The Householder: A Novel (The Norton Library)

THE HOUSEHOLDER is one of Ruth Prawar Jhabvala's earlier efforts, and with her early novels AMRITA and THE NATURE OF PASSION, it is the story of an India that is no more. Like India in 1960, Prem, the hero of THE HOUSEHOLDER, is young, idealistic--and in over his head. His family is growing, he is married to a woman he hardly knows, and his mother, whom he idealizes in many ways, is no longer the caretaker he once had. The carefree life of a dependent is to be given up for the responsibilities of a young adult--ready or not.THE HOUSEHOLDER is on one level a comedy of manners, a fun and funny look at middle-class Indian life. On another level, it is a wonderful metaphor for a new republic's coming of age--and worth thinking about as India struggles with her current challenges.