A Breath of Fresh Air (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Rating:
Summary: A story of love and forgiveness
Review: Amulya Malladi's first novel is a keeper. A young woman's dream of the perfect marriage ends after her Army officer husband leaves her standed at the train station the night of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. When she awakens in the hospital, she learns of the accident and her husband's affair. Anjali survives, but her marriage to Prakash doesn't.

Fast forward sixteen years and Anjali has a new husband; stable, gentle Sandeep. They have a son. A son that is gravely ill, due to Anjali's exposure to the toxic gas.

In this place, removed by the years and miles from Bhopol, Anjali spots Prakash and his new wife at the market place. She must reconcile the past with the present. Will her jealousy of Prakash's new wife and his healthy children tear apart the world that she's worked so hard to build with Sandeep?

A Breath of Fresh Air could very easily turn into another someone did someone wrong story, but Ms. Malladi takes it beyond that and exposes the flaws of the characters, and in those flaws they find the way to a powerful conclusion. The characters and their lives will stay with the reader. I'm anxious to see what Ms. Malladi has in store for us with her sophomore novel.

Rating:
Summary: Turns an simple story into something filled with life
Review: Excellent not because of an immensely creative storyline, but rather due to Malladi's portrayal of a somewhat simple story that she brings to life. It is her character development and perfect creation of basic human emotions that seperate this work from others I have read that have similiar stories.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: When I first started reading this book it seemed so stark, so simply written and because of that I was surprised when I felt tears in my eyes as I read on. It is a short read, but a good one. The story is about a victim of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 when toxic gas came out of a Union Carbide factory and lots of people died. Anjali, the heroine of the story gets caught that night at the train station because her philandering husband forgets to pick her up. After she survives the gas tragedy she divorces her husband, Prakash, something that is not accepted by her family. After fifteen years when she is happily married to Sandeep and has a child, Amar, Prakash enters her life again. Amar is dying because he has diseases caused by Anjali's exposure to the toxic gas in Bhopal. With Prakash's entry everyone's universe starts to shift and Anjali, Sandeep and Prakash have to look inside themselves and face their insecurities and responsibilities. I liked this book very much. I didn't expect to like it when I started reading it but I did.