Individual entry #1: I have just finished reading the first four chapters of The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar. Within these chapters, as the reader I learned who the main characters were. Bhima is the grandmother of Maya, who has gotten herself into trouble while away at college and come home pregnant. Bhima, who feels unappreciated and disrespected by Maya’s behavior, has to now cope with the situation at hand so reputations will not be harmed and the relationship between herself and Maya will heal. Another main character is Sera and her family. Bhima works for the family as, I wouldn’t call her a servant because she does not live with them, but a daily cleaning lady. The relationship between Sera and Bhima seems strong. In the first two chapters I had the feeling that Bhima was considered more of a friend to Sera but later realized that Sera has a hard time viewing Bhima as an equal to herself. In chapters three and four, Bhima is so infuriated and humiliated by Maya’s actions that she finally is given a name of who the father is after slashing at Maya’s emotions. With so much anger built up, Bhima goes to find the man, Ashok Malhotra, at Maya’s college to offer a marriage proposal so that some good could be made from the situation at hand. Unfortunately, Ashok is not the father and was just a name given to Bhima to get her off Maya’s back. Returning home even more infuriated, Bhima, after showing her fury, proposes the idea of abortion to Maya. I chose to read The Space Bewteen Us because it was one of the books a wanted to read during the summer but I chose to read another instead. And after reading the first two chapters assigned to us in class, I was immediately enveloped in the story and wanted to keep reading. I’m not really sure what my expectations are except for that I wish to learn more about the Indian caste system and the Hindu culture and still enjoy a great story at the same time(if that makes sense). So far, the main theme is class. Not a lot has been said since I have only read the first forty pages, but I can already tell how differently Bhima is from Sera and her family. In the book, I read how when Sera and Bhima sit down to talk with one another or share a meal together, Bhima has to sit on the ground in the corner and use her own utensils. I also learned of how Sera views Bhima, comparing classes. Sera feels that Bhima is dirty and how repulsing it would be to allow her to sit on her furniture or use one of her glasses even though the idea has crossed her mind. As of now, I really enjoy the book. It has a very captivating beginning which is essential for me as a reader to want to continue reading. I also like how it is a fiction novel because I know that the story will keep my attention and I will still acquire new knowledge of the Indian society. For example, I enjoy reading the Indian terms used to address someone else like “yaar” and “beta”. I am really looking forward to see what direction the story takes.
Other Members: Hannah and Megan Individual Entry #1: I have just finished reading the first four chapters of The Space Between Us by Thiert Umrigar. The main characters are Bhima who is the grandmother of Maya and Sera who Bhima is the servant for. It takes place in present day India. In these first four chapters the main theme involves Maya, Bhima's granddaughter. Bhima has discovered that while Maya was away at college she became pregnant. Bhima is greatly disappointed in Maya because she is the first person in their family to go to college. Maya has no returned home and the maine goal of Maya and Bhima is to try and hide the fact that she is pregnant from the people in their slum. Bhima is constantly shunning Maya and eventually forces Maya to tell her who the father of the baby is. Maya tells her grandmother that the father of the baby is a boy who she knew at college by the name of Ashok Malhotra. When Bhima finally gets a name of the father she decides to take a trip up to Maya's college to pay Ashok a visit. She arrives at school and goes to the front offices where she is directed to a place called the canteen. The canteen is pretty much a dining hall and a social gathering area for students. When she arrives at the canteen she is met with the smell of fried food and cigarette smoke. Her guide points out Ashok and leaves Bhima to confront him alone. She slowly walks up to Ashok and begins to confront him. She says that she is Maya's grandmother and that she had some questions for him. Ashok plays all of her questions of like he doesn't have a clue about what she is talking about. She eventually comes straight out and says that Maya told her that he was going to be the father of her child. He denies all alligations and says that Maya is a dirty whore and a liar. Bhima is stunned by this news and no longer knows what to say to Ashok. So she decides to go back home to her slum and confront Maya about lying to her. She immediately accuses Maya of lying to her and begins to beat her. Maya turns and covers her stomach while Bhima beats on her back. All this time Bhima is yelling at Maya and telling her how much of a disgrace she is to her. Maya is upset that Bhima went and confronted Ashok because she says that he has the biggest mouth in school and that everyone probably already knows. This makes Bhima fill with guilt and then the chapter ends. So far the book is exceeding my expectations. I thought that it was going to be about there terrible life in the slums of India and it really has alot more to it than that. I chose this book because it seemed like it was going to be an interesting, true life story about something that is actually still existing in our world today. Throughout the book there has been a little demonstration of "class". Throughout the story you can see the "class" differences between Bhima, the servant, and Sera the master of Bhima. Sera is an upper class lady and has Bhima cook and clean for her family. Sera lives in a gorgeous home compared to the shack the Bhima and Maya live in. As of now, I am enjoying the book and hope that it continues to capture my interest. In the first four chapters I was captivated with the change in emotions that Bhima went through. She was always going from being in a compassionate loving mood, to a bitter angry mood, to an "I want to kill some one mood".
Individual blog 2: From my last blog, I have read chapters five through twelve. So far, Umrigar is still giving the reader background information on each character so the reader will better understand the complicated lives of each and be able to compare the different characters. In these chapeters, we are introduced to Sera’s mother-in-law. We learn of the bitter past they shared and how Sera, everyday, must continue to visit the old woman since there is no one else to spend time with her. Umrigar portrays the dread Sera has every time she meets with her. The author shares an experience of Sera in her early marriage when her hate for her mother-in-law came be. She tells how alienated Sera would feel when she crossed the boundaries of the traditional views of her mother-in-law. The author also shows how compassionate Sera’s father-in-law was and how he was a main reason she kept her sanity while she lived with her husband’s parents. Umrigar also shares the story of how Bhima and Gopal(her deceased husband) met. She shares in detail how Gopal would meet Bhima everyday at the bus stop and serenade her with love songs while riding his bike next to the bus. In the next chapters, the reader discovers how Maya’s pregnancy is not only affecting Bhima and her work, but also Sera and her family. To fix this problem, Viraf, the husband of Dinaz(daughter of Sera), confronts Bhima on their way to the market and proposes that they will find a doctor that will do an abortion for Maya so all the chaos can finally end. When Bhima shares this with Maya, Maya hesitantly agrees as long as Sera takes her, not Bhima. So after the procedure has been done, Maya seems to lose all life in her. She still remains at home and refuses to go back to school or find a job and has a “I don’t care” attitude towards life. Because of this, Bhima decides it’s time to fix their relationship. After the quality time they spend together at the seaside, Maya shows her desire to learn about her parents and how they died from AIDS. This book is still meeting my expectations. It remains a page turner, in my view, because the story of it outweighs the historical part. The one main concern I have is that I am already 137 pages into the book and Thrity Umrigar stills seems to be giving backround information. I am impatiently anticipating for something major to occur that will take the story in a new direction. The theme of class and work is still very prominent in The Space Between Us. As the reader, you continue to see the different lifestyles of someone in the lower class compared to someone above them. For example, when deciding upon who should take Maya to have her abortion, the reason why Sera is chosen over Bhima is because no doctor would treat Maya with the same consideration as they would someone higher in society if Bhima, a poor woman, took Maya. I still believe that this book is very well written. I thought it would be difficult for me to keep track of each character since at first many Indian names were being thrown out in the text, but Umrigar does a great job at separating chapters so every detail and story does not blend into one. Like I stated before, the book is stays a page turner for me due to the nonfiction part of it. It is also a noteworthy book with cultural value since many of the experiences that happen in the book happen in India today, like the class differences.
To answer Sarah's question, I am actually not too suprised that Maya didn't put up a fight because in society in which Maya lives, the author references that a person in Maya's state would not have been socially accepted. It would have also caused so many more problems between her grandmother and herself that it wouldn't have been worth it considering Bhima is pretty much her only family. Individual blog #3: For this blog, I read chapters thirteen through twenty-one. I would say that these chapters were probably some of the most important in the entire book so far. Starting with chapter thirteen, Umrigar describes how Bhima found out about her daughter, Pooja, and her husband had been infected with AIDS through a telegram. Bhima’s daughter and son-in-law lived in Delhi so Bhima really did not keep much contact with them considering she lives in Bombay. After she received the telegram, we read about her experience in the hospital as she watches as her son-in-law and daughter slowly die. She gives many thanks to a man she met in the hospital, Hyder, and without him, the experience would have been unbearable and much more confusing since Bhima had never heard of AIDS before in her life. In the next chapters, the author gives more experiences of abuse Sera went through from her husband, Feroz, and how her love for her husband soon turned to hate. The reader then learns of when Sera’s hate grew so much that she had to leave the house in which she lived. So she travled to her parents house with her young daughter, Dinaz. After staying at her parents’ house for many weeks, Sera’s father-in-law shows up one day pleading for her to return. He finally convinces her to come back after offering to buy her and Feroz their own home. In chapter sixteen, Bhima tells Maya how her husband, Gopal, had changed. Bhima and Gopal used to take seaside walks up until he had his accident. While working in an industrial factory, Gopal had lost three of his fingers and had also lost his job due to Bhima. Without knowing what she was doing since she was illiterate, Bhima was tricked into giving her thumb print which released Gopal from his job. From this point on, Bhima and Gopal’s marriage went downhill especially once Gopal began drinking. They separated once Gopal had used the money to buy his son’s medicine to instead buy himself alcohol. Gopal left by leaving a note for Bhima explaining how sorry he was and that he knows she thinks he does not love her but, in fact, he still does. And also with his departure, he would also take their son, Amit, with him. In chapter twenty, we learn the story of how Feroz died an unexpected death one afternoon after work. Feroz had returned from work one day exhausted and feeling ill so he took a nap before dinner and unfortunately never woke up. And in chapter 21, there is such an unexpected twist! After seeing each other at a restaurant, Bhima discovers that Maya’s secret lover had been Viraf, Dinaz’s husband who is also expecting a child from his wife! This chapter was such a bad chapter to end on but I cannat wait to find out the story of how it happened. The Space Between Us still remains a book I will without a doubt recommend to others. The way the author has written the story is so unique considering almost the entire book has been giving events in the past to help the reader learn more about each character, but it has never been difficult or painful for me to read. In these chapters, work and class still remain eminent throughout. For example, when Bhima is reminiscing about Gopal’s accident, she tells how he had obtained an infection from surgery and the doctors at the hospital had not treated him for it until Feroz and Sera, upper class citizens, demanded they use antibiotics on him to help cure the infection. The book, like I said before, is outstanding and I am beginning to see why it earned awards as I come close to finishing it. I really have not been able to put it down once I pick it up but time in my schedule is limited which is why I have to stop reading after a few chapters. This book is of great cultural value because I have learned the lives of the more respected and lives of the lower class citizens in India without reading a word of a history book.
So, I finally finished the book and it was amazing! The climax of the story was such a twist! So once Bhima had discovered that Viraf had been the father of Maya’s, now aborted, baby, she had Maya tell her all the details. Maya told her how it happened at Sera’s mother-in-law’s house one evening while she had been working there. Viraf had wanted a massage and Maya did as she was asked, just obeying the orders of a higher respected man in society. So as one thing led to another, Viraf, I guess you could say, forced himself on Maya but Maya never tried to stop him. So, now that Bhima knows of this, she acted strangely around Viraf and Viraf could sense that Bhima had a clue about what happened. Reacting according to his fear, Viraf configured a plan to get Bhima fired so nothing would ever be said. One day while Bhima was working at Sera’s house, Viraf came home and accused Bhima of stealing money from them. Bhima, who was so appalled by this false accusation, reacted by calling Viraf out on what he had done to Maya. By doing this, Sera ended up firing her for disrespecting her family. At first, Bhima was sad and felt lost knowing she was now without a job and that she would never see the family she had pretty much been a part of for many years, but then she realizes that she is free now. The book ends with a sense of relief and peace as Bhima buys a bunch of balloons and walks beside the sea enjoying life at that moment. The Space Between Us was a fantastic book. I can honestly say that I never once dreaded having to read it nor did I ever feel bored while reading it. The only thing I would have wanted to be changed was that I would want the climax to come sooner and find out how Bhima’s life would be after she was let go by Sera. The themes that I noticed as I read the book were class, work, and education. I talked about class and work in my other blogs but realizing that education was also a big contributing factor to those two themes. If someone living in India during this time had not been educated, they would be considered low-class and also would be ignored over people who had been educated with better jobs. It seems like those who were not educated, especially women, it would be inevitable that they would become a house keeper or servant (whatever you would call it). This book was excellent. It deserves all the awards it has received. The story from page one was so captivating and opened my eyes to what goes on in other countries and how blessed I am that the United States does not have a class system like in India. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the issues of class in India and if someone wants a good read.
Group blog: Our group loved The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar. Today in our discussion, we all agreed that the anticipation of the climax that was absolutely killing us was well worth it! We also talked about how we would have liked the climax to have come sooner. Megan and Cody both felt that some of the background informing chapters could have been left out so the climax came sooner. We also would like to know what the next part of Bhima’s lifw will be and if Dinaz will ever find out about her husband’s shenanigans with Maya. Other than that, we all were surprised to find out that Viraf was the secret father of Maya’s baby considering he has a wife and a child on the way. Another aspect of the book that we all concur with is that we never got bored with it. The author has a very captivating and unique way of writing that keeps the reading fascinated with the content. The only negative we found was that the foreign names were, at times, confusing. Some names we didn’t know if it was a female or a male but eventually caught on. But in a way, it was interesting seeing the names of different cultures. In conclusion, we are all extremely satisfied with our book selection and recommend this book.
7 comments:
Individual entry #1: I have just finished reading the first four chapters of The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar. Within these chapters, as the reader I learned who the main characters were. Bhima is the grandmother of Maya, who has gotten herself into trouble while away at college and come home pregnant. Bhima, who feels unappreciated and disrespected by Maya’s behavior, has to now cope with the situation at hand so reputations will not be harmed and the relationship between herself and Maya will heal. Another main character is Sera and her family. Bhima works for the family as, I wouldn’t call her a servant because she does not live with them, but a daily cleaning lady. The relationship between Sera and Bhima seems strong. In the first two chapters I had the feeling that Bhima was considered more of a friend to Sera but later realized that Sera has a hard time viewing Bhima as an equal to herself.
In chapters three and four, Bhima is so infuriated and humiliated by Maya’s actions that she finally is given a name of who the father is after slashing at Maya’s emotions. With so much anger built up, Bhima goes to find the man, Ashok Malhotra, at Maya’s college to offer a marriage proposal so that some good could be made from the situation at hand. Unfortunately, Ashok is not the father and was just a name given to Bhima to get her off Maya’s back. Returning home even more infuriated, Bhima, after showing her fury, proposes the idea of abortion to Maya.
I chose to read The Space Bewteen Us because it was one of the books a wanted to read during the summer but I chose to read another instead. And after reading the first two chapters assigned to us in class, I was immediately enveloped in the story and wanted to keep reading. I’m not really sure what my expectations are except for that I wish to learn more about the Indian caste system and the Hindu culture and still enjoy a great story at the same time(if that makes sense).
So far, the main theme is class. Not a lot has been said since I have only read the first forty pages, but I can already tell how differently Bhima is from Sera and her family. In the book, I read how when Sera and Bhima sit down to talk with one another or share a meal together, Bhima has to sit on the ground in the corner and use her own utensils. I also learned of how Sera views Bhima, comparing classes. Sera feels that Bhima is dirty and how repulsing it would be to allow her to sit on her furniture or use one of her glasses even though the idea has crossed her mind.
As of now, I really enjoy the book. It has a very captivating beginning which is essential for me as a reader to want to continue reading. I also like how it is a fiction novel because I know that the story will keep my attention and I will still acquire new knowledge of the Indian society. For example, I enjoy reading the Indian terms used to address someone else like “yaar” and “beta”. I am really looking forward to see what direction the story takes.
Other Members: Hannah and Megan
Individual Entry #1:
I have just finished reading the first four chapters of The Space Between Us by Thiert Umrigar. The main characters are Bhima who is the grandmother of Maya and Sera who Bhima is the servant for. It takes place in present day India. In these first four chapters the main theme involves Maya, Bhima's granddaughter. Bhima has discovered that while Maya was away at college she became pregnant. Bhima is greatly disappointed in Maya because she is the first person in their family to go to college. Maya has no returned home and the maine goal of Maya and Bhima is to try and hide the fact that she is pregnant from the people in their slum. Bhima is constantly shunning Maya and eventually forces Maya to tell her who the father of the baby is. Maya tells her grandmother that the father of the baby is a boy who she knew at college by the name of Ashok Malhotra. When Bhima finally gets a name of the father she decides to take a trip up to Maya's college to pay Ashok a visit. She arrives at school and goes to the front offices where she is directed to a place called the canteen. The canteen is pretty much a dining hall and a social gathering area for students. When she arrives at the canteen she is met with the smell of fried food and cigarette smoke. Her guide points out Ashok and leaves Bhima to confront him alone. She slowly walks up to Ashok and begins to confront him. She says that she is Maya's grandmother and that she had some questions for him. Ashok plays all of her questions of like he doesn't have a clue about what she is talking about. She eventually comes straight out and says that Maya told her that he was going to be the father of her child. He denies all alligations and says that Maya is a dirty whore and a liar. Bhima is stunned by this news and no longer knows what to say to Ashok. So she decides to go back home to her slum and confront Maya about lying to her. She immediately accuses Maya of lying to her and begins to beat her. Maya turns and covers her stomach while Bhima beats on her back. All this time Bhima is yelling at Maya and telling her how much of a disgrace she is to her. Maya is upset that Bhima went and confronted Ashok because she says that he has the biggest mouth in school and that everyone probably already knows. This makes Bhima fill with guilt and then the chapter ends.
So far the book is exceeding my expectations. I thought that it was going to be about there terrible life in the slums of India and it really has alot more to it than that. I chose this book because it seemed like it was going to be an interesting, true life story about something that is actually still existing in our world today.
Throughout the book there has been a little demonstration of "class". Throughout the story you can see the "class" differences between Bhima, the servant, and Sera the master of Bhima. Sera is an upper class lady and has Bhima cook and clean for her family. Sera lives in a gorgeous home compared to the shack the Bhima and Maya live in.
As of now, I am enjoying the book and hope that it continues to capture my interest. In the first four chapters I was captivated with the change in emotions that Bhima went through. She was always going from being in a compassionate loving mood, to a bitter angry mood, to an "I want to kill some one mood".
Individual blog 2:
From my last blog, I have read chapters five through twelve. So far, Umrigar is still giving the reader background information on each character so the reader will better understand the complicated lives of each and be able to compare the different characters. In these chapeters, we are introduced to Sera’s mother-in-law. We learn of the bitter past they shared and how Sera, everyday, must continue to visit the old woman since there is no one else to spend time with her. Umrigar portrays the dread Sera has every time she meets with her. The author shares an experience of Sera in her early marriage when her hate for her mother-in-law came be. She tells how alienated Sera would feel when she crossed the boundaries of the traditional views of her mother-in-law. The author also shows how compassionate Sera’s father-in-law was and how he was a main reason she kept her sanity while she lived with her husband’s parents. Umrigar also shares the story of how Bhima and Gopal(her deceased husband) met. She shares in detail how Gopal would meet Bhima everyday at the bus stop and serenade her with love songs while riding his bike next to the bus. In the next chapters, the reader discovers how Maya’s pregnancy is not only affecting Bhima and her work, but also Sera and her family. To fix this problem, Viraf, the husband of Dinaz(daughter of Sera), confronts Bhima on their way to the market and proposes that they will find a doctor that will do an abortion for Maya so all the chaos can finally end. When Bhima shares this with Maya, Maya hesitantly agrees as long as Sera takes her, not Bhima. So after the procedure has been done, Maya seems to lose all life in her. She still remains at home and refuses to go back to school or find a job and has a “I don’t care” attitude towards life. Because of this, Bhima decides it’s time to fix their relationship. After the quality time they spend together at the seaside, Maya shows her desire to learn about her parents and how they died from AIDS.
This book is still meeting my expectations. It remains a page turner, in my view, because the story of it outweighs the historical part. The one main concern I have is that I am already 137 pages into the book and Thrity Umrigar stills seems to be giving backround information. I am impatiently anticipating for something major to occur that will take the story in a new direction.
The theme of class and work is still very prominent in The Space Between Us. As the reader, you continue to see the different lifestyles of someone in the lower class compared to someone above them. For example, when deciding upon who should take Maya to have her abortion, the reason why Sera is chosen over Bhima is because no doctor would treat Maya with the same consideration as they would someone higher in society if Bhima, a poor woman, took Maya.
I still believe that this book is very well written. I thought it would be difficult for me to keep track of each character since at first many Indian names were being thrown out in the text, but Umrigar does a great job at separating chapters so every detail and story does not blend into one. Like I stated before, the book is stays a page turner for me due to the nonfiction part of it. It is also a noteworthy book with cultural value since many of the experiences that happen in the book happen in India today, like the class differences.
Were you supprised that Maya went through with the abortion instead of putting up a fight?
To answer Sarah's question, I am actually not too suprised that Maya didn't put up a fight because in society in which Maya lives, the author references that a person in Maya's state would not have been socially accepted. It would have also caused so many more problems between her grandmother and herself that it wouldn't have been worth it considering Bhima is pretty much her only family.
Individual blog #3:
For this blog, I read chapters thirteen through twenty-one. I would say that these chapters were probably some of the most important in the entire book so far. Starting with chapter thirteen, Umrigar describes how Bhima found out about her daughter, Pooja, and her husband had been infected with AIDS through a telegram. Bhima’s daughter and son-in-law lived in Delhi so Bhima really did not keep much contact with them considering she lives in Bombay. After she received the telegram, we read about her experience in the hospital as she watches as her son-in-law and daughter slowly die. She gives many thanks to a man she met in the hospital, Hyder, and without him, the experience would have been unbearable and much more confusing since Bhima had never heard of AIDS before in her life. In the next chapters, the author gives more experiences of abuse Sera went through from her husband, Feroz, and how her love for her husband soon turned to hate. The reader then learns of when Sera’s hate grew so much that she had to leave the house in which she lived. So she travled to her parents house with her young daughter, Dinaz. After staying at her parents’ house for many weeks, Sera’s father-in-law shows up one day pleading for her to return. He finally convinces her to come back after offering to buy her and Feroz their own home. In chapter sixteen, Bhima tells Maya how her husband, Gopal, had changed. Bhima and Gopal used to take seaside walks up until he had his accident. While working in an industrial factory, Gopal had lost three of his fingers and had also lost his job due to Bhima. Without knowing what she was doing since she was illiterate, Bhima was tricked into giving her thumb print which released Gopal from his job. From this point on, Bhima and Gopal’s marriage went downhill especially once Gopal began drinking. They separated once Gopal had used the money to buy his son’s medicine to instead buy himself alcohol. Gopal left by leaving a note for Bhima explaining how sorry he was and that he knows she thinks he does not love her but, in fact, he still does. And also with his departure, he would also take their son, Amit, with him. In chapter twenty, we learn the story of how Feroz died an unexpected death one afternoon after work. Feroz had returned from work one day exhausted and feeling ill so he took a nap before dinner and unfortunately never woke up. And in chapter 21, there is such an unexpected twist! After seeing each other at a restaurant, Bhima discovers that Maya’s secret lover had been Viraf, Dinaz’s husband who is also expecting a child from his wife! This chapter was such a bad chapter to end on but I cannat wait to find out the story of how it happened.
The Space Between Us still remains a book I will without a doubt recommend to others. The way the author has written the story is so unique considering almost the entire book has been giving events in the past to help the reader learn more about each character, but it has never been difficult or painful for me to read.
In these chapters, work and class still remain eminent throughout. For example, when Bhima is reminiscing about Gopal’s accident, she tells how he had obtained an infection from surgery and the doctors at the hospital had not treated him for it until Feroz and Sera, upper class citizens, demanded they use antibiotics on him to help cure the infection.
The book, like I said before, is outstanding and I am beginning to see why it earned awards as I come close to finishing it. I really have not been able to put it down once I pick it up but time in my schedule is limited which is why I have to stop reading after a few chapters. This book is of great cultural value because I have learned the lives of the more respected and lives of the lower class citizens in India without reading a word of a history book.
So, I finally finished the book and it was amazing! The climax of the story was such a twist! So once Bhima had discovered that Viraf had been the father of Maya’s, now aborted, baby, she had Maya tell her all the details. Maya told her how it happened at Sera’s mother-in-law’s house one evening while she had been working there. Viraf had wanted a massage and Maya did as she was asked, just obeying the orders of a higher respected man in society. So as one thing led to another, Viraf, I guess you could say, forced himself on Maya but Maya never tried to stop him. So, now that Bhima knows of this, she acted strangely around Viraf and Viraf could sense that Bhima had a clue about what happened. Reacting according to his fear, Viraf configured a plan to get Bhima fired so nothing would ever be said. One day while Bhima was working at Sera’s house, Viraf came home and accused Bhima of stealing money from them. Bhima, who was so appalled by this false accusation, reacted by calling Viraf out on what he had done to Maya. By doing this, Sera ended up firing her for disrespecting her family. At first, Bhima was sad and felt lost knowing she was now without a job and that she would never see the family she had pretty much been a part of for many years, but then she realizes that she is free now. The book ends with a sense of relief and peace as Bhima buys a bunch of balloons and walks beside the sea enjoying life at that moment.
The Space Between Us was a fantastic book. I can honestly say that I never once dreaded having to read it nor did I ever feel bored while reading it. The only thing I would have wanted to be changed was that I would want the climax to come sooner and find out how Bhima’s life would be after she was let go by Sera.
The themes that I noticed as I read the book were class, work, and education. I talked about class and work in my other blogs but realizing that education was also a big contributing factor to those two themes. If someone living in India during this time had not been educated, they would be considered low-class and also would be ignored over people who had been educated with better jobs. It seems like those who were not educated, especially women, it would be inevitable that they would become a house keeper or servant (whatever you would call it).
This book was excellent. It deserves all the awards it has received. The story from page one was so captivating and opened my eyes to what goes on in other countries and how blessed I am that the United States does not have a class system like in India. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the issues of class in India and if someone wants a good read.
Group blog:
Our group loved The Space Between Us, by Thrity Umrigar. Today in our discussion, we all agreed that the anticipation of the climax that was absolutely killing us was well worth it! We also talked about how we would have liked the climax to have come sooner. Megan and Cody both felt that some of the background informing chapters could have been left out so the climax came sooner. We also would like to know what the next part of Bhima’s lifw will be and if Dinaz will ever find out about her husband’s shenanigans with Maya. Other than that, we all were surprised to find out that Viraf was the secret father of Maya’s baby considering he has a wife and a child on the way. Another aspect of the book that we all concur with is that we never got bored with it. The author has a very captivating and unique way of writing that keeps the reading fascinated with the content. The only negative we found was that the foreign names were, at times, confusing. Some names we didn’t know if it was a female or a male but eventually caught on. But in a way, it was interesting seeing the names of different cultures. In conclusion, we are all extremely satisfied with our book selection and recommend this book.
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