willemite

Thrity Umrigar is the internationally renowned author of The Space Between Us, an impressive tale of class and family in India. In the World We Found, she widens her domain while still writing about caste, class, religion, relationships between women and the need to make difficult choices in life.

Amraiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta were close friends in college back in 1970s Bombay (Umrigar’s birthplace). The world in which they lived was vibrant and dangerous. With great optimism that they could effect meaningful change and make their world a far better place, they were bound to each other, sharing politics, demonstrations, idealism, and mutual affection.

Decades passed and their lives changed. One married an American and is living in the States. One is still in the closet, but getting closer to opening the door. One is married to a very successful businessman, and struggles to cope with her youthful idealism in a realistic world. And one is caught in a stifling marriage, hidden beneath a burkah. When now-American Amraiti learns that she has terminal cancer, and seeks to gather her friends together one last time, this offers the friends the prodding they need to examine the lives they have led, reconnect with each other and consider where they want to go in the years ahead.

The World We Found is a long-view coming of age tale, (coming of middle age?) not the usual metamorphosis from child to adult but the arrival at a certain place much later in life from the place inhabited, in a time long past, by young adults. Here in the 21st century, four middle-aged women trace their passage from there to here. They look at the events that shaped their lives, the decisions they made, and the values they held then in light of decades of experience. Does who we are remain the same?

One character says that “misery was the connective tissue that bonded humans to each other.” There was certainly that with these four, but there was more. If difficulty was an element in the friends’ bond what happens when that challenge is overcome, sidestepped, or forgotten? What happens when a friendship is no longer nourished? Can it be revived?

Umrigar uses a very wide stage for her characters. There is particular attention to religious pogroms in India, in both the 20th and 21st centuries. One character visits Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Berlin Wall and what she sees changes her life, and the lives of those around her. We see Amraiti and her family living in the USA. Both men and women are injured in Indian street violence, but the victims are targeted for different reasons and choose far different solutions. Spiritual directions are portrayed, from Hindu to Islam to Parsi to atheism

I was very pleased to see that Umrigar paid attention to her male characters as well. The Muslim man, Iqbal, who wants his wife to wear the burkha is not portrayed as a wild-eyed fanatic, but has a very heart-rending story that explains a lot about who he became, and why he espouses what most of us consider extreme views. The successful business man is shown not only as someone who can cope in the world of money, but as someone who uses his skills for helping others as well, someone who is caring, and who has a spiritual life. People here, male and female, are confronted with difficult situations and are challenged to make moral choices.

Umrigar has offered some images of times that will not be familiar to most western readers. That certainly adds to our appreciation of the complexity of Indian history. But mostly, she has offered an outstanding group of well-developed, interesting characters. You will care about what decisions they make. You will want to know more about what happens to their lives after their page-bound tales end. Umrigar also promotes the idea that our lives are worth examining. Socrates would be pleased. The World We Found finds a great writer at the top of her game. You will find this world one worth exploring.