Customer Reviews

Sister of My Heart

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am an avid reader and I must say that this book has taken over the number one spot of all times. It is the life story of two young girls born to the same household on the same day. Anju and Sudha are cousins growing up in a house full of women in the city of Calcutta, India. Their personalities, like night and day, bring us a blend of rich and exotic culture wrapped up in the ideas that society imposes upon them. The author entwines this richness with the silent sorrows and heavy heart of the unknown. A secret so dreadful that one of the girls can never shed light upon it without fear of losing everything that she holds dear.

There were several unexpected surprises in this book. The author is a fantastic storyteller and I found such astonishing insight into the human heart I was moved to reread the book just to spend time writing down quotes which I found to be words one could live by. I have yet to meet the person who was disappointed by this book. 3/17/01

I just finished this book of which one of my book clubs suggested that I read ~~ and it is really one of the best written books I have read in a long while. The author doesn't grab your attention by the horn, but slowly, softly does she tell her story between two cousins and the choices they have made with their lives. And she is excellent weaving two lives separated by different cultures and oceans. You can feel the hot air in India, being surrounded by jasmine and you can see New York through Indian eyes ~~ feeling the sense of freedom of being away from a different lifestyle.

Anju and Sudha are unforgettable characters ~~ each so different in her way and both strong women. They grew up closer than twins for they were always together, and the stories they tell to each other are exiquiste. Then marriage and their choices regarding their marriages only kept them apart for a while ~~ after all, they are sisters of the heart and nothing can really keep them apart. It makes one wish that they had a close relationship like theirs in their lives. They are so fortunate and yet so unfortunate.

I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read and the whispers that Divakaruni tells throughout the book isn't easily forgotten. This is the first book I've read by Divakaruni and she is an author I promise to read again. She makes you feel like you're sitting some place safe while someone you love most in this world is telling you secrets only for your ears. And that is the most delicious feeling ever to have in this lifetime. If an author can create that feeling with a book, then she is superbly talented.

This book is an absolute pleasure to read...the writing is so lyrical you are transported to India, wearing a sari of gossamer cloth, hearing the tinkling of ankle bracelets, feeling the heat, smelling the spices, taking part in the day to day life of the five women who live in the Chatterjee household.

Even tho' the scenario about the ruby mine was rather hokie, I loved the story of the two girls/women, Anju and Sudha and the close, unbreakable bond they share, unbroken by time, distance, and marriage. I especially liked that there were surprises...I was delighted to find them.

Some books are like appetizers, some are like main courses, this one is dessert...savor it with a nice cup of tea and cake. It's scrumptious. Then recommend it to all your friends.

Jesse

This beautifully written book is the story of two young women who are born on the same day, in the same home, to newly widowed mothers. The women are cousins, but grow up with a bond that makes them linked like sisters. The two have very different lives, as Anju, the witty and smart one, is truly a member of the Chaterjee family(a family of wealth and privilege), where as Sudha, the beautiful one, is a distant cousin. The story of how Sudha came to be, and who her father really is, is one of the many sub-stories that weaves its way into this intricately developed book.

This book is about love, relationships, and about the fragility of life. It is also about things not always being what they seem. For Anju and Sudha are both forced to enter into arranged marriages. Poor Sudha's heart belongs to a man she met only once but was instantly drawn to, as he was to her. And the man she is led to marry answers none of her prayers. He is tied to his mother whom Sudha is never able to please. That story develops in ways I do not want to give away, but Sudha's character is one of strength and conviction.

Anju is set with a man who she is instantly taken by, and at first he is taken by her, until he meets Sudha. He lives in America, and in time Anju leaves India to become an American wife as well. The complexities of the relationship between Anju and her husband Sunil are never quite revealed, leaving the reader to imagine what is truly going on. However, the tension is obvious, and Anju always remembers the way Sunil looked at her cousin with longing.

Years pass and so do experiences, and Anju and Sudha do not share how they truly feel through letters or phone conversations until finally Anju truly needs her. Sudha's marriage does not quite go as planned, and he life takes unexpected twists and turns. As does Anju's. Ultimately leading them back into each other's arms and hearts.

But can things ever be the same? This is basically where we are left, and then it is time to go on to the sequel!!! Fortunately I have it and cannot wait to dive into it. Ms. Divakaruni is an incredible writer who delves deep into the construct of human relationships and of the heart. This book is a treat, amazingly written and with a beautifully story of friendship and love.
I highly recommend it.

Set in a world of harsh reality, Anju and Sudha Chaterjee, two women born as cousins who assume the roles of sisters, attempt to brighten their short-lived days with their imaginations. In Calcutta, India, where they live, the Chaterjees are known as an upper caste family, despite the shame of not having a male figure in their house. But even their high status doesn't hide their dwindling wealth and Anju and Sudha's mothers' desperate attempts at changing that. With personalities and minds as different as the sun and moon, Anju, the intelligent one, and Sudha, being beautiful, create stories of princesses, their princes, and hope. Hidden in these intricately twisted tales are their own sorrows of money, family, education and even jealousy. Chitra Divakaruni's purpose of this spellbinding tale is to show how even in the challenging parts of our lives, if we stay with those we love and remain hopeful, the time will pass, and the good times will come. But it is not a promise that there will only be a few hard times in life, because for every yin, there is a yang, meaning that everything is balance, and we are constantly being tested to see how well we can manage in the tricky game called life.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award winning author as well as a poet. With the publication of over 50 magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, she is a world renowned author. In fact, her books have been rewritten in sixteen different languages, including Hebrew, Russian, Japanese and Dutch. Being torn between two cultures herself, Divakaruni usually writes of the immigrant experiences of Indians when they come to America. Also, all of her main characters are women. She decided to write about women and their encounters in life as they come from conservative India to the land of the free, America. After leaving India, Divakaruni came to America and studied in Berkeley. Here was where she volunteered at a woman's battered home, at which her first interest in the topic of battered women arose. She then started a group organization called Maitri, which led to her first series of books which are stories of women faced with abusive marriages who confront them with new found courage. As time went on, she wrote various stories through different feminine points of view, which led to two of her most acclaimed novels, one of them being Sister of My Heart, which were made into feature films.

Of all the detail put into this novel, Divakaruni has definitely achieved her goal of this story. Its points of conflict, confrontation, betrayal, secrets, and shocking surprises leave the reader gaping at the twists and turn of events. Not only is it an interesting book for pass time, but it is a great explanation of morality and its reasons. It cleverly explains the troughs of life and how everyone has their own way of jumping past them by explaining how two women, close enough to be sisters, change their lives in their own ways, with their own goals and grieves, and their own answers.

Sister of My Heart is a wonderfully written story for anyone to read because it provides life lessons tied together with rarely found culture. It is also a small view in to the large and demanding world of Indian society and its indirect impositions and demands. It also shows a deep link between two women who cannot even be considered sisters, but end up being the two halves of one bond that is tested repeatedly with secrets, lies, passion and love. But finally, Anju and Sudha realize that there is nothing that could possibly break them because, in the end, they are sisters, best friends, and each other.

I used to be an avid reader, but now that I have kids and this whole life, I didn't have time to read anything except stories for them. But this book, Sister of My Heart, was for me completely. Once I started the wonderful and heartbreaking story of Sudha and Anju, I couldn't stop reading it until the end, even taking my lunch hour early at work because I couldn't wait to get back to the gripping tale of these two very special cousins. When their lives had heartbreak, I felt it, and when they celebrated, I felt like I was there. This is easily the best book I've ever read and if I could tell anything to the author, it would be to write more about the lives of Sudha, Anju and their mixed families.

I read "Mistress of Spices" which introduced me to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's work. Then I got a recommendation from another Indian author to read "Sister of My Heart." That was a good deed, (Thanks, Sharon) because I loved this novel, too.

The plot is very intricate and full of surprises. Sudha and Anju are two girls born in the same house on the same day, to different mothers, and from different fathers. Their fates are thereafter intertwined, and the two girls consider themselves sisters, if not actually twins. But their fates ultimately diverge--or do they?

Author Divakaruni can create surprise with a single word or short phrase. Her introduction of the word "ruby" in the first chapters stands out on the page as if it were a loud trumpet call. Her use of small, well-chosen words at JUST the right time can wake you up. Pay attention, something very interesting is about to happen. I just love that! And, just like Mistress of Spices, the author knows how to mix a fable or fairy-tale like story with an everyday drama. I love that, too.

This is one novel you should not miss if you love Indian fiction, if you love women's fiction (for any woman can enjoy this, I think) and if you loved Mistress of Spices.

This is the first review for Amazon that I have written and indeed, felt compelled to write. This was a wonderful book...I read it in one and 1/2 days. I could not stop reading and then I was sorry when the story was finished! Flowing, lyrical, expressive and true....this book conveyed the realities of the imperfections of life, love and human nature, while creating a beautiful fairytale like story with so many twists and turns you literally gasp out loud when a new secret is revealed. The examination of how women are treated in other cultures as well as our own, family and women's relationships and social expectations were additional thoughtful and provocative topics explored in this story. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, which Ms. Divakaruni is currently working on (she stated this herself at her recent book reading). I will certainly order it the first day I can! I highly recommend this book....it is superb! :)

I am an Indian, born and brought up in Bombay. Yet, this book did not cease to amaze me, the Bengali culture, the peek into the lives in the household.
The author is very vivid in her description of the main characters, Anju and Sudha both in first person.
I took this book from my library and read it from cover to cover in a single day, and you just wish the book doesnt end. For the next few days, my mind kept going back to the characters as if i knew them in real life.
for non-Indian readers, this book is a beautiful peek into East-Indian culture, traditions. This book will almost make you feel as though you have visited a part of India.
Definitely a must read

Sister of My Heart is a novel that is flawless in both style and structure. The writing is beautiful and rich in imagery. Set in Calcutta, India, the reader is able to create a full visual interpretation of the sights, smells, characters, and surroundings.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni writes an amazing tale of two cousins that share an incredible bond. Sudha and Anju are born on the same day under dire circumstances. The continue to live with each other and `the mothers' throughout their girlhood. The link between Sudha and Anju is very strong, so strong that many do not understand. However, when Sudha begins to unravel the truths of her lineage she begins to separate from Anju. This is the beginning of the test of the sisterhood. From arranged marriages and circumstances that attempt to destroy the connection between Sudha and Anju, the reader remains completely enchanted.

Sister of My Heart is a novel that can not be put down or soon forgotten. This novel is truly a treat for the senses. I look forward to reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni past and future work.