- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Writers Lair (Mar 27 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0615340814
- ISBN-13: 978-0615340814
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.2 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful cross-cultural window and a really enjoyable read, July 20 2010
By S. Deeth "Sheila Deeth" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Shiva's Arms (Hardcover)
If you've ever wondered about Indian culture, Hindu festivals, mixed marriages that span continents, or how people from a different background assimilate in America's new world, Shiva's Arms is surely the book for you.
A literary story, Shiva's Arms tell the tale of Ram, who marries the American Alice, of Ram's mother, known as Amma, of his sister Nela, and of son Sam who grows from childhood to adulthood with a foot in each world. The story's narrated through the eyes of each of the main characters, flickering sometimes between points of view, so the reader's left vaguely unsettled, unsure, just as the narrators are.
There are beautiful scenes, of a wedding in India and Alice's cultural mis-steps as she tries to fit in; of a festival of dolls with Barbies adding their color to tradition; of "painting" with chalk, sacred symbols that strangers scuff with shoes. And there are sad scenes too; Alice's struggle against depression; her mother-in-law's seeming cruelty; Nela's wounded dance round relationships.
The characters in this novel are all very real. They see their own mistakes and navigate troubled waters of their own making. They analyze their motives and forget to notice love. But there's healing for Indian and American errors, and samsara sagara (the drowning sea of domesticity) proves to offer shelter on beautiful shores.
Moving rapidly, from a time before Sam's birth through to his high school graduation, the story spans continents and cultures, pleasures and pains. Ram drifts on the edge of understanding, ever-loving, ever-loyal. And Sam drifts on the edge of rebellion. A sudden coincidence brings all the relationships into turmoil and sharp focus, and a breathtaking dogged devotion leads to breathtaking delight.
There are Indian words and phrases, and foods, scattered through the tale, but I never felt the need to refer to the glossary till the end. Then I delighted in reading their full meanings. There are Indian recipes too though I'd struggle to find patience to make them. But most of all, there's an Indian and American feel to the tale, a telling of something real from which all of us can learn, a blending of cultures that leaves them both unique and that heals the rift.
The author, a published poet, clearly knows what she's writing about, and I loved learning from her and sharing her love of cultures and of words.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Shiva's Arms, Aug 12 2010
By Kathleen Kelly "Celticlady" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Shiva's Arms (Hardcover)
Shiva's Arms is a blending of American and Indian culture and also the diversities of the two cultures. There is Alice who marries Ramesh, and his mother Amma and huge family in India. Nela is Ramesh's sister and then there is Sam, son of Alice and Ramesh. Alice and Ram meet while in college and fall in love and marry. Alice is apprehensive meeting his family and rightly so as she knows absolutely nothing of the Indian culture. She tries very hard to be a good wife and do what a good Indian wife should do and follow the ideals and requirements of a wife in the Indian culture. I think that Alice had a hard time with trying to blend in, she tries so hard that she makes herself physically ill and spends days in bed battling depression. Amma is the matriarch in this huge family and spends a lot of time each year in America with her son. At times I feel that Alice is self centered in that sometimes it appears that she does not want anything to do with her husbands family and she seems to not care and then at other times she strikes me as being a very loving wife and daughter-in-law. Alice and Amma seem to always be having a silent tug of war that the son does not see, but I also think that there is a lot of affection there between the two women. Sam, who is the son of Alice and Ram is brought up in both cultures but he can be rebellious. The author was very descriptive in the story as to the telling of wedding customs and India in particular. At the end of the book there are a few Indian recipes that looked interesting. I enjoyed the story for the culture aspect as I had not read anything pertaining to India. If you like to read books that have such a diverse culture, than this is a book for you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can we overcome?, Aug 6 2010
By Andrea Schaerf - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Shiva's Arms (Hardcover)
I learned how intense and strong some life struggles are and the strenght it takes to make changes. It made me believe we can get through difficult personal and cultural changes that we must. All our lives and all of us as individuals will be stronger as a result and pass this on. I cried at the end
This made me wonder if we as individuals or as members of our broader cultures, can overcome barriers to resolve differences and reach a point of acceptance.
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