There Is Room for You

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I loved this novel with so many levels of stories and characters. So often an exotic setting becomes more important than the characters, but although India is intriguing in Bacon's writing it does not override the story. For me the characters have remained vivid long after I finished the book, and I hated to see it end. My only reservation is that I couldn't make sense of the mother's behavior toward her children, which didn't seem to fit the interpretation her daughter comes to. But I like puzzling it over, and appreciate a novel that makes me do that.

Rating:
Summary: complexities of love between mother and daughter
Review: This is an exceptionally moving story of the discovery of self in relation to one's parents and the world at large. Anna and Rose tell their stories in tandem. At first seemingly alienated from each other's lives, it becomes clear, as events, both present and past unfold, that they are indeed closely bound to each other. I was deeply affected by the slow and tender exposure of the vulnerability of these two women. The author paints pictures that seem to unfurl in the mind's eye. Whether reading of the small town in Maine,where Rose writes her memoir, or the crowded streets of Varanasi or Calcutta, indelible images are created. Ms. Bacon has given us a story of great texture and content, a lesson in how judgement yields to understanding, empathy, and ultimately binding love. I urge you to read this book.