The Children of Shahida: A Novel

Anandam Kavoori's book, The Children of Shahida is an odd mix, at times compelling at times frustratingly amateurish with typos that an editor should have caught. Nonetheless, the author has created a book with sensitivity, humor and vivid imagery. Kavoori presents unique pockets of old world India, and modern America. He explores this juxtaposition with fresh characters that you want to follow. The book looks at loneliness and isolation from multiple perspectives and, along the way, delivers insights about the Indian soul, innocence and the universal need for belonging. There are moments of raw intimacy and little tender gems that stay with you. Despite its flaws it is well worth the read!

Kavoori's writing is tight, dense with structural and emotional pleasures. You savor his slices of old India, like lamb curries cooking all day long over a low kerosene flame. How effortlessly he shifts time, place and person from a childhood train voyage through post-colonial India to a twenties-something, BMW haul from Silicon Valley to Atlanta. Characters lovingly flawed, remain robust in heart despite major cultural transplants. So worth the read.

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (6/07) Anandam Kavoori has written a fictional account of a unique family, living in India and immigrating to the United States. The story covers the lives of three generations of the Solomons, a Christian family with a Muslim name. Rashid, Bashir, and Tyab narrate the story from their point of view. Rashid begins by telling of the formative events of childhood in India. He talks about the games, his friends, and cousins. The stories are filled with the awe and innocence of childhood and are interwoven with the fun-filled pranks and the insensitivity of taunting remarks and bigotry. Rashid tells of the family becoming Christians in Muslim India two generations ago and how, as a result, the family moved into a second-class minority. Although the book is considered historical fiction, I sensed a parallel of Kavoor's own experiences. He, too, was raised in a small village in India. His father was a rural development officer. He attended high school and college in Delhi before coming to the United States to study. Whether autobiographical or not, it certainly gives him insights into the progression of change and cultural background and the resultant issues faced in intercultural relationships, especially after moving America. Of the three men, I especially enjoyed Bashir. His experiences in childhood portrayed a love for life and for his family. In college he developed a questioning attitude, preparing him for new experiences while trying to hold on to the traditions and culture of his beloved India. His arranged marriage was a disappointment. Tyab's world is one filled with trials and loneliness. Born in the United States, his life was impacted by isolation. His early life revolved around the trials of his lesbian mother. Restless, he became a transient moving from his birthplace in New York to Georgia, and later to California where he found work in the computer industry. Kavoori's characters are so genuinely real and the details of their lives and the transformative events are so simply told it is hard to remember that this is a work of fiction. "The Children of Shahida" is an incredible chronicle of the pleasures and pain of separation and the breakthrough of moving to a different culture and country. Kavoori explores questions of identity, religion, politics and sex with humor and interesting imagery. In "The Children of Shahida" he shares insights into the parallels and differences of Americans and Indians. Kavoori is a sleeping giant among promising new authors. I am eagerly looking forward to more of his captivating stories.

This beautifully written, evocative tale of 4 generations of an Indian family is a perfect book club selection. With memorable characters, detailed descriptions of India in the mid-to-late twentieth century, plainly-spoken realities of three major religious traditions struggling to co-exist, and life-changing events for all the characters, it lends itself well to discussion and reflection. While the three sections of the novel are written in the voice of each succeding generation's male character, the primary and most present "voice" thoughout, is Shahida's. She is the force whose life and example flow through the generations of this Christian-Muslim, Indian-American family. A unique perspective and an exquisitely told story.