The next gathering of Beebe Library’s book discussion group, Books By the Lake, is on May 18, 2011. The discussion of Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us begins at 7:30pm in the Lecture Hall.
Sera Dubash is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife in modern-day Bombay. Bhima is her domestic servant. Though they inhabit dramatically different worlds, the two women have much in common. Both married men they alternately love and loathe: Sera’s moody husband frequently beats her, and Bhima’s betrothed falls into an alcohol-drenched depression after losing his job. Sera’s civil treatment of her servant–she overlooks Bhima’s frequent tardiness and treats her like an equal—dismays her neighbors and friends. She also offers to fund the college education of Bhima’s granddaughter, Maya, whom Bhima adopted when the girls mother died of AIDS. The bond between the two women deepens when Sera (whose own daughter is happily wed and expecting her first child) arranges an abortion for unmarried Maya. Veteran journalist and Case Western Reserve professor Umrigar renders a collection of compelling and complex characters, from kind, conflicted Sera to fiercely devoted Bhima (the latter is based on the novelist’s own childhood housekeeper). Sadness suffuses this eloquent tale, whose heart-stopping plot twists reveal the ferocity of fate. (Booklist 1/1/06, vol 102, number 9, p62)
