Rating: 
Summary: Tries hard but doesn't quite make it
Review: While I like Divakaruni's accessible style and simple narration, this book's content leaves a lot to be desired. Divakaruni is good at exposing the, all-too-easy to talk about, conflicts of Indo-American values and does so with a mostly honest voice; however she fails to illuminate, evoke empathy or redeem... The pulls of Indian tradition are familiar, at least to an Indian audience, so there is nothing new there but if one hopes that the heroines (mostly) will find SOME settlement or form of redemption or even ATTEMPT to find new directions then you're sure to be sorely disappointed. There is no new ground here. In fact far from finding their own unique answers or even making an attempt at them or, much less so, making peace or even some kind of a compromise with their lives her characters are left as they began, quite bereft of inspiration, hope or imagination - and unforgivably boring! Many of the stories are shockingly inane in that some of the conflicts are just plain banal and you can't help but wonder why you should care about these people at all esp. if they cannot even face basic irrationalisms of their lives (one example - the young woman who reaches out to but ultimately fails the older woman being accused of being a bearer of bad luck). The other big problem is that there is not sufficient depth in the stories nor enough complexity in the characters (development) to help one understand the forces behind the protagonists' paralysis. Overall, most of the stories in this book are unfortunately such that they leave the readers with more ennui than empathy and much less understanding.
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