Well written book discussing the post-colonial experience and the immigrant experience. It is done with humor and compassion. There is not much "action" but there are brilliant descriptions of the personal experiences of the characters and their environment. It is hard to sympathize with the judge but easy to have empathy for the plight of Sai and the cook.

A tale of India and the United States. Very difficult to read and follow. Interesting characters but story twists and turns too much. Would not recomment for book clubs.

Nine members of the book club did not finish the book. Great disappointment in the choice. Three finished it and found it interesting. People couldn't get past the long descriptions, the tangential characters, the lack of storyline and disjointed narrative. One one person loved it for the language, the use of imagery, and the opportunity to understand the consequences of the decay of the British empire and the sensibilities of diaporic Indian writers.

Excellent book that has a very broad scope, bringing to life this particular time in India for all of the myriad groups affected. The writing in incredibly beautiful and the subject matter dark, since in the end very little that is hopeful emerges. I thorougly enjoyed the book.

There were a lot of beautiful descriptions in this book and in some places the writing was lyrical, but overall it was tedious. Most of our book club members never finished the book. I stuck with it and I'm glad I did but there just wasn't enough in for me to say it is "book club worthy." Many characters were so unlikeable that we just didn't care what happened to them. Descriptions are sometimes gross (bathroom habits) and added nothing to the narrative. There are many better books out there.