Shashi Deshpande Books

The title character, Younguncle, is endearing, benevolent and completely, unconventionally brilliant. It is rare to find a book that is truly fascinating to all ages. My five year old devours each word as I delight in reading it again and again. Singh's words dance and entrance as the stories demonstrate that the world can be made to be a better place. A most enchanting book.

Ursula LeGuin said of YOUNGUNCLE COMES TO TOWN, "Anyone who reads this book will be perfectly happy." It's true. It's a glorious children's book that adults can read and enjoy, where the good people win and the bad people get exactly what they deserve, told with a deceptive gentleness and set in an India that perhaps exists nowhere but in the world of Vandana Singh. Also a prizewinning adult writer, Vandana Singh has a storytelling voice that can be compared with T.H. White in its down-to-earth kindness and its respect for the fantastic nature of the world.

There's a second book, so far published only in India, that will come out here if this one does well. So I'm giving it to EVERYONE for the holidays.

This is a very funny book with a wonderful plot. It is actually several short stories that together make a bigger plot! This is a great book!

Young reader books. Bane of my existence. Light of my life. Sometimes I swear that half my life is spent relentlessly tracking down worthy early chapter books for those kids who still need large fonts and plenty of pictures with their stories. In the year 2006 I've managed to locate two worthy early chapter books for the kiddies. One is "Roxie and the Hooligans" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. The other is the so far ignored "Younguncle Comes To Town" by Vandana Singh. Now for years I've been complaining to friends, family, and blogosphere alike that there are far too few Indian children's books brought to America. For crying out loud, they're already going to be in English! How hard is it to bring in some literature from another culture? And now it's as if Viking Children's Books has heard my plea. Straight from India (though written by a resident of Massachusetts who was born in Delhi) comes the first adventure of Younguncle. He can't hold down a job. He was kidnapped by monkeys as a child. And he hasn't an American equivalent anywhere that I can find.

Sarita, Ravi, and their little baby sister are just thrilled. Their crazy relative Younguncle (everyone has forgotten his real name) is coming to live with them for the very first time. Younguncle is their father's youngest brother and he's like nobody they've ever met. He's incredibly intelligent, sweet, good with kids, and afraid of settling down in any way. Once he moves in with the family, everyone in the village gets to know and love him. Of course, he can't stay in any one job for any amount of time. It isn't that he doesn't enjoy his work. He enjoys it way too much. He scares off customers with his intense adoration of car repair, sewing, and train timetables. At the same time, he manages to get mixed up in all kinds of trouble. There's his constant battle with the family baby who is intent on devouring one of his shirts. He manages to rescue his uncle's prize-winning horse from rich and powerful schemers. He employs some naughty monkeys in the search for a beloved village cow. By and large, if there's a mystery to be solved or an adventure to be had, Younguncle is on it. This is modern day India as few American kids have ever seen it before (and will ever see it again, for that matter).

The review of this title in Booklist was more than a little harsh, by the way. In it, the reviewer states, "The chief charm of these low-key stories, for American readers, is in their introduction to Indian culture, family life, lore, and legend". I respectfully disagree. Not about how well the book introduces Indian culture, mind you. You are certainly not going to find a book in America that talks about that particular country with a narrative that's half as light-hearted and easy going as this one. And certainly not for this reading level. Keep your "Blue Jasmine"s. I'm sticking with "Younguncle". But for Booklist to say that this is the chief charm of the title is a bit disingenuous. Humor is hard. Drama is simple (see the aforementioned "Blue Jasmine" which is very good but...). So the fact that Singh's book is as honestly amusing as it is no small feat. Singh works in subtle jokes alongside wonderful vocabulary words (as in a sentence about mangoes that reads that they were, "large, golden, luscious, and ambrosial, enough to inspire poetry in the most prosaic soul"). The slapstick scenes are funny without getting gross. The funny stuff is honestly funny.

Actually, you know what book this reminded me for quite some time? "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Richard Atwater. The reading level and the good-natured animal-inspired insanity just struck a similar tone with me. On the other hand, Younguncle himself views the world in a particularly Pippi Longstockingish way. You wouldn't be surprised in the least to find him living with a horse or crashing a tea party (which he essentially does when he wants to break up his sister's arranged marriage). Not every book to hit bookshelves gets a blurb from Ursula Le Guin. This one did. And not every early chapter book is going to talk about a culture outside of America with as much charm, verve, and honest-to-goodness down-to-earth storytelling as, "Younguncle Comes To Town". The second book in this series is already out in India. Let's encourage Viking to bring it stateside as well by giving this first novel a shot. Fine fine reading.

I confess I could not even complete the book. There are too many characters and it was hard to keep track of everybody. I had to go back many times to check whether the character was really introduced before. The description of places was remarkable. I felt I was physically 'seeing'them. The story might be enlighetening to some but Shashi Deshpande must keep the pace and interest of the reader. There were hardly any dramatic happenings in the first half which I read. Do the readers feel compel to read? My definite answer was big NO. Unless the reader feels compulsion to turn over the page and reach the last page neither entertainment nor enlightenment will be experienced.

This must have been the most boring, hard to follow book I have read in my life.
There was not enought substance to hate it or to love it...just plain boring.

Shashi Deshpande's book "A Matter of Time" is a "must" book for all those who are interested in the Indian way of thinking. In her book Deshpande tries to answer some very important questions like, "What is a relationship?", "What is life?", "What is death?", "Is death the final act which wipes out all that has been?" - questions that have bothered human beings from time immemorial. Seeped in Indian thoughts and philosophical thinking, rich in Indian images, the novel is a tapestry of human relationships. It is quite unconventional in the way it uses the relationships within a family to explore the ways open to a man who is disenchanted with the material world. Gopal who he is haunted by a feeling of emptiness walks out of his family life leaving behind his young and beautiful wife, Sumi and three daughters. Sumi accepts his decision even if she does not understand it, and concentrates on continuing to live. It is as if within her heart she knows that no human being has the right to chain up another one, that each person has to travel the path of life alone. Aru, the eldest daughter does not have this ripeness of outlook. Just 17 years of age, she thinks that justice is something which can be obtained in a court of law. She divides life into fair and unfair zones. Kalyani, the grand mother has led a macabre married life. Her husband has not talked to her for decades, and leads a solitary life in a room built on the top of the house. But the fact that he is there in the house seems to lend an air of respectability to Kalyani's life. She does not understand the loneliness of the heart, and neither understands why Gopal has walked out nor why Sumi takes it so calmly. Thus in this novel Shashi Deshpande brings together women of three generations and shows their different outlooks on life. As with her other books, a variety of experiences await the reader of this novel. What a reader gets out of this book very much depends on the his/her own mental frame work. This novel is not meant to entertain, but to enlighten.

As a writer, Deshpande speaks with the voice of truth. The core of her talent is a profound understanding of the layered complexities of women's familial interactions, the nurturing friendships and smoldering silences of past deeds. She weaves the story of four generations of Indian women caught in the "metaphor of silence".

When Gopal, in a rush of existential angst, tells his wife, Sumi, that he cannot stay married, he makes this decision in good faith. Unable to find joy in the small moments of family, he is hyper-aware of the fleeting nature of happiness. With the simple intention to be true to himself, he sets in place a series of events with tragic consequences. The most wrenching change is for Sumi, Gopal's beautiful still-young wife, who must return to live in her parents home with three young daughters. In her struggle for a new definition of herself, Sumi grieves and accepts the loss of her marriage, discovers untapped strengths within herself and possibilities for her future. Sumi begins anew knowing that "where I stand is always the center to me". Of the girls, Anu, the oldest, struggles hardest to understand how her everyday simplicity could change so drastically. She watches the grownups carefully: her mother, Sumi, her grandmother, Kalyani, and distant grandfather, Shripati. And Anu listens to old family stories in an attempt to comprehend the intricacies of the women's subtle alliances.

No one is prepared for tragedy as they attempt to reassemble their hopes and dreams with an eye to the future. But life is ever unpredictable and this Indian family is dealt a blow that leaves them staggering for balance. In her powerful, quiet way, Deshpande lovingly renders her complex characters, bringing the reader into their home just long enough to love these women too, and mourn their loss, a rare gift in a writer.

This book is fantastic! Deshpande uses such incredible imagery, such rich detail, I felt like I was part of the book. While exploring the inner workings of the Indian brain, this book also deals with the strength and power of Indian family life. I read this book from cover to cover in one sitting, and would gladly read it again. I absolutely loved it!