Rating: 
Summary: Deeply Moving
Review: Thrity Umrigar's Bombay Time is one of the best recent books from the Indian subcontinenet. It tells the stories of the residents of Wadia Baug, a block of apartments mainly peopled with Parsis. Each story is told simply and beautifully, with conviction and honesty. All the stories meld into a whole which is held together by the wedding of one of the residents. Thrity has two of the most important attributes of a great novelist: a great ability to tell a story and a huge heart. Each character is made compelling by her compassion and respect for their meager lives. It is somewhat unfortunate for Thrity that she is treading on the same ground as Rohinton Mistry who is another of the great novelists of our time. However, this should not in any way diminish her book except perhaps to those who read books from India as an exploration in the exotic rather than the universal human condition. If you can afford only one book this year, this should be the one!
Rating: 
Summary: Anytime is Bombay Time
Review: Who knew all this about Parsees? Even after many visits to India, I learned a great deal about both India and the Parsee community from Umrigar's book, and felt I was taught very gently. A good story, of neighbors and their goings on; anyone could read this and think it was their own neighborhood, in any country! The one thing I disliked about this book was that the glossary wasn't complete, and Hindi words are not all that common in English. I loaned my copy to a friend, and had to provide her with translations of "chowkidar" (watchman) and many other words that did not appear in the glossary. In all, however, this was a wonderfully entertaining book and I'll look forward to the next book with Thrity Umrigar's name on it!
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