This book is literary fiction about A Guardian and a Thief. It’s part of Oprah’s book club so I knew I was getting more than simply plot. I was going to get a lesson in here somewhere too.
It is Kolkata, India in the near future. Climate change has hit the area with a vengeance. Food, security, and even water is hard to find. Anyone with any money or status has already left for less warm places.
The Guardian is Ma. She, her father Dadu, and her two-year-old daughter Mishti have been saved by her husband, who has already emigrated to Michigan. All three soon have passports with US visa stamps and tickets for an airplane leaving in a week. Then they are robbed of their money, food and passports.
The thief is Boomba. When living at a homeless shelter, where Ma was the manager, he sees her stealing food. He breaks into her house to steal some of that food for himself and his family. Are each of them both A Guardian and a Thief?
The prose in this book is beautiful. The lesson about immigrants is obvious, but timely and brief. The plot is great until the bewildering conclusion. Most of the book is easily worth 4 stars but that ending brings it down to 3 stars from me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an advanced review copy.