THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by Kiran Desai

Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006).

Penguin Audio, Read by Meera Simhan (10 CDs, unabridged, 2007). Also on Kindle and Mp3.

(NOVEL)

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

                The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai takes place at the crossroads of hope, desire, regret and despair, and at the intersection of history and family. The characters must negotiate an interdependent world impacted by class, culture and ethnicity, the aftermath of colonialism.

                Sai, who is orphaned at a young age, is sent from her boarding school to the home of her grandfather, a retired judge who wants only to be left alone in his once elegant home in Kalimpong, in the Himalayan Mountains. He is disillusioned with his own life, and with his futile attempt to provide some justice to his fellow-countrymen through the court system inherited from the British colonial powers. 

                The cook, who, has sent his only son Biju, to the United States, in hopes he will have a better future for himself and his offspring, looks after Sai more than her grandfather does. He tells Sai false stories about her grandfather, but she eventually sees through some of his tales. When her tutor reaches the limits of her ability to teach Sai, the grandfather engages a young Nepali tutor. Meanwhile Biju, who has overstayed his visa, moves from one New York City restaurant to another, trying to stay a step ahead of immigration officials.

                An Indian-Nepali insurgency in the Himalayan region changes everything and pulls everyone into its vortex in one way or another.

                This fine novel explores issues of colonialism; immigration; ethnic, religious and racial conflicts; identity; and exile, as well as manifestations of poverty in New York City and in India. It deals, at the same time with “coming of age” of the young, and the way the older characters come to terms with their own life stories.

                I don’t want to give the story away – read it yourself to see how successfully (or unsuccessfully) Sai, the retired judge, the cook, Biju, and other characters (including a Swiss priest, a Zanzibari living and working in New York City, two aging sisters who love the BBC) negotiate the stumbling blocks in this complex world of the 20^th century. Kiran Desai, who was educated in India, England and the U.S. knows all three of these countries, each of which provides backdrops to portions of the story.

                The Inheritance of Loss is a good title for the novel, which won the Man Booker Prize for the best fiction from the British Commonwealth and Ireland (2006), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for a book of fiction by a citizen of India (2006), and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award for books published in English in the United States (2007).