The Unknown Errors of Our Lives: Stories [B1860]

2002 PB in nice clean condition. In nine poignant stories spiked with humor and intelligence, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni captures lives at crossroad moments-caught between past and present, home and abroad, tradition and fresh experience. A widow in California, recently arrived from India, struggles to adapt to a world in which neighbors are strangers and her domestic skills are deemed superfluous in the award-winning Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter. In The Intelligence of Wild Things, a woman from Sacramento visits her brother in Vermont to inform him that back in Calcutta their mother is dying. And in the title story, a painter looks to ancient myth and the example of her grandmother for help in navigating her first real crisis of faith. Knowing, compassionate and expertly rendered, the stories in The Unknown Errors of Our Lives depict the eternal struggle to find a balance between the pull of home and the allure of change.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Moving stories about the immigrant experience. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an accomplished writer who draws on her own experience as an immigrant from a different culture."; "Enjoyed this collection of short stories very much. The clash of Indian and American cultures is the central theme of each story, and it is interesting to see how the characters cope - or don't - with their changing lives."; "This is what I had thought Jhumpa's book would be like. Stories 1, 6, and 7 were especially fantastic."; "Hard hitting, gut wrenching short stories involving family dynamics. Author knows when and how to tug on the heart strings. Even though the stories take a predictable turn, I loved the writing style."