The Roller Birds of Rampur

Feeling torn between the cultures of her native India, where life is planned and secure, and England, where life is free, seventeen-year-old Sheila meets a woman bandit in India who changes her life.

Grade 9-12-- In this introspective coming-of-age novel, Sheila Mehta, 17, leaves England for her native India, seeking safety and security in the age-old traditions after her British boyfriend drops her. Feeling betrayed and hurt, she finds consolation in India's dull brown Roller Birds, which show brilliant ultramarine and turquoise colors when they fly. Her grandfather calls this show the color of adolescence, "between the brown security of childhood and the brown routines of adult life." She attempts to reconcile the two influences in her life, that she is Indian by birth and upbringing, but British in her thinking. Those wishing to understand Indian ways will be well rewarded here. As a novel, the book is less successful. It lacks a compelling plot, and the characters are merely mouthpieces for particular points of view. Briticisms are all defined in a glossary, but the Indian terms and slang (with one exception) are not. --Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Readers can really sink their teeth into this meaty first novel. An engrossing coming-of-age story of a girl caught between two cultures, it also offers--with only the barest twinge of didacticism--an extraordinarily clear explanation of Hindu philosophy. Indian-born teen Sheila Mehta, who has grown up in London, no longer knows where she belongs. Her English boyfriend abruptly drops her after bringing her home to meet his mother; her best friend is sent to India for an arranged marriage to a stranger; and her younger sister is dressing punk and trying to pass for black. Sheila returns to her family's farm in Madhya Pradesh, where in the course of being initiated into the dissonant intricacies of modern Indian life, she realizes that, for better or worse, she is as much English as Indian. Although Rana peoples her novel with emblematic figures--philosophical Grandpa, downtrodden serving girl, intellectual poseur cousin--her keen sense of human nature and a sharp eye for detail keep these characters intriguing and fresh. An insightful look at a complex and vibrant culture. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A rambling, didactic novel about a culturally confused Indian teenager, raised in London, who goes back to her grandparents' farm in Madyha Pradesh to sort out her identity and her future. As Sheila rediscovers her roots, readers get a guided tour of Indian history, politics, economics, and religion, mostly in the form of extended conversations between Sheila and her relatives and new acquaintances. After she witnesses a vendetta during a village religious festival, its repercussions in the villagers' lives lead her to decide to study social work in India. The ``issues'' here are fascinating, but they overwhelm the plot and characters (mostly familiar types--intellectual, enlightened agrarian, upper-middle- class dowager matchmaker, etc.--though this does allow for some potent satire). The author's hand is heavy--foreshadowing and echoing are over-insistent, while Rana explains all of her symbols. Most interesting are vignettes of village life and traditional culture. Overall, a journalistic format might have suited the material better. Glossary. (Fiction. 14+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.