Of all the family gatherings in her childhood, one stands out in Amina's memory. It is 1979, in Salem India, when a visit to her grandmother's house escalates into an explosive encounter, pitching brother against brother, mother against son. In its aftermath, Amina's father Thomas rushes his family back to their new home in America. And while at first it seems that the intercontinental flight has taken them out of harm's way, his decision sets off a chain of events that will forever haunt Thomas and his wife Kamala; their intellectually furious son, Akhil and the watchful young Amina.
Now, twenty years later, Amina receives a phone call from her mother. Thomas has been acting strangely and Kamala needs her daughter back. Amina returns to the New Mexico of her childhood, where her mother has always filled silences with food, only to discover that getting to the truth is not as easy as going home. Confronted with Thomas's unwillingness to talk, Kamala's Born Again convictions, and the suspicion that not everything is what it seems, Amina finds herself at the centre of a mystery so tangled that to make any headway, she has to excavate her family's painful past. And in doing so she must lay her own ghosts to rest.
The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing Part 2
This is a very confronting yet normal, raw, open look at one family's life as it moves from one country to another. So beautifully written Jacob got it all right, the anger, the despair, the loneliness and the love of family. Thomas, wanting a better life for his family yet working so hard he never saw them. Kamala, disconnected from her culture and her identity. Her children were American whereas she was Indian. The characters were so real you ached for them and you cried with them. This was a sombre story although it had a smattering of light, sometimes even funny, moments. A fabulous debut novel Im looking forward to more from Mira Jacob. Reviewed by Veronica Joy.
QBD, 31/07/2014
The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing Part 1
This story had everyone turning in circles, venting their anger on each other to hide their own insecurities. Ammachy was feeling the lose of her son after he had moved to America. In her thinking, children just didnt do that to their parents. She couldn't blame Thomas, he was her son, so she lashed out at Kamala. Sunil couldn't cope with his mother, so he blamed Thomas. Thinking all would have been fine if only Thomas hadn't moved away. Akhil, born in India and raised in America felt he didn't fit in anywhere. This caused a lot of underlying anger. Would all this anger, fighting and accusations finally tear the family to shreds Reviewed by Veronica Joy
QBD, 31/07/2014