The 'special' omelettes are tasty and you wouldn't want to put down the plate until you are done. In her first attempt as a novelist, Delhi-born author Kavita Khanna entertainingly narrates a unique, heartwarming tale about the fortunes of a modern Indian family. Saturday Morning Omelettes looks at the centrality of family in Indian culture by narrating the tale of an Indian couple that emigrates to the United States — for good or not -- in an attempt to mitigate financial strain of a gambling addiction.
This is uniquely an immigrant's tale – a tale that is unlikely to have been conceived by anybody except a first-generation immigrant with his or her distinctive perspective of American life – the hard yet ultimately satisfying life filled with longing for 'home'. Let me qualify my assertion here, however, for the novel is as much an immigrant's tale as it is a tale of how two people grow together in a relationship as it is about family.
Ms. Khanna does an admirable job in pacing her novel, though she does so at the expense of observation. She accepts as much, saying, "When I started writing Saturday Morning Omelettes, I made one conscious decision – to portray the story through dialogue rather than too many essay-style descriptions. I am guilty of tending to skip long wordy descriptions when I come across them in most books and wanted to avoid that in my work."
Many times the novel chugs through the story but we don't get to bite into the psychology of the characters or languorously appreciate the aroma of the morning omelette. Neither does Ms. Khanna spend time describing the initially humbling experiences that generally dent a recent immigrant's life. For example, except for describing the damning quiet of the airport and the apartment, she neither spends time noticing the well-tarred roads nor the plush charm of the US or the problems of interacting with Americans.
Article comments
1 - Katie McNeill
this sounds like it might be worth picking up. thanks for the honest review.
2 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Now, now, now, Mr. SpinCycle. After telling us that the story failed to "bite into the psychology of the characters", after observing that it failed to "conjure up the experiences of first time visitors to the US in a nuanced fashion", after declaring that the novel failed to depict "the earthiness of a true immigrant tale", after reflecting that "the story sometimes seems rushed and mishandled", after advising the author to "write more honestly about the challenges of an immigrant's life", you ask your readers to "go ahead and put your order on Amazon"! Actually I will.