If Today Be Sweet

I was eagerly looking forward to this book, since it was the only remaing one by Thrity Umrigar that I had not read. Ummm....while there were some things I enjoyed (which I will get to), overall it was an enormous dissapointment.

What was fundamentally wrong with the book in my eyes was the polt - there really wasn't one. The story revolves around Tehima, a recent widow who lives in Bombay, but is staying in suburban Cleveland with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Tehima is trying to decide whether to stay in the States to be near her family, or return home to Bombay. Umrigar seems to think that - plus some side issues that are minor and extremely uninspired- is enough to keep a story rolling for XXX chapters. Well, although I am for unique subject matter, the musings of an Indian woman whiling away her days in a housing complex in the suburbs in December....it just doesn't do it for me. There is nothing there to work with. Will she stay in America or not? Natually, like any major life decision, it's a big one and there is a lot to consider. But....that isn't interesing - it isn't intresting at all.


I found the characters to be lacking, which was really surprising. Normally, I love Umrigar's characters, and I feel character developement is her best skill. Yet, the charcters in Today Be Sweet were unnatural. That these were living, breathing people never became real to me. The dialouge felt like a writing student wrote it. Especaily Shomabr, the son of Tehima. He is a 38 year man, but I just do not hear the men in my life sounding like that. He reads like a middle aged woman wrote him- which is the truth. Furthermore, I didn't like one single character in the book, although I could occasionally warm up to Susan, the daughter-in-law. Tehima was insufferable. Her thoughts and perspectives on America were lazy and so overgeneralized, it is surprising that Umrigar has lived here for over twenty years. Let' see: Americans are obsessed with money, think that good food is fast food, are clean freaks who worship their homes (which are all newly constructd and lacking in character). Tehima would be the most annoying mother-in-law ever! Everything about the lifestyle her son and daughter-in-law have created is unsatisfactory to her. Where they live, the style of house, the neighbors, the neighborhood, the way they spend their money, the way they spend their vacations- and what does she expect? Everyhing in America is compared, in her mind, unfavorabley to India, but guess what? This is America! It's not going to be like India. Dislike it, fine, but quit trying to figure out why the whole country is doing everything wrong acording to you. Trust me, this isn't a patriot's mad attempt to defend her country against anything. Bring on any criticism you like. I know it's not perfct here. But this...this is laziness. It's incorrect.


Take the farmer's market scene, for excample. Here, we have Tehima and her friend going to a farmer's market in Cleveland on a December day. Tehima laments that her son and daughter-in-law shop at the supermarket, where everything is not fresh and has no taste. Well, you are at a farmer's market in Cleveland in December. What fresh fruit and vegetables are you going to get? I guarantee every single thing you touch has been shipped in from someplace - could possibyt be the same place the wretched supermarket uses. But becasue Americans are tasteless, classless sheep who love everything to be dumbed down for us, we cannot appreciate a farmer's market like they have in India. And of course, whenever Tehima sees an unsavory characteristic in her son, it is that America has changed him. Did I mention I don't like this character? Her superiority complex is so annoying it nearly ruins the book. Perhaps Umrigar was not trying to make an appealing character. That very well may be, because she is too skilled of a writer for this to be an accident.


Thre are redeeming qualities to the book. Occasional glimpses into human nature. Lovely passages of writing. Most of the characters, although not appealing, have okay moments - even Tehima. As a Clevelander, I appreciated some references to places I know well. This was an easy read, although I didn't devour it like I normally do with Umrigar's writing. It simply didn't live up to her previous work. Maybe if Umriagr wasn't so good, this book would not be so bad. From a sub-par author, it would do. I am still looking forward to whatever she does next, and would recommend this if you are an Umrigar fan; it's not bad enough to skip if you're interested in her work. In my opinion, the order of her books, from best to worst, is: The Space Between Us; First Darling of the Morning and Bombay Time are tied for second; The Weight of Heaven and finally, If Today Be Sweet.