister has set her as a traditional Indian wife, Devi had decided to take the easy way out. But it seems she can add suicide to her list of failings. But whilst Saroj insists on telling the world that it was she who saved her daughter's life, Devi isn't sure what she's been saved for. Forced to move back in with her parents until she is strong enough to resume her life, she adopts a vow of silence. Instead, she begins to cook. Wild, crazy concoctions that are so delicious the family is drawn again and again to the table. As Devi's silence grows, so does her family's bewilderment at her behaviour. Tension builds and others begin to talk. And secrets are revealed that rock the family to its core...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In Malladi's third novel, following A Breath of Fresh Air (2002) and The Mango Season [BKL Ap 15 03], the characters keep referencing "bad Hindi movies." Indeed, the plot of this very readable novel does resemble something out of Bollywood, but the characters are drawn so clearly and strongly that readers will immediately be taken by the triumphs and tribulations of the Veturi family. Devastated after being fired from her job at a Silicon Valley startup and suffering a miscarriage, Devi feels she has strayed far outside the expectations of her traditional Indian family and attempts to commit suicide. However, her intrusive mother, a continual source of aggravation for Devi, saves her life. Devi then moves in with her parents, but she refuses to speak, taking up cooking instead. Channeling all her emotions into the elaborate meals she prepares, Devi prompts her family to engage in a series of completely honest conversations that draw all of them closer to each other. A reading-group guide is bound into this heartfelt novel, which also provides a candid snapshot of fractious mother-daughter relationships. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

“A feast of a book, sizzling with the humor and tensions that bind its characters together. Amulya Malladi’s writing is as hot as her protagonist’s fiery cooking.”
–GEMMA TOWNLEY, author of When In Rome… and Little White Lies

“Reading this is like spending time with a warm, witty, and honest friend. Malladi isn’t afraid to tackle the big issues head-on, and above all this is a life–and love–affirming book.”
–SARAH SALWAY, author of The ABCs of Love

“A refreshingly candid portrayal of the Indian immigrant experience in America. At times darkly comic, at others profoundly moving, the characters will linger in your mind long after you turn the final page.”
–KAVITA DASWANI, author of For Matrimonial Purposes --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Hb/Tpb (December 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749935197
• ISBN-13: 978-0749935191
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,862,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in 1974 in a small town, Sagar in central India. I grew up in India and left for the United States when I was 20 years old armed with a bachelor's degree in engineering. My first stop was Memphis, Tennessee and I absolutely loved it there. Despite personally knowing people who got mugged around campus, I don't remember being afraid, and remember that time as a fun one. I got a master's degree in journalism and found myself in the bustle of Silicon Valley with a job as an online editor with a start up in San Francisco. I had fun! I lived in the SF Bay Area for several years before moving to Denmark in 2002. My husband is Danish, so wanted to give Europe a try once we had children. I live near Copenhagen with my husband and two sons; and recommend the city in the summer and fall...okay, maybe not the fall...just for the summer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My FAVORITE Book by Amulya Malladi! Serving Up a GREAT Read!, June 19, 2005

By 

benbrattlover (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Serving Crazy with Curry (Paperback)

I learned out about this WONDERFUL book by Amulya Malladi, entirely by accident. I just happened to be checking out books along the themes of Jhumpa Lahiri, and other Indian, or Indian-American authors when I came across "The Mango Season".

After reading "The Mango Season" which I liked, I looked to see what other books she had written, and then I checked out her other 2 books.

Out of ALL the books by Amulya Malladi, "Serving Crazy with Curry" is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!

"Serving Crazy with Curry" is about an Indian-American woman, Devi Veturi, who after losing her job in a Silicon Valley company, and suffering a miscarriage, which even her own family did not know about, ponders her life, and then decides to kill herself.

Before taking the final steps to end her life, having been up all night worrying about her decision, Devi calls her father, Avi, which ostensibly is an obvious cry for help, as she calls him pretty early for a weekend morning.

In an effort to put off her decision to commit suicide, Devi calls her father, hoping that in talking to him, he will make things better, but knowing deep down that he can't. She realizes that everything that has happened to her is her own fault, and she can only deal with it as only she knows how.

So with tears brimming in her eyes, and hearing her family in the background, Devi talks to her father, never letting on about all the problems in her life, just telling him that everything is fine before hanging up, and going ahead with her decision.

However, Devi's plans to end her life are quashed when she is saved by the last person in the world she wants to see......her mother.

Saroj, who has been a constant source of pain, and aggravation for Devi, keeps a spare set of keys to her daughter's home, and she has a habit of often dropping by unannounced, and uninvited. Saroj just happens to come over, probably because of mother's intuition or a sixth sense, and finds her daughter lying in her bathtub in a pool of blood. Unconscious Devi is rushed to the hospital by ambulance, where she is joined by her mother, father, sister, Shobha, her husband, Girish, and her grandmother, Vasu.

Once Devi finally wakes up, she refuses to speak, and when she is discharged from the hospital, her parents bring her home to recuperate, and force her to move in with them until she is fully well. Devi remains mute, instead expressing herself through cooking.

Commandeering the kitchen from her mother, who never before had allowed any of her family members to cook anything in "her kitchen", Devi starts cooking with gusto, and not content making regular food, she starts coming up with wacky variations on Indian classics like Blueberry Chicken Curry, and Cajun Prawn Biryani. Soon, the rest of the Veturi family realize that Devi has a talent for cooking, unrecognized before, and now family meals are no longer obligations. Devi's parents, sister and brother-in-law, can't get enough.

Also as part of her therapy, Devi starts writing in a journal, communicating her thoughts and emotions through her recipes, and as she slowly begins to recover and heal, a dark secret starts to emerge, and as one marriage finally collapses, the love is rekindled in another marriage once believed to be on its last legs.

As the reader comes to realize, through Devi's writing and the dishes she cooks, how the many long-buried traumas have affected the whole Veturi family and ultimately, Devi, they are able to get inside her head and truly understand what she is going through.

The core of her depression, however, is not fully revealed until much later in the book when the reason why Devi wanted to kill herself finally comes out. Through exposing some shattering truths, the secret also brings the whole family back together in ways that they never dreamed possible.

I LOVE this book! Being the daughter of Indian immigrants, like Devi, I can totally relate to the characters in this book. "Serving Crazy with Curry" is a truly wonderful and worthy book.

I highly recommend this book for everyone to read - especially ABCD's (American Born Confused Desi's) and women.

"Serving Crazy with Curry" is one of the best (if not the best) Indian American books I have ever read.

If I could give this book 100, or 1000, or a MILLION, BILLION stars, I would. I LOVE IT!!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A clever and inventive dark comedy, December 3, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serving Crazy with Curry (Paperback)

Amulya Malladi's third novel is SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY, a dark comedy in which suicide is the center of the story. The reader is allowed inside the thoughts of Devi Veturi as she ponders killing herself, plans it, attempts it, and then tries to recover from it while living with her crazy family in the middle of California's famous Silicon Valley. It almost resembles a Bollywood-style movie and is just as entertaining.

The book opens with Devi contemplating reasons to die. She writes a list of pros and cons of whether to die or not, as if she were deciding on something as mundane as buying a house. It's important, but she treats the idea as a business plan, which can be of equal importance. And she has just been laid off (again), which doesn't help with her depression. Despite how she feels, her list tells her that she must save herself and abandon her previous plans, but she has already made up her mind and is now devising ways to do it. She has finally made her decision --- or thinks she has --- but she's up all night worrying about this business of suicide.

She then decides to call her father, as it is now morning and because talking to him would help stall her decision to kill herself. She hears her family in the background as her father answers the phone. There are tears in her eyes, but she tells him that she is fine and doesn't let on about her latest job, or how she is really feeling. She wants her father to make things better but knows that everything that has happened to her is her own fault and that she is responsible for her own actions. She will deal with her life as only she knows how.

What saves her is a "mistake" she made the previous year, by giving her mother a set of keys to her apartment. From then on, her mother, Saroj, would make appearances at the apartment, with one excuse or another. On the morning when Devi attempts to kill herself, her mother has the sixth sense to come over to see her eldest daughter. Devi's other mistake was refusing to talk to her mother when she had called earlier that morning. When Saroj finds out from Girish, her son-in-law, that Devi had just lost her job, she rushes to the apartment to see how Devi is doing. Saroj finds her daughter in the bathtub, blood everywhere.

The family, already living in a dysfunctional state, goes into cardiac arrest when they find out about Devi. Her parents bring her home to recuperate, and although they are not quite sure if she's making any progress with her emotional state, they do know one thing: she refuses to speak. Instead, she voices her emotions through cooking, which is more than her family can take. Yes, they have discovered that Devi has a gift for cooking, which was never apparent before. But on the other hand, she WAS communicating through her food to express feelings, whether it was of happiness or anger. On one occasion, she creates such a hot and spicy meal that it was almost impossible for anyone to eat it. Everyone, however, knew how she felt. The food said it all.

Devi starts a journal while she is recuperating and expresses her feelings through her recipes. Each recipe reflects what she is feeling at the moment, explained through the ingredients and how she prepares the dish. It is a very clever way of getting inside her head, and the reader begins to understand what Devi truly is going through. The center of her depression, however, is not fully realized until much later in the book when it is finally revealed exactly why Devi wanted to end her life.

A wonderful book and probably Malladi's best so far, SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY is a very inventive way of using recipes to help tell a story. Malladi creates a family of characters that one can imagine on the big screen: the jealous younger sister, the doting father, the nagging mother, the grandmother, and the good son-in-law. While some books are noted for either a great story line or a great set of characters, this book can boast both. This reviewer would love to see a sequel, to see where Devi and her family go from here.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton ([e-mail])

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The title says it all, October 27, 2004

By 

Sanjana M - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serving Crazy with Curry (Paperback)

I like books with inventive titles and this one has a really cheeky one. I picked up the book just yesterday because of the title and the book cover and I am so glad that I did. I read it in one day! This writer certainly knows her stuff and she should as this is apparently her third book. "Serving Crazy with Curry" is the story of Devi, a second-generation Indian living in Silicon Valley and how her life and her family's live and perception about life changes after she survives a suicide attempt. That is the story in a nutshell. A worthy read!!