The Space Between Us: A powerful contemporary literary historical fiction novel exploring timeless themes

This book is the worst printed book I have ever seen Happer Perennial should establish a new low in quality!The paper is of poor quality,The printing is gray, not black,The book edge is not even within the page and from page to page!

Me fascina con la autora escribe, hace sentir el personaje y lugar! Irresistible no comprar el libro que le sigue!

I loved this story of two women, who both did what was best for their families, and had to break something beautiful in doing it. It is a family saga between two worlds - rich / poor; mistress / servant; truth / lies. I was delighted to learn something about life within the caste system in India. The language was a colourful mixture of British colonial stiff upper-lip, American slang, Bollywood, and Hindi. "The Space Between Us" was colourful, rich, and fascinating. If it were a colour - it would be deep red melting into purple. Laughed and cried to the same degree.

this is a story which can be encountered in many of the indian houses nowadays. It reveals the historically existing social gap among indian population, the benefits some get pertaining to some social groups and the handicaps other people run into when confronted to similar situations.Besides, the reader can find himself diving in a surprising and unexpected love story.I highly recommend it.

Zwei eng verbundene Frauenschicksale im heutigen Bombay erzählen von den Gegensätzlichkeiten des für uns so fernen Indien. Es geht um Armut und Schicksalsschläge, aber auch um Familien- und Ehelebe. Das für Außenstehende Bunte und Exotische entpuppt sich beim zweiten Blick als teilweise nackter Kampf ums Überleben. Sehr gut, wie die Autorin nie langweilig wird oder gar ins Seichte abgleitet. Interessant und ergreifend hat dieses Buch Ähnlichkeiten mit "Tausend strahlende Sonnen", aber nicht ganz dessen Durchschlagskraft...

(Spoilers alert!)A key element of this rich and detailed narrative of the inter-twined lives of a domestic servant, Bhima, and her mem-saab, Sera Dubash, is the absence of a glossary or the use of italics for words, that may not feature in the vocabularies of non-Indians or even of those Indians, who are not Parsis; words such as agyari (the Paris fire temple) and sadra (a kind of vest)... There is also plenty of Gujarati in the book. To me that is a sign that the Indian diaspora writing in English needn't stand apart culturally any more as if apologising for that difference.Another thing a reader will notice is the ample use of Hinglish, or Indian-style English, such as the use of the word yaar almost as a punctuation, the word Mausi in certain social classes to address an old lady or a female family friend with respect, and even the peculiar use of language as a tool to signal how a relationship has changed (e.g. Bhima addressing Viraf as 'seth', a word for a rich or powerful man, towards the end and not as 'baba', a word of affection for boys used by their mothers or maternal women).These 'literal' points aside, the book flows like a river once you start reading it. In a culture where servants are called and treated like servants, with their separate cutlery and sometimes entrances (latter not in this book though), there also co-exists deep poignancy and loyalty implied in the actions of both the servant and the sa'ab/ mem-saab. The story captures it beautifully. Bhima is but like Jeeves minus the clean clothes or the sharp wit, but with a deep sympathy and sense of loyalty for Sera. I wondered at the end how Sera would survive without Bhima, not because she cannot cut onions but because she loses a part of herself that she doesn't realise while our story ends.The real touch of genius however lies in capturing the uncertain values of the emergent Indian generation (I daresay, my own), which picks and chooses from a smorgasbord of values to suit its own purposes, but amidst whom truly compassionate people like Sera's daughter Dinaz also exist.The book holds many different threads together - how Chowpatty in Bombay has changed over the years, how the dwindling Parsi community still largely does not accept non-Parsi spouses with open arms, how the educated in India often balance a load of conflicting values and expectations to hold their lives in one piece - quite vividly.Above all to me this wonderful book is a powerful narrative of the paradoxes that make up modern India. I could see bits of myself and my friends in Sera, Dinaz and even Viraf as well as Maya..The only reason for giving it 4 stars is that I do not think this book is unique in its genre; I was also sometimes a bit confused by the use of Bambaiya (i.e. of Bombay) language in the book which is beyond even me and I found that distracting; I was also put off a bit by the repeated use of some metaphors such as a puppy eager to please and the use of double words such as slow-slow/ hot-hot which are commonly used but not often in contexts which the author has used them and did seem like a drag at times.