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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What happens at a US consulate when a major earthquake takes place and a motley crowd of people are caved in for hours with no salvage in sight? This is what is described in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "One Amazing Thing". How the nine people involved deal with such a situation and come out into the sunlight is the subject of this book.
The choice of a US consulate is significant. It highlights clearly the hierarchical gap between the few who possess the ability to decide and the faceless public at large who are at the receiving end of those decisions. The scene opens on a young girl, Uma, who wants to go to India to meet her parents. There are a few others like her also waiting their turns patiently. There is a woman at the reception regulating the candidate's entry into the inner sanctum where interviews are held. And then, suddenly it happens. The earthquake!
As the debris collects, the group of nine people struggle to find their bearings. They realize that first of all, despite major differences of lifestyle and opinion, they have to cooperate to survive. They pool together and share whatever meagre food and other resources they have. Bit by bit, their pretentious facades fade away as they attempt to support each other through the catastrophic turn of events. Finally, when time begins to hang heavy, they start, one by one to tell each other their own stories, the incidents and circumstances that have shaped their lives.
This kind of storytelling rips down the barriers erected by the conditions of their meeting even further. These stories are what make the book come alive, as one by one, the masks are stripped away, exposing the human inside with all his vulnerability. And, very appropriately, just as soon as the last story has been told, and there is no scope for further disclosures, the much longed for sound of rescue teams are heard.
This book has a message that is urgently needed to counter the kind of social problems we are facing today. Today, evil is "faceless", one never knows when one can be confronted by an explosive situation, arising out of the blue, and there are no guarantees for being at the right place and the right time. This book shows that one way to deal with one's fellow-beings when faced by extraordinarily complex situations is to communicate with the heart. I, personally like to think that the kind of communion with one's fellow beings as they truly are, is probably, the best way to shape shift the energy to a new reality where survival is guaranteed.
This book is an intricate work of art. I recommend it strongly.
The choice of a US consulate is significant. It highlights clearly the hierarchical gap between the few who possess the ability to decide and the faceless public at large who are at the receiving end of those decisions. The scene opens on a young girl, Uma, who wants to go to India to meet her parents. There are a few others like her also waiting their turns patiently. There is a woman at the reception regulating the candidate's entry into the inner sanctum where interviews are held. And then, suddenly it happens. The earthquake!
As the debris collects, the group of nine people struggle to find their bearings. They realize that first of all, despite major differences of lifestyle and opinion, they have to cooperate to survive. They pool together and share whatever meagre food and other resources they have. Bit by bit, their pretentious facades fade away as they attempt to support each other through the catastrophic turn of events. Finally, when time begins to hang heavy, they start, one by one to tell each other their own stories, the incidents and circumstances that have shaped their lives.
This kind of storytelling rips down the barriers erected by the conditions of their meeting even further. These stories are what make the book come alive, as one by one, the masks are stripped away, exposing the human inside with all his vulnerability. And, very appropriately, just as soon as the last story has been told, and there is no scope for further disclosures, the much longed for sound of rescue teams are heard.
This book has a message that is urgently needed to counter the kind of social problems we are facing today. Today, evil is "faceless", one never knows when one can be confronted by an explosive situation, arising out of the blue, and there are no guarantees for being at the right place and the right time. This book shows that one way to deal with one's fellow-beings when faced by extraordinarily complex situations is to communicate with the heart. I, personally like to think that the kind of communion with one's fellow beings as they truly are, is probably, the best way to shape shift the energy to a new reality where survival is guaranteed.
This book is an intricate work of art. I recommend it strongly.
1 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am never disappoointed by her books and I wait anxiously for the next to come out!!
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90 reviews
35 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Our Nurture Creates Our Nature
24 Dec 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Though I'm a long time fan of literature from authors born in India, One Amazing Thing is the first book from Chitra Divakaruni that I've had the pleasure of reading. It was a pleasure making the acquaintance!
The story of One Amazing Thing (no spoilers here, it's in the product description) revolves around a very promising plot device: a heterogeneous group of people that are in the Indian consulate of an American city are trapped in the basement of the building by a huge earthquake. Most of the trapped people have trips planned to India, two are consulate employees. While the building slowly crumbles, and the basement begins to flood, survival becomes an issue. To pass the time, each person is invited to tell a story, a story about "one amazing thing" that happened in their lives.
Divakauruni, with a Ph.D in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and currently teaching creative writing at the University of Houston, is a master of her craft. Her work has been recognized with significant awards, and has been published in Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. Divakaruni's talent is easily visible in One Amazing Thing, both in the careful creation of the setting, and in the development of the characters.
Divakaruni did not have life handed to her on a silver platter, and the experiences she gained by having to work at a wide variety of jobs to support the cost of her education, as well as those absorbed from her multi-cultural upbringing, may well be the source of the depth she is able to achieve with each of her characters. Some authors have a message for the reader that the characters become slave to. In One Amazing Thing, the richness and authenticity of the characters drive the message, and the message gains its power in the process.
What is that message? That WOULD be a spoiler, wouldn't it? But some clues are fair. A room with an angry Muslim fundamentalist, a married couple whose relationship is shipwrecked, an African American veteran of war in Asia, a boss that has tried to take advantage of his assistant, an assistant with both scruples and longing, a grandmother and her Gothic granddaughter, a young Indian-American on her way to visit her parents in India: none will come out of the experience with their preconceptions about each other intact.
Americans live, in this age of Facebook, My Space, Twitter, texting, YouTube, and 125 channel TV, in a suffocating avalanche of superficial information about each other. We know (because our Facebook page says so) that one of our friends went to Starbucks and had an oh-so-yummy caramel macchiato, but we know nothing about the deeper issues that make that friend who he/she is. Divakaruni, who writes with great warmth about the human race, wonders what it would take to reestablish the deep narratives that power all that is good about belonging to a caring tribe. Read One Amazing Thing, for a both literal and metaphorical answer to Divakaruni's question.
Four stars instead of five? There is more competence in the telling of One Amazing Thing than brilliance. It is a worthy tale that is more edifying than awe-inspiring. A very good story with a solid takeaway theme, I enjoyed it very much.
The story of One Amazing Thing (no spoilers here, it's in the product description) revolves around a very promising plot device: a heterogeneous group of people that are in the Indian consulate of an American city are trapped in the basement of the building by a huge earthquake. Most of the trapped people have trips planned to India, two are consulate employees. While the building slowly crumbles, and the basement begins to flood, survival becomes an issue. To pass the time, each person is invited to tell a story, a story about "one amazing thing" that happened in their lives.
Divakauruni, with a Ph.D in English literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and currently teaching creative writing at the University of Houston, is a master of her craft. Her work has been recognized with significant awards, and has been published in Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. Divakaruni's talent is easily visible in One Amazing Thing, both in the careful creation of the setting, and in the development of the characters.
Divakaruni did not have life handed to her on a silver platter, and the experiences she gained by having to work at a wide variety of jobs to support the cost of her education, as well as those absorbed from her multi-cultural upbringing, may well be the source of the depth she is able to achieve with each of her characters. Some authors have a message for the reader that the characters become slave to. In One Amazing Thing, the richness and authenticity of the characters drive the message, and the message gains its power in the process.
What is that message? That WOULD be a spoiler, wouldn't it? But some clues are fair. A room with an angry Muslim fundamentalist, a married couple whose relationship is shipwrecked, an African American veteran of war in Asia, a boss that has tried to take advantage of his assistant, an assistant with both scruples and longing, a grandmother and her Gothic granddaughter, a young Indian-American on her way to visit her parents in India: none will come out of the experience with their preconceptions about each other intact.
Americans live, in this age of Facebook, My Space, Twitter, texting, YouTube, and 125 channel TV, in a suffocating avalanche of superficial information about each other. We know (because our Facebook page says so) that one of our friends went to Starbucks and had an oh-so-yummy caramel macchiato, but we know nothing about the deeper issues that make that friend who he/she is. Divakaruni, who writes with great warmth about the human race, wonders what it would take to reestablish the deep narratives that power all that is good about belonging to a caring tribe. Read One Amazing Thing, for a both literal and metaphorical answer to Divakaruni's question.
Four stars instead of five? There is more competence in the telling of One Amazing Thing than brilliance. It is a worthy tale that is more edifying than awe-inspiring. A very good story with a solid takeaway theme, I enjoyed it very much.
23 of 28 people found the following review helpful
One Pivotal Thing
26 Dec 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
It seems that the most amazing thing that happens to the characters in this book is the cataclysmic earthquake that imprisons them in a cellar while collecting visas for trips to India. Other reviews have made much of Divakaruni's storytelling ability and the compelling storylines these characters tell of their lives to pass the time, but I found the "revealing amazing things" to be disappointingly trite and predictable. What isn't predictable is the unexpected ending of the book. This has been alluded to by other reviewers, so I don't think I'm providing any spoilers by saying that the abruptness with which the book ends is unsettling, and issues that were raised during the ordeal are left so that there are too many dangling threads.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Disaster Bares Souls
1 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
What would you do if you were suddenly trapped with nine other people?
In "One Amazing Thing" nine people who were waiting for Visas in the Indian Embassy are caught together in an earthquake. How they react, what they think, and what they feel makes the theater for this drama.
Early in the novel we get a quick introduction to the characters, and then experience with them the effects of a major earthquake. Divakaruni introduces each character and how they feel while they are testing their situation. Slowly they come to know their circumstance and a bit about each other. At first we get a superficial sketch of each character, then, while they are waiting for rescue, each character is asked to share one amazing thing that has happened in thier life. As each tells a tale about an event in their life we come to know them as people.
The nine stories are varied in style and attitude. The nine characters have little in common, and their tales are not related. However, the stories are absorbing and each has its attraction.
"One Amazing Thing" is a different book. Divakaruni's novel has many good qualities. The descriptions of the scenes are detailed and colorful. The characterization is clear, well developed, and the characters are three dimensional.
Normally people sitting in a waiting room together barely relate to each other. Each person participates in an individual activity. Some read, others knit, play games, work crossword puzzles, or simply meditate. But, put them in an emergency situation together and they interact, not always as they expect. While each character tells about events that amazed them, they reveal much about their inner self. This is an captivating book.
.
In "One Amazing Thing" nine people who were waiting for Visas in the Indian Embassy are caught together in an earthquake. How they react, what they think, and what they feel makes the theater for this drama.
Early in the novel we get a quick introduction to the characters, and then experience with them the effects of a major earthquake. Divakaruni introduces each character and how they feel while they are testing their situation. Slowly they come to know their circumstance and a bit about each other. At first we get a superficial sketch of each character, then, while they are waiting for rescue, each character is asked to share one amazing thing that has happened in thier life. As each tells a tale about an event in their life we come to know them as people.
The nine stories are varied in style and attitude. The nine characters have little in common, and their tales are not related. However, the stories are absorbing and each has its attraction.
"One Amazing Thing" is a different book. Divakaruni's novel has many good qualities. The descriptions of the scenes are detailed and colorful. The characterization is clear, well developed, and the characters are three dimensional.
Normally people sitting in a waiting room together barely relate to each other. Each person participates in an individual activity. Some read, others knit, play games, work crossword puzzles, or simply meditate. But, put them in an emergency situation together and they interact, not always as they expect. While each character tells about events that amazed them, they reveal much about their inner self. This is an captivating book.
.
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