Bombay Time: A Novel - Hardcover

Umrigar, Thrity

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312277164 ISBN 13: 9780312277161

Publisher: Picador, 2001

Synopsis

At the wedding of a young man from a middle-class apartment building in Bombay, the men and women of this unique community gather together and look back on their youthful, idealistic selves and consider the changes the years have wrought. The lives of the Parsi men and women who grew up together in Wadi Baug are revealed in all their complicated humanity: Adi Patel's disintegration into alcoholism; Dosamai's gossiping tongue; and Soli Contractor's betrayal and heartbreak. And observing it all is Rusi Bilimoria, a disillusioned businessman who struggles to make sense of his life and hold together a fraying community.

About this title

About the Author

Thrity Umrigar grew up in Bombay, India. A recipient of the Neiman Fellowship at Harvard, she writes for the Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, and she is a contributor to the Boston Globe. She lives in Kent, Ohio.

Reviews

The middle-class denizens of a Bombay apartment complex come to life in Umrigar's engaging debut, which tells the story of a half-dozen protagonists through the prism of a wedding hosted by respected lawyer Jimmy Kanga. Kanga's rise to glory is just one of several intriguing subplots. The novel begins with the story of Rusi and Coomi Bilimoria, a couple whose marriage becomes frayed when Rusi's business plans don't match his expectations and Coomi's mother-in-law turns out to be a live-in nightmare. Other interesting yarns include that of Dosamai, a bright young woman who, after her parents force her to marry down to ensure the future of her sisters, eventually turns into the local gossip. The neighborhood drunk, Adi Patel, also has a tale to tell involving a tragic interlude with the daughter of a laborer that effectively ruins his life, and the widow Tehmi Engineer takes an analogous road to ruin when her handsome husband, Cyrus, is killed in an explosion at a chemical plant. Umrigar is an accomplished, natural storyteller who remains an optimistic narrator despite all her grim plot twists, though she never softens the impact of the various tragedies on her characters. She also manages to work in a portrait of the decline of Bombay, delivering an impressive debut offering a glimpse into a cultural world especially that of the Parsis, an ethnic minority that most Westerners know only in its barest outlines. Regional author tour. (July)Forecast: Despite the rather drab cover design, this title should find a modest audience among readers of literary fiction and fans of other Indian writers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

A native of Bombay and a journalist for the Akron-Beacon Journal in Akron, OH, Umrigar presents a startling contemporary portrait of life in a Bombay apartment house whose residents are mostly Parsis. The book focuses on middle-aged Rusi Bilimoria, one of several residents, who made some questionable choices early in life and must live with the fallout. Now, even as the entire building celebrates the marriage of one resident's son, Rusi finds his own marriage falling apart. This debut shows that lives are always a work in progress: one never really arrives but is constantly traveling. In the tradition of Rohinton Mistry and Bapsi Sidhwa, Umrigar poignantly explicates the dwindling Parsi community, which does not feature prominently in current South Asian fiction. A wonderful addition to both public and academic libraries for its contribution to the emerging Third World voice in literature. Michelle Reale, Elkins Park Free Lib., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Parsi community of Wadia Baug is a close-knit group of families, bound to one another, and separated from their neighbors, by their religion and ethnic heritage. Umrigar's novel takes place during Mehernosh Kanga's wedding, at which his father, Jimmy, presents each of his Wadia Baug friends with a photo album, resurrecting the friends' memories of their lives together. In flashback, each of the wedding guests relives the significant events of the past: Jimmy's sullen childhood as an orphan; Coomi and Rusi's slowly disintegrating marriage; Adi's tortured relationships with women and his slow descent into alcoholism; Soli's love affair with a young Jewish girl who abandoned him when her family decided to move to Israel; and the explosion of the local chemical plant that killed Tehmi's beloved husband. Struggling to survive in tumultuous postcolonial India, the Wadia Baug residents respond to poverty, violence, and shattered dreams with love, compassion, and loyalty. Bombay Time is sweet, frightening, poignant, and chaotic as Umrigar dramatizes the power of community in the face of an increasingly dangerous and chaotic world. Bonnie Johnston
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312277164
• ISBN 13: 9780312277161
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256