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: 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: Courageous writing, challenging read.
Review: For a novelist to change and develop as a writer, they need to experiment. This takes courage and runs the risk of alienating loyal readers. Chitra Divakaruni could have taken the reader-pleasing option and given us a soap-opera style sequel to Sister of My Heart.
Instead she has chosen this sequel to experiment with conventional narrative structure. There are some brilliant satiriical devices, for example Anju's creative writing assignments which offer a hilarious send-up of creative writing teachers. At times she is in danger of creating too much distance between the reader and the beloved protagonists Anju and Sudha. By giving five points of view, we lose that glorious intimacy of the previous novel. Nevertheless, we still get twists and turns of fate that fans of this author know and love so well. Divarkaruni seems to have developed one new literary tic however, acompulsion to sprinkle the narrative with irrelvant and tedious references to current news events which is extremely jarring. I can't see that copious references to the OJ Simpson trial added anything - in fact such references only serve to dilute the sense of magic that pervades her wonderful storytelling. Let's hope that this was just a temporary experiment and that her next book sees her returning to her old style!
Rating:
Summary: All this criticism is overblown.
Review: I loved Divakaruni's Sister of My Heart, so I was delighted to discover there was a sequel. However, The Vine of Desire simply does not compare to Sister of My Heart. My main complaint is that Divakaruni has taken the utterly loveable and pure characters of Anju and Sudha, and used what I consider gimmicky writing to tell the continuation of their story (among the gimmicks are letters, Anju's essays, baby Dayita's thoughts, and "what I said" and "what I didn't say" chapters). The book felt very unnatural to me; the forced styles put too much in the way of the reader and the characters. Reading it reminded me of high school writing assignments where doing something "original" (like writing a screenplay or poem instead of the assigned essay) was considered "cool". In The Vine of Desire, however, Divakaruni just couldn't pull it off.
Rating:
Summary: A Gorgeous Tale
Review: I loved this book. I also thoroughly enjoyed the first part to this story. It continues the story of Anju and Sudha who are now reunited in America. Anju has suffered a miscarriage and her relationship with her husband, Sunil, is fragile at best. When Sudha arrives in the U.S. and lives with Anju and Sunil, old wounds are reopened and new passions flare. How all three characters grow and learn makes this story worthwhile. The writing is beautiful, almost lyrical. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: A sequel to THE SISTER OF MY HEART
Review: THE VINE OF DESIRE by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni The sequel to her popular SISTER OF MY HEART, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's THE VINE OF DESIRE follows the story of the two "sisters" Anju and Sudha from India to America. While SISTER OF MY HEART focused a lot on their past family history and Indian culture and folklore, THE VINE OF DESIRE centers more on the present, and the relationship of the two sisters which is put into a precarious state by a third person, Anju's husband Sunil. Anju invites her sister Sudha to live with her and Sunil in America. Sudha is divorced with a baby, and with a shaky future ahead of them both, Anju knew that the only means of survival for Suhda would be to come to America. Sudha leaves behind the love of her life, Ashok, whom she gave her heart to when she was a young girl, but for some reason she refuses to return to him after her failed arranged marriage. And Anju, with her new life in America and her new husband Sunil, is looking for something beyond being just a wife and future mother. While Anju looks for life outside the household, Sunil finds himself distracted by the presence of his sister-in-law, who he has always loved in secret since before he married his wife. And Sudha is fully aware of this. It's a complicated mess and life does not get any better for Sudha, and gets only worse for Anju and Sunil. Although THE VINE OF DESIRE was not as good a novel as the original book, I still found myself wanting to finish this book to find out whether Anju and Sudha find the happiness they are seeking in America. Is it true that the grass is greener on the other side? Should Sudha have stayed in India and returned to Ashok? The reader is left to find out what happens to both sisters. I recommend THE VINE OF DESIRE to those who have enjoyed SISTER OF MY HEART. For more by Divakaruni, I would suggest reading THE MISTRESS OF SPICES, which is by far her best novel yet.
Rating:
Summary: Jealousy
Review: The Vine of Desire is a sequel to Sister of My Heart. It's the story of Anjou and Sudha, two cousins who have come to California from Calcutta. Both have problems from the past that they hope to begin healing through their relationship with each other - while at the same time learning to live with the knowledge that Anjou's husband is obviously attracted to Sudha. This book is written in a lyrical style, full of sensory descriptions that make it possible to absorb the writing thru the pores. Just open yourself to the colors, scents, sounds, and passion in Divakaruni's words - and melt into her world.
Rating:
Summary: Sad story about recovery from grief, finding the right path.
Review: Vine of Desire continues the story of Anju and Sudha whom we met in Sister of My Heart. Even though Sudha and her daughter Dayita had already arrived in California at the end of the previous book, this book begins before they arrive in America to live with Anju and her husband Sunil. I suppose it was to reorient us and to provide insight into Anju's state of mind after the loss of her child. Sudha's visit was meant to help Anju recover from her grief while providing Sudha the time to think about her future now that she is a divorced single mother. But the hurt and desires of the 3 adults living together is not a recipe for healing and they struggle to find the right path. While America allows many personal freedoms they would not have in India, they are bound by the duty, tradition and honor that their heritage teaches. The obvious love triangle - Sunil is married to Anju, but in love with Sudha - adds a great deal of tension. The author uses several creative writing techniques in this book that were not present in Sister of My Heart. For the most part, they helped me understand the inner conflicts of the characters. In addition to the alternating chapters which show you the point of view of Sudha and Anju (that I was so fond of in Sister of My Heart) there are first person accounts from several of the men in the book including Sunil and chapters narrated in third person. There are also letters back and forth between the mothers in India, the people in America, Sudha's suitors etc. But several of the writing techniques were annoying. The author frequently lists current events with special focus on the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I understood the point of including these newsflashes, but I found it distracting. She also has a tendency to overwrite a moment by repeating the characters feelings or continuing with descriptions of their feelings for longer than I would have liked. I have a great deal of respect for the way that the author successfully expanded her writing style and in turn expanded the reading experience. It is essentially successful in spite of the minor flaws. But all the characters are drowning in sorrow and confusion and although the end provides a ray of hope, the book is overall very sad. I do recommend it, but don't read this if you are looking for the charming story about the bonds between women that I found in Sister of My Heart. The bonds are still there, but they are sorely tested.
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