Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing sequel
Review: "Sister of My Heart," to which "Vine of Desire" is the sequel, was a magical, wonderful story of two cousins set in India. Part mystery, part love story, part family saga, it would have been tough for the sequel to equal it. "Vine of Desire" starts off in the United States; Anju has moved here and Sudha is soon to follow, setting up the love triangle with Anju's husband, Sunil, that dominates the book. The author tries to cram into a few pages enough detail from the first book so it will all make sense, but I can't imagine diving into this one without having read the first--it would be quite difficult to understand the motivations and history of the characters. Southern California, where this story takes place, is far less exotic than the India of the first novel, and rather predictably the situation among the three main characters blows up and separates the sisters of the heart. The 'sisters' reunite rather shakily at the end, as Sudha prepares to go back to India, and the author neatly sets up the situation for yet another sequel. With three men in the picture--Sunil, Ashok and Lalit--and two women, we should get a happier ending next time around.
Rating: 
Summary: good material for one episode...
Review: ...of a daytime soap opera.
I have to confess I read the book in a fraction of the time I read "Sister of my heart". Almost nothing new has been added to the story. Yet it fills up so many pages. Feelings, ramblings, letters from one character to another. That's the kind of stuff I don't really care about. It adds nothing and makes it difficult to read. This is a pathetic sequel to "Sister of my heart".
Rating:
Summary: good material for one episode...
Review: ...of a daytime soap opera.
I have to confess I read the book in a fraction of the time I read "Sister of my heart". Almost nothing new has been added to the story. Yet it fills up so many pages. Feelings, ramblings, letters from one character to another. That's the kind of stuff I don't really care about. It adds nothing and makes it difficult to read. This is a pathetic sequel to "Sister of my heart".
Rating: 
Summary: A truly eloquent book to add to your collection!
Review: After reading the first book, Sister of My Heart, one cannot comprehend how another book can be just as eloquent or beautifully written as that book was. Your heart goes into the lives of Sudha and Anjou. And this book defies all expectations and draws you into their lives even further ~~ this time you really watch them grow up into independent women. This time you suffer along with them the confusion of adultery, losing a much-loved baby, losing all the Indian identities that bind them into what they perceive as rigid roles in society, finding themselves stronger for it. And woven into the tapestry of their lives, are stories and myths from India ~~ a heritage that they can never completely escape from. You watch them make decisions that affect their lives, relationships with one another and other people, and watch them grow into truly deeply beautiful women. Divakaruni writes with such beauty and prose and passion ~~ you cannot help but be carried along by the beauty of her stories and words. It is a book to be treasured and re-read again and again. It's such a lyrical book ~~ but yet it holds profound thoughts of relationships between two women who have grown up together and watch how the twists and turns of life try to tear them apart. And the two cousins come to the realization that neither can live her life for the other ~~ they have their own lives to live. It is a heartwrenching story propelled by Anjou's husband's desire for Sudha ~~ but yet, those two women become stronger. They become women in every sense of the word. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoy reading books about other women and their relationships among themselves. It's also a poetic book as well ~~ a book to savor each word as it is written and hold closely to your heart. It is an eloquent book to keep and re-read again and again. It speaks of the desires and dreams we all keep close to our hearts ~~ and how sometimes life disappoints us ~~ but we keep on striving to find that deep joy we once knew as children. It is not a book to be forgotten. 5-02-02
Rating: 
Summary: It's like visiting with old friends.
Review: After such a great book Sister of My Heart the author came back to visit the characters again. This was a great book and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Anju and Sunil are still living in Americia and still dealing with there lose, when they agree to let Sudha come to Americia to stay with them and spend some time together after they haven't seen each other in a long time. When Sudha gets to America things begain to change in all 3 of there lives. Anju is getting over her lose and finally starting to go back to school and starting to live her life again. Sunil starts to realize that things in his life aren't what he wants and he wants to change things, but when he trys to do that he causes more ripples then he ever expected. Sudha in her time America starts to feel like she is not fitting in and is wanting to try and make her time in the states worth her time. So when she meets a man at a party she starts a friendship with him. As time goes on things change and Sudha decides to go off on her own and starts her life over in America and eventially go back to India in time. This book was a great book and enjoyed hearing more about Sudha and Anju and how there bond never could be broken. I hope to read more by this author.
Rating:
Summary: A paler version of Sisters
Review: Although the prose is exquisite, as it was in Sisters of my Heart, the characters and plot were uninspiring in this sequel. Someone, the insight into the culture was strained by the US setting and convoluted, soap opera-like plot. We are repeatedly introduced to lovesick men pining for one women, but never are led to understand why they are so singlemindedly smitten. We witness the breakup of a marriage, but never really understand the cultural and personal dimensions of this disintegration. A second generation Indian-American is introduced as just another Indian, without much character development or insight into how he might have conflicts or identity issues when relating to Indians from India. In short, a paler and less stimulating read, unless you read it like a romance and little more.
Rating:
Summary: Oh This Vine Gets Tangled!
Review: Anju and Sudha are reunited again when Sudha travels to America to help her sister Anju overcome the loss of her baby. Sudha also plans to make a new life for herself and baby daughter Dayita. But the attraction that had flared just before their double wedding in Calcutta between Sudha and Anju's husband Sunil was still kindling just beneath the surface. It is this slow burning desire between in-laws that sends this household into flames.
The Vine Of Desire stands alone as an extraordinary book. Although those of us who have read Sister Of My Heart may have been looking for the same poignant writing that made us fall in love with Sudha, Anju, the Chatterjee family and India could be a tad disappointed. The writing in The Vine Of Desire, while still talented and graceful, wasn't able to give us the descriptive prose as Divakaruni did when she took us through the sites, smells, and customs of India. Should she have kept the setting in India with this book, I think not, the fact of the matter is how do you truly follow after a book like Sister Of My Heart?
Divakaruni has displayed that she is a masterful writer and I look forward to reading many more of her books.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book about the Journey of three brave sisters.
Review: Aunju and Sudah, two cousins, have been close ever since they were born in India. Although they are not sisters, they still act like they hold each other's heart in their own. The Vine of Desire, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, is about the hardships of Sudah's life after her divorce with her ex-husband Ramesh, at such a young age, Sudah and her daughter had to make it on her own. Hoping to find some help with her cousin Aunju and husband Sunil in California, Sudah had to fight the desires of others with her own. Originally, Sudah was to move back with her mom in India, but Aunju requested for Sudah to stay with her in California. Here we see how Sudah starts to live her life in the desires of others. Aunju and Sudah act similarly through out the book, but they lack some communication. Sudah wants to live for her self and be on her own and Aunju is feeling like she cannot live without Sudah. So, Sudah, the loving person she is, agrees to live with her. This puts a conflict between the two cousins, because deep down inside they have their own desires, but they still want to make each other happy and put their own wants off. And to make things more interesting Sunil, Aunju's husband, had a secrete desire for Sudah ever since the day he got married. Aunju had speculated his affection towards Sudah, but she never confronted him about it, this later causes problems between the ever bound bonds of these two cousins/sisters. The lack of communicating and the attempts to try and spare each other's feelings only lead to dishonesty and broken hearts to mend. Sudah and Aunju slow drift apart, because of Sudah's confusion of how other lead her like as opposed to how she should live her life. Sunil, becoming the conniving snake in the relationship, acts upon his secrete love affair. He does not realize how much he could jeopardize his relationship with his wife. Sudah being the passive subservient cousin tries to protect her poor naive cousin. This once again is not Sudah's decision, but the need to fulfill the desires of others. In fact, Sudah can not stop thinking about Sunil; she starts to plan her life all around him, only to please him. This was very apparent when Sudah made plans with a guy to go out, and she would not put the event on her calendar, because she felt that if Sunil walked by he might be upset or jealous. There is another twist in the story. Ashok is Sudah's first love before she got married; it is tragic how she left him. She received letters form her mother about Ashok, telling her that he is still waiting for her return in India. She was madly in love with Ashok and he has agreed to take care of her daughter and is very close to her family. I think that she really wants to live her own life and be on her own, but her baby needs a father and Ashok is someone that will take care of her. As the story continues Sunil starts spending an awful lot of time with Dayita, Sudah's daughter, almost as if he wants to her father and Sudah to be his wife. I also believe that Sudah wants Sunil to be her husband, but she would never let that happen, because of Aunju. Sunil continues to act like a shadow sneaking around, trying to gaze at Sudah. Sudah finds her way eventually.
To know if Sudah, Aunju and Sunil reach their happiness read the book. I recommend this book to every one who experience a time when they wanted something so bad, but it was out their reach only because of their desire to make others around them happy. It is a well know book, bring the East Asian culture and beautiful language that reads like poetry. Divakaruni is a compelling writer and graceful storyteller. She elaborately writes about the immigration experience of that Indians undergo and the hard ships of the strong bond between the two "sisters". This is a story about three long-suffering soles saying in the desires of others.
Rating:
Summary: A desirable read--
Review: Before turning the first page of this novel filled with luminous imagery and a language elegantly filled with poetic pleasures, there are two things to keep in mind:
1. This is a sequel to the novel, Sister of My Heart, where the returning characters Anju, Sudha, Sunil, and Ashok, first took on their shape and into our minds.
2. Time has passed, aging each character with deeper issues and stronger emotions.
The book opens with Anju's miscarriage and the arrival of her cousin, Sudha, along with her daughter, Dayita, to stay with Anju and Sunil in their tiny apt. in SFO. Sunil's desire for Sudha is reignited and so the journey begins inside the lives of the four main characters--carefully exploring their paths and unfolding into their complicated lives.
The brilliance of this book lies in the fact that Mrs. Divakaruni has not only taken us inside the lives of all the characters seamlessly, but through the minds of the individuals themselves.
I was pleasantly surprised with the way Mrs. Divakaruni told the story. Since the majority of the book is told through the characters voices and thoughts(even baby Dayita!), I found myself thinking differently--from their point of view and not my preconcieved notions about them. The choices they were making in their own lives made sense, since it was explained from their own perspective.
The Vine of Desire has a style of it's own. The story is rich, powerful(her abilitiy to help us understand human emotions using metaphors is brilliant), yet told with such simplicity and opulence.
Unlike Sister of My Heart, which was set in Calcutta, this novel is set in America, collaborating the different cultures, while expanding choices for the two women who are learning to liberate themseves from years of trained behavior.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. There was(just enough) a lingering taste of India and glimpses of their family back home through letters, yet the story unwrapped itself with a perfect pitch, focusing on lives that are in transistion--the many changes, the difficult choices--all of which are time-consuming, life-changing, and at times heart-wrenching.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reading Experience....
Review: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is now one of my most favorite authors! In January I read Sister of My Heart and then I counted down the days until I could read Vine of Desire. Taken together these are just wonderful books! The story is so engaging, the characters are intriguing, and it is the type of writing that makes one smile with contentment! These are must read books if you love to be transported into the lives of other people. I am telling all my friends to read these books. Read Sister of My Heart first though. Also, the author is currently on tour, if you get a chance go hear her read and answer questions. She is so very interesting and one wishes you could go out to lunch with her and talk the afternoon away. I am already sure these books will be on my own personal Top 10 list of 2002. I am now reading everything Ms. Divakaruni has written and I feel LUCKY!
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