One cultures impact on another. Could see where it was heading but it was great getting there. ( )

This is Hospital's first novel, the winner of Canada's Seal Award.

Juliet moves, with her husband David and their two children, to a remote village in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where David, an academic, is carrying out research. Despite her love for David, she had been thinking of leaving with the children for Montreal because she felt trapped in the small Canadian town of Winston, where they had lived for the last twelve years.

Being trapped is the theme of the book. The family's servant, the sweeper Prabhakaran, is only twelve, a Dalit whose menial work and poverty are pre-ordained. Yashoda, a beautiful young widow, is virtually imprisoned on her in-laws' property because widows must retire from the world. Juliet and David believe that they are helping when they treat Prabhakaram as one of their children, and encourage Yashoda to believe she can defy her family's code of honour. Their interference leads to tragedy.

I liked this book for the vivid descriptions of life in India, which made up for my lack of interest in Juliet and David's relationship. ( )

I discovered Janette Turner Hospital's writing last year and wonder what took me so long! I really like her deep portrayal of her characters complex personalities.

In this novel, we have a young couple with two kids who are spending year in India while the husband (David) is on sabbatical from his university and conducting research into Hinduism. The wife, Juliet, is unhappy living in the small town where David works and is looking forward to a year in India. She loves her husband, but is still attracted to her former lover (Jeremy) and the two of them make regular, infrequent contact with each other.

The novel centres around Juliet's restlessness....she dislikes her life in small town Ontario, but isn't sure life without David would make her any happier. She struggles to live in the caste system in India, often finding herself doing the unpardonable -- talking to men, refusing and/or befriending servants. As she tries to help a young widow, she is oblivious to the consequences ahead, both for the widow and for her own sense of dissatisfaction.

Upon reading what I just wrote, the book might sound light-weight, but it is not. It's a deep character study and a look at societal expectations. ( )