If Today Be Sweet

by Thrity Umrigar


In spite of how much I like her name (seriously, I can go hours just chanting "Thrity Umrigar" in my head like it's a koan), I'm not that crazy about her work. I enjoyed her first book, The Spaces Between Us, very much--it reminded me a lot of Rohinton Mistry's books, though less complex, less layered. But very authentic, and very moving.

This book was a fun, easy read. But in comparison with the first book, maybe a little less believable? Not that the characters weren't well-thought out or inconsistent...but this book did strike me as more of a modern-day immigrant fairy tale.

Maybe it's because it's a happy book, and the first one was so tragic.

Recently-widowed Tehmina is visiting her son in suburban Ohio (he's married to a "midwestern white girl"), trying to decide whether to live in America with them or go back to Bombay. She's torn between her love for her family and her love for her familiar life. She finds herself drifting from day to day in Ohio--finding herself unhappy in spite of all that she has.

A great deal of her unhappiness comes from the cultural divide, and the tensions she feels she brings into her son's home.

What changes her is a small act of bravery that would be considered inconsequential in Bombay where everyone knows everyone else's business, but in the US could be perceived as both interfering and heroic. This small deed and its consequences help Tehmina to see that she has worth, even as an "old" lady in a foreign country, and makes it clear what her decision about the rest of her life needs to be.

What I liked most about the book was how Thrity got into Tehmina & Sorab (her son)'s heads, and their thoughts about their different experiences of immgrating to the US. I also loved the little descriptions of Parsi culture and wish I knew a bit more about it beyond what I've read in Thrity's books.