The Space Between Us: A Multilayered Novel of Honor, Tradition, and Gender Struggles in Modern India

I am having a hard time reviewing this book because it was really well written with believable but not necessarily likable characters, one poor and the other wealthy They consisted of the maid and her employer, and their respective husbands, children and grandchildren. The authhor did a wonderful job intertwining their lives. What made it difficult for me was the vocabulary, the idioms and "India-speak." It detracted from the flow of the story for me. The story was also difficult to read because it is so very sad and the space between the castes is enormous. Unlike other readers, I didn't predict the ending for the servant but admit that I hated it. I felt like the story just petered out with no redemption or improvement in anyone's life.I'm happy that I read it but I doubt that I'll read another book by this author though she is very well known and highly respected. It's just not my cup of tea.

This story focuses on three women in India and the caste system.The reader is quickly made aware that the young teenage granddaughter, Maya, is pregnant out of wedlock and lives with her grandmother, Bhima. No one knows who the father is. Through her pregnancy, which is considered a big problem, the author takes you on a journey through the struggles of different classes in India are revealed-- Bhima retells the story of her life through the challenges of poor social status. While Sera, a high class elite that Bhima works for, experiences her own conflicts within her life as a result of endogamy. Then there is Maya, who has to decide between education or work shortly after her abortion.I have never experienced such detailed writing before reading Thrity Umrigar's. She has a gift for manipulating words and language that you will not experience with anyone else.Note-This novel entails physical abuse, abortion, alcoholism, rape, and other topics that would be recommended only for mature readers.

This was a compelling novel that held my interest throughout. It was disturbing and frustrating alike. Disturbing because the women in this novel are subservient and beholden to men, and all the men are mean and entirely self-serving. Frustrating because the main character, an old, illiterate woman who lives in a Bombay slum with her granddaughter, lacks any confidence and self-worth. The elderly Bhima works as a servant for Sera; both women and their respective marriages are fascinating. Their characters are very well articulated. I could (almost) always guess how each one would react to something based on how well their natures were explained. Thrity Umrigar writes brilliantly and sensually. A very powerful novel.

This is a beautifully written and engrossing story, very well done . . . that is, until the end. Oh, the ending.This book is disturbing, heartbreaking — not a fun read — but one I couldn’t put down. We meet two women in India, each in very different economic and social situations, but both suffering from a lack of power and control in their lives. One appears to have it all, the other appears to have nothing. Both have been through very hard times, and there are more bad times to come. They have been friends for many, many years, but one is the other’s lowly servant. In common they have their survival instincts, their resiliency, and their friendship. They will have choices to make, but in the end, really, they have no choice. Each must continue to be who she has been all along.This is a shocking and painful story, very sincere, very real. It is impossible not to care for and care about these two women. I very highly recommend it, but I must warn in advance that the ending is unsatisfying and unrealistic. Still worth reading? Yes, emphatically, yes. The fact is, I don’t know how else to end the book. People’s stories don’t end as long as they are living, so perhaps the book really shouldn’t have an ending either.

The Space Between Us is the story of two women, their families, their loves, their heartbreaks and their division by class. Bhima is a servant to Sera, and while they have become friends in a sense, they will always be divided by class, and family will always top friendship.I wanted to dislike both Bhima and Sera for their actions (Bhima to her granddaughter, Maya, and Sera to Bhima), but its hard to dislike them after reading their true thoughts in the next sentence.I really enjoyed this book and purchased it to read before the sequel, The Secrets Between Us.

A book that portrays modern India, focused mainly on two completely opposite women in education, social class, ways of thinking and way to approach life. One is wealthy and the other is poor. One is the employer and the other, the maid. Bhima led a simple life with her loving husband and she had everything she needed, not more and not less. For circumstances and bad decisions in life, her husband cannot cope with what life has for him, leaving Bhima and taking her son with him. She is left with her daughter, but life has no mercy on her and she ends up living in a slum, eventually with her granddaughter Maya, and working as a maid for Sera. Although she is seemingly a compassionate woman, it is very difficult for her to fully accept Bhima as her equal, marking their class differences even if Bhima is the only woman and friend she can really rely on. Is is an excellently written novel and the descriptions of the life in a slum, the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters are what attracted me the most of this book. When the strength of women and the meanness of men (in general terms) in India seem believable in other cultures, the work is a success. It is a shocking and painful story when life-changing decisions must be made. Not an easy read, but clearly heart-touching.

I was hooked from the outset by this well-plotted, moving tale of the relationship between a middle-class Bombay widow Sera and her faithful servant Bhima. The common factor in these two women's lives is their unhappy marriages leading to disappointed hopes. Despite her education, Sera has endured the tyranny of a spiteful mother-in-law and abuse at the hands of a controlling, often violent husband, but now finds happiness in the company of her pregnant daughter and charming son-in-law. Bhima's life was destroyed when her once adoring husband left her, yet she too finds a reason for living in her grand-daughter Maya whose college education Sera has generously supported. The problem is that Maya's bright future is now in ruins since she has somehow fallen pregnant.This story is certainly very bleak at times, but made endurable by the author's close observation of Bombay society - embracing both the wealthy and slum dwellers - her keen sense of humour and what sounded to me like authentic dialogue: the quirky turns of phrase, often flowery speech and peppering of Indian terms add colour to the writing.The story is developed through lengthy flashbacks, so that dramatic incidents are implied to arouse your curiosity, with the details gradually revealed. The climax is predictable but the ending is not. At first, I was disappointed by it, but decided on reflection that the author chooses a subtle, clever note on which to close, leaving it to the reader to consider what happens next.I was interested by the parallels between the way middle-class Indians treat their servants, and the behaviour of white Americans towards their black servants in the South until recently, as portrayed in the bestselller, "The Help" - for instance, requiring maids to drink out of their own separate cups, and not letting them sit at the same table, whilst expecting them to bring up one's children as their own, and also helping them out in a paternalistic way in moments of deep personal trouble.All the main characters are well-developed as complex people with strengths and flaws. The character of Bhima is particularly interesting. Her illiteracy exposes her to exploitation - apart from limiting her employment prospects - and saps her confidence. Yet her natural intelligence gives her a perceptiveness and ability to analyse others, in a very pragmatic way, which eludes some of her so-called superiors. Despite endless hardship, she maintains a dignity and pride which at times cost her dear, but you have to admire her unbreakable spirit. In contrast, Sera lets her own spirit be broken in order to hang on to material things and respectability, so ultimately perhaps loses more of what really matters than her outwardly povertystricken and downtrodden maid.I agree that this book is most likely to appeal to women, and may in fact repel some men initially prepared to give it a chance, since the male sex is portrayed in a pretty negative light, as either weak or selfish and vindictive.This novel covers the same territory as Arvind's "The White Tiger" but in a less wisecracking and cynical, more subtle and introspective fashion, both worth reading in their different ways.

One of my favourite Authors and loved this book.

An easy read with interesting character interactions. However I found the ending disappointing. Overall I enjoyed the book.

The detail and story were OK but a really,poor, nothing, ending as if the author did not know what to do with the characters she had created.

This book perfectly reflects that in times of trouble people stick with to their close family to the detriment of anyone else who is wronged. Education and position are everything, the truth is not always that important. It was well written and I liked the ending which left two possible routes.