Vine of Desire: Summary and book reviews of Vine of Desire by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, plus links to an excerpt from Vine of Desire and a biography of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Vine of Desire
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Hardcover: Jan 2002,
384 pages.
Paperback: Feb 2003,
384 pages.
In a novel that reunites the beloved characters of Sister of My Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores the emotional ties between two lifelong friends–and how they change when the husband of one is dangerously attracted to the other.
The Vine of Desire continues the story of Anju and Sudha, the two young women at the center of Divakaruni's bestselling novel Sister of My Heart. Far from Calcutta, the city of their childhood, and after years of living separate lives, Anju and Sudha rekindle their friendship in America. The deep-seated love they feel for each other provides the support each of them needs. It gives Anju the strength to pick up the pieces of her life after a miscarriage, and Sudha the confidence to make a life for herself and her baby daughter, Dayita–without her husband. The women's bond is shaken to the core when they must confront the deeply passionate feelings that Anju's husband has for Sudha. Meanwhile, the unlikely relationships they form with men and women in the world outside the immigrant Indian community as well as with their families in India profoundly transform them, forcing them to question the central assumptions of their lives.
A moving and satisfying sequel to Sister of My Heart,The Vine of Desire stands on its own as a novel of extraordinary depth and sensitivity.
Through the eyes of people caught in the clash of cultures, Divakaruni reveals the rewards and the perils of breaking free from the past and the complicated, often contradictory emotions that shape the passage to independence
Kirkus Reviews
Overwrought and sluggishly paced sequel, continuing the tale of two Indian cousins who now find their close relationship threatened by old loves and new sorrows in California.
Library Journal - Robert E. Brown
Evocative and emotionally charged, this could be a good alternative for your Anita Shreve readers.
Booklist - Donna Seaman
Poetic and bewitching, observant and compassionate, Divakaruni has a remarkable gift for intertwining romance with trenchant insights into the harsh realities of women's lives, whether they live in material comfort in Berkeley or in poverty in Calcutta, thus granting readers both visceral pleasure and clarifying aesthetic revelation.
Publishers Weekly
This exquisitely rendered tale of passion, jealousy and redemption continues the extraordinary relationship between Anjou and Sudha, the two exceptional women at the heart of Divakaruni's praised Sister of My Heart.
Recent Reader Reviews
Review (not rated)
by Shobha C.S.
There is poetry in this prose. It has abundant sensibility - subtle, delicate and with minor details, which is contemporary, ones, which we can identify in our life. when I was reading it, I could visualise each character, feel for them, and very... Read More
A moving, realistic, but always hopeful narrative novel of the Wu family - father Nan, mother Pingping, and son Taotao - as they fully sever their ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and begin a new, free life in the United States.
A stirring novel of three women, two continents, and a perilous journey from the old world to the new - weaves together fascinating stories of the sisters' ancestors, their childhood memories, and dramatic scenes from India's history.
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Kirkus Reviews
Booklist - Donna Seaman
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