- Hardcover: 312 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (Aug 15 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679439005
- ISBN-13: 978-0679439004
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 16.3 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Desai's exquisite, exotic 10th novel follows well-to-do European newlyweds who, in 1975, embark on a spiritual search in India. The husband, an Italian named Matteo, joins an ashram and becomes a fervent devotee of an aged, solitary guru known as "the Mother." But to his skeptical German wife, Sophie, the Mother is not a fount of Eastern wisdom but a "monster spider" who catches "silly flies" like the deluded Matteo. After giving birth to a son and a daughter, both of whom she raises in the ashram, Sophie flees with her children to her in-laws' Italian villa. Vowing to unmask the Mother's true identity, she then sets off to Alexandria. There, through flashbacks, we meet Laila, a free-spirited teenager, half-Egyptian, half-French, who moves to Paris, rebels against her bourgeois aunt and joins an Indian dance troupe. Falling in love with Krishna, the troupe's charismatic, aloof leader, Laila tours Venice and 1920s New York before moving with him to India, where she later renounces dance for enlightenment and transforms herself into the Mother. The story closes with excerpts from Laila's India diary and with Sophie's confrontation with the wizened, aged Krishna, whom she tracks down in Bombay. Desai (Baumgartner's Bombay) magically evokes the collision and melding of cultures and ideas as she maps the hazards and rewards of spiritual quest.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The author of Baumgartner's Bombay (LJ 3/15/89) offers another intriguing novel of India. During a seriocomic search for Eastern enlightenment, European newlyweds Matteo and Sophie encounter a living saint, the Mother. Matteo becomes a disciple, but Sophie resists, even as their stay in the Mother's model ashram stretches into years. As Matteo increasingly withdraws from a previously passionate marriage, Sophie vows to destroy her husband's spiritual obsession. To prove that the Mother is less than holy, Sophie explores the saint's past, beginning with rumors about a colorful dancing career. The quest leads Sophie along strange roads to even stranger characters in Egypt, France, Italy, and the United States. Back in India with assorted facts but few answers, she finds shocking news and a challenge waiting. An ambiguous denouement reiterates the haunting questions about sacred and profane love that echo throughout the book. Fine fare for thoughtful readers with a taste for exotic settings.?Starr E. Smith, Marymount Univ., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Journey To Ithaca (Paperback)
Desai is a writer who repays re-reading. This book is subtle and textured. The author plays marvelously with time and consciousness in ways reminiscent of Virginia Woolf, brought up to date.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not recommended,
By A Customer
This review is from: Journey To Ithaca (Hardcover)
This is one of the worse books I have ever plodded through. I can't believe I actually finished it. It is full of rambling prose, and uninteresting characters, in a very boring, uneventful plot. Why would anyone want to write such a book? What is the point? Matteo and Sophie aren't very deep people, and the bit about the Mother was so uninteresting. It wasn't even worthy of one star and is in such contrast to books by the same author, that have a soul. Why would anyone want to write about this kind of indulgent, boring uninteresting people, even though I know their type exists. They aren't worthy to be characters in any literature.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not recommended,
By happy "happydancer" (Ithaca, New York United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Journey To Ithaca (Hardcover)
This is one of the worse books I have ever plodded through. I can't believe I actually finished it. It is full of rambling prose, and uninteresting characters, in a very boring, uneventful plot. Why would anyone want to write such a book? What is the point? Matteo and Sophie aren't very deep people, and the bit about the Mother was so uninteresting. It wasn't even worthy of one star and is in such contrast to books by the same author, that have a soul. Why would anyone want to write about this kind of indulgent, boring uninteresting people, even though I know their type exist? They aren't worthy to be characters in any literature.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
