Five-star fruit feast?
Underneath the book's mysterious title and even more mysterious cover, adorned with close-up shots of fruit, Fasting, Feasting proves a compelling exploration of the social pathos common to families born in different lands.
Arun, the reticent and sheltered only son shipped from India to the USA for an education, provides the thread that weaves his family's story into an American household's traumas and triumphs. The third-person narration, combined with the intense psychological material, creates a tone that is at once distanced and personal.
This allows the reader to empathise, but also leaves them space to ponder over the complex roots of the characters' problems. This approach fosters a discussion of a wealth of social issues. The novel takes up everything from arranged marriages, spousal abuse and drug abuse to the pitfalls of materialism, sexism and the ravages of bulimia.
The real soul of the book, however, lies in its finely chiselled characters. Each tells his or her story in a distinct voice that weaves into the others to create an ambitious storyline spanning many years and different cultures. Their stories are at times bitter and sad, sometimes funny and triumphant - yet they all show how the human spirit lives on, in spite of suffering.
Uma, the eldest daughter of the Indian family, deals with her loving, yet stifling, parents while trying to carve a life for herself, outside of the home. Mira-Masi, an elderly aunt desperately searches for her lost statue of Christ and spiritual rebirth. Ramu, a spirited cousin, longs for excitement and instead finds an escape in drugs and alcohol. Across the ocean in the US, Mrs Patten deals with her children growing up, and the emptiness she feeds through food and shopping; while her children must contend with the demands modern society places upon them.
With so many complex characters, Fasting, Feasting is not an easy read. It lacks a standard main character or hero, and its scope and chronology can sometimes get confusing. It requires significant reader participation in order to understand the different stories as one coherent whole. However, it is fast-paced, creatively written, and well worth the extra time spent pondering. The real question is - why the fruit on the cover?
ep
28th Oct 1999