The Woman Who Knew Gandhi : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: I stumbled across this book in a store-- I hadn't heard anything about it. And so I was surprised at how great it was. Keith Heller is a beautiful, understated writer and this is a really "satisfying" (as Elizabeth Berg says on the front) book. It's about the two sides of love, the practical and spiritual sides, and how one woman must reconcile them. I highly recommend this novel if you like subtle, rich, elegant writing and reading about the extraordinary moments of ordinary lives.

Rating:
Summary: well done novel
Review: Martha is an average English wife and mother in 1948 who has an extraordinary past and indeed, present. She met Gandhi about 60 years ago when he traveled to England, and has had a meaningful but secret correspondence with him for decades. This is not revealed to her husband or friends, until Gandhi is assassinated and she receives a letter from his estranged adult son who is dying of tuberculosis.

All at once, her life implodes and she is left with many decisions that everyone wants to make for her. Her husband, humiliated that he has never known something so important, leaves for parts unknown and she searches for him. She doesn't know what to do about the dying man in India. The press is hounding her at every turn, setting up camp literally at her door.

Martha is an intelligent, sympathetic woman with very real problems. Watching her solve them makes for an excellent novel.

Rating:
Summary: American Classic Novel
Review: This novel has every element of a classic American novel. Post-war England is contrasted with the newly independant India. The characters are multi-dimensional, unlike too many "cardboard" characters in current writings. Character development is a key element of the novel, though the plot is engrossing as well. The reader is drawn into the story from page one and each page has some pithy observation which the reader is eager to discuss with someone else. There are subtle leit-motivs if one is inclined to look for them. Besides the philosophical comparisons of various marriages, religions, countries, values, happiness, there seem to be subtle questions about loyalty to one's country, mate, family, history and other human importances. This is a book that I will read again, even though there are yet so many unread books out there. After a marathon of reading this summer, finding this gem outweighs all the precious time spent reading mediocre books. After reading the last paragraph of this book I was reluctant to begin another. What can follow perfection?