I just started this book the other night, and found it extremely hard to put down. Already I've barrelled through a good part of The Dominion of Wyley McFadden, and so far I'm really liking it. I love the way that Scott Gardiner reveals the characteristics of his main character: little by little, and mostly through things he does and the reasons he does them. It's a funny, enjoyable first novel. I'm already waiting for Gardiner to write a second book, even though I'm not yet finished with his first.

I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful book from Anita Rau Badami. It is well written and insightful. The first half of the book is the story of an Indian daughter's childhood with her ascerbic mother and absent father. Beautifully observed. The second half is the mother's story - her side of it (a reminder that there are always two sides to every story). It explores the mother-daughter relationship as well as women's issues. Read it!

This is a wonderful story, told from two perspectives - mother and daughter. The novel is set in India and the cultural aspects are interesting as is the story; good characters. An easy, pleasant read.

Well I had to read this book for class. An english class about Asian Feminst literature and well, as much as i hate the class... this book has been the BEST! I really am enjoying it, I really don't see hte feminst Post-modern stuff in it and had I know about the book before. I would have read it! It's really excellent and I recommend it to all.

I just finished one of the most amazing books I've
read this year. The Hero's Walk is undoubtedly one of
the finest books ever written in English by an Indian.

What makes this book so different and refreshing apart
from the plot is the treatment of the books and its
characters. The plot revolves around Sripathi Rao - a
simple man with simple needs in the town of Totapuram
nestled in the South of India - and in the Big House
we meet his wife Nirmala - the ever docile Indian Wife
- his horrendous mother Ammaya who in most respects
can be labelled a witch - his unmarried sister Putti -
who longs for the boy next door, and his son Arun - a
rebellion in the true sense of the word.

Amidst all this lies the past - of his daughter Maya
getting married to a foreigner and residing in
Vancouver - who has never seen her family for seven
years now. Her father has abolished her very name
being taken in the house - till she and her husband
Alan meet with an accident and Sripathi has to go to
Canada to claim his granddaughter Nandana.

With her parents no more, Nandana is lost and confused
in India and is trying to connect stuff to her past -
which is quite a task for a seven-year old.

The story revolves around the fact that simplicity is
the biggest act of heroism. Badami's style of writing
is dry, subtle and so so heartbreaking that it almost
had me on the verge of tears.

Though the authhor does remind you of R.K. Narayan at
various points in the book, she does have the finesse
to take you by surprise. A great read!

This book was full of wonderful imagery, and the themes were well-woven in this simple plot. As a reader, I really developed empathy for Sripathi, and admiration for Nirmala. The characters were life-like and this is what gave the story it's charm because we were able to also get a glimpse into the minds of the characters even for a fleeting moment. This is wonderful reading if you want to have a taste of India.

As a native of South Asia, the things referenced in the book rang true with me...the characters' voices, their actions, their reactions...it was all so familiar. Badami obviously knows what she's talking about! In particular, you had to love Sripathi...what a character. I'd be curious to know if the author actually knows people like the ones she has written about. At any rate, she's written a book that deserves praise and plenty of attention.

Tamarind Woman is a beautiful story although the main plot has been done over and over in the past few years by a number of authors: relationship problems between mother and daughter. I think the author has overdone the use of foreign words (Indian words) and can easily push away certain readers. In one page alone, I counted six Indian words with no reference whatsoever to their meaning or origin. I love reading novels that take place in another country or are written by foreign authors being a foreigner myself but the use of words in Tamarind Woman was a little too much and can make the reader feel a bit lost in the journey.

The main problem with this novel is its complete lack of continuity. There's no plot, so the story consists almost entirely of flashbacks of the childhood through adulthood experiences of the two narrators (Saroja and Kamini, who are mother and daughter.)

TAMARIND WOMAN is not meant, however, to be a thrilling tale, but rather an in-depth look at the tangled relationships of family life -- especially the inextricable bond between mother and daughter -- and in this it does succeed. It is not deeply psychological or intellectual (perhaps thankfully), but it is warm and well written, and ultimately very worth reading, especially for Baudami's loving and skillful portrait of her Indian culture.

I was sad to finish Tamarind Woman. It was that good. What struck me the most about this book is how alike we all are, even if we're from different parts of the world.

The author skillfully weaves the present and different versions of the past together. Aunty Vijaya from the book remarks that memories are never the same between two people--"They are pictures we create in our hearts you see...and each of us uses different sticks of chalk to colour them." The dialogue is excellent. The characters and relationships are varied and interesting. The descriptions are vivid--"...the tree was covered in blossoms, fiery with colour sucked from the sun."

As I was skimming the book to include a couple of my favorite sentences in this review, I caught myself re-reading it! I had to make myself stop. I'll recommend Tamarind Woman to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and I'm going to add Badami's second book The Hero's Walk to my wish list right now. If you enjoy learning about other cultures or if you're just interested in human relationships, you'll enjoy this book.