A Review of Thrity Umrigar’s If Today Be Sweet

[sa-am.livejournal.com]

A Review of Thrity Umrigar’s If Today Be Sweet

Thrity Umrigar is author of three novels: Bombay Time, The Space Between Us, and If Today Be Sweet. The last is her most current novel and the first to be set primarily in the United States. I read this book because I wanted to brush up on some of my South Asian American reading as I prepare and research this last manuscript chapter.
If Today Be Sweet is the story of Tehmina, an elderly Parsi Indian woman, visiting her son in the United States as she grieves over the recent death of her husband, Rustom. Her son, Sorab, and Caucasian wife, Susan, face the difficulty of a mother who has not yet acculturated to the United States and possesses quirks and desires all her own. Tehmina is particularly smitten with her grandson, Cavas (nicknamed Cookie), who has become a focal point in her life. The problematic the novel sets up is whether or not Tehmina will decide to live in the United States or go back to Bombay. Complicating matters is that her son and daughter-in-law have conflicting feelings about her living in the household. For instance, they believe that they must buy a larger household if she is to live there. Susan, in particular, finds some of her habits annoying, such as when she proceeds to buy large quantities of vegetables even though the refrigerator is stock full of foods. The story is set in the Midwest (Ohio I believe), where the characters outside of the family tend to be Caucasian. The other major conflict that the novel sets up revolves around their neighbors, Antonio and Marita, who’ve rented their home out to a relative, Tara, who severely mistreats her children, Josh and Jerome. Tara also seems to be a bigot and therein lies increased tension between her and Tehmina, who dotes on Tara’s children whenever she gets a chance. The climax ultimately revolves around Tehmina’s involvement with Tara’s children, all which force Sorab and Susan to consider her “value” to their home. If Today Be Sweet is ultimately a novel about suburbanization, Asian American upward mobility, and domesticity. There is also a side-story about a friendship that Tehmina develops with a Jewish elderly woman in the neighborhood named Eva, but the novel leaves a major plot line dangling regarding Sorab’s relationship to his work as a kind of business analyst and advertising agent.

From a literary critic’s perspective, Umrigar has an extremely clear and simple style that draws the reader in on the level of its sheer narrative lucidity and she further has an excellent ear for dialogue, but the heft of the novel seems quite absent. Indeed, the major conflicts seem to deal with relatively straightforward events of daily life: the loss of a loved one, an irate neighbor, conflicts with one’s grown-up children. I realized though that in having this response I automatically expect Asian American literature to stand for something provocative or controversial and perhaps that expectation is not entirely fair. However, I still remain convinced that the limits of this novel lie in its relatively basic characterizations structured around the oft-deployed, but seldomly made original “immigrant narrative.” In other words, my response to the novel is “so what?” What do we gain from reading this work? Certainly, the Parsi Indian diasporic experience is a unique viewpoint not often read and in this respect, Umrigar has done an admirable job of locating a specific ethnic-religious trajectory. At the same time, stripped of this element, I found myself unmoved by the major conflicts in the story. Admittedly, much of my critique is subjective and therein lies the limits of my own review, but my recommendation would be to consider If Today Be Sweet for casual consumption, rather than rigorous critique.

Comments

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

You're on a review roll! This one sounds like an okay read. But yeah, the "so what" question is pretty important. BTW you call this novel The Space Between Us in the second paragraph. :P

[sa-am.livejournal.com]

yep it's fixed! thanks =)

[thebowlerhat.livejournal.com]

I tend to expect AA lit. to be provocative or controversial too. Or at the very least, it makes me more interested. I'm kind of having massive self-doubts about being an English major because I don't read that much fiction anymore. For the past couple of years it's all nonfiction, philosophy, or poetry. Somewhere along the way, I think I turned to television for my fiction, which kind of freaks me out.

[sa-am.livejournal.com]

i lurve fiction! can't live without

but then again, i don't have a television =)