One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's One Amazing Thing is brilliant in its ability to capture reader's attention and hold it throughout the narrative as the points of view change and characters share a life-changing moment. Divakaruni's writing places readers in the room with her characters and traps them there, making the terror of their impending doom real. Each character is at the visa office seeking papers to travel back to India when something happens and causes the building to partially collapse upon them.
"I am Cameron, he said to himself. With the words, the world as it was formed around him: piles of rubble, shapes that might be broken furniture. Some of the shapes moaned. The voices -- no, it was only one voice -- fell into an inexorable rhythm, repeating a name over and over." (Page 11)
Uma is among the first of the characters introduced and she's a college student who enjoys observing others and creating stories for them, which is why she suggests that each of the survivors -- in an unknown disaster -- tells the group about one amazing moment that changed their lives. Many of the stories are heartbreaking, but all of them serve as a basis of understanding. They create a place from which these different people, with their various prejudices and perspectives brought together by circumstances beyond their control, can begin to accept one another.
"Farah. She had entered Tariq's life innocuously, the way a letter opener slides under the flap of an envelope, cutting through things that had been glued shut, spilling secret contents. Her name was like a yearning poet''s sigh, but even Tariq was forced to admit that it didn't match the rest of her." (Page 30)
Book clubs will have a lot to discuss, including what makes life worthwhile to what moments in life would you revisit if you were trapped. Imagine seeing one amazing thing before you die. Then recall your memories. Yes, you have seen one amazing thing though it may have seemed ordinary at the time, but it becomes extraordinary to you. Divakaruni's prose is frank and her characters are dynamic and flawed. One Amazing Thing is just that.
Thanks to Divakaruni for sending me a review copy of her novel.
***I also appreciated that One Amazing Thing is printed on Certified Fiber Sourcing as part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.***
About the Author:
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include women, immigration, the South Asian experience, history, myth, magic and celebrating diversity.
She writes both for adults and children. Her books have been translated into 20 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese. Two novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into films. Her short stories, Arranged Marriage, won an American Book Award. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston.
This is my 3rd book for the 2010 South Asian Author Reading Challenge.
This is my 34th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.
This is my 9th book for the 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge.