The Storyteller's Secret
Published September 1st 2018 by Lake Union Publishing, Kindle Edition 391 pages
From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.
Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.
Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
This was my choice for this month's free Amazon prime book and I was very disappointed. If you know nothing about India or Indian culture and you don't mind a very predictable book with few twists or turns, then I'm sure it's an acceptable novel. If you do know even the basics about India then you'll soon spot it's a bit of a mess.
Jaya lives in America and decides to take a trip to India after suffering her third miscarriage and the breakdown of her marriage. She's responding to a letter her mother received from Jaya's grandfather asking her to return to India and learn something about his wife. If Jaya's mother won't go - and she clearly won't - then Jaya figures a bit of India might be just what she needs. By the time Jaya arrives, her grandfather has gone and she's left with her grandmother's friend and servant, Ravi, to tell her about the past.
Nothing about this book rings true. My irritation started with Jaya arriving at an airport whose description is completely unrealistic. You don't find beggars INSIDE an Indian airport (it's not a railway station) and they don't call an NRI woman 'memsahib'. She takes a 'rickshaw' for 45 minutes - even assuming she means an autorickshaw or tuk tuk, most airports don't allow them to pick up. She looks out of the 'open window' - despite autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws having no windows. She comments about scarves that would cost hundreds of dollars in the USA costing '5 rupees'. It's all just fantasy. I can't help but wonder if she has even been to India.
That's all just in the first few chapters. The errors in the grandmother's story are even more extreme. Her grandmother is supposed to be a simple girl who only had a few years of schooling in Hindi but she speaks English with a bizarre eloquence despite not being able to write or read a word of the language. She invites an untouchable into her in-laws' house and nobody makes a particularly big deal about it. She spends hours alone and unchaperoned with a British soldier and again, nobody makes a big deal about it. The whole thing is fine if you don't care that it's totally unfeasible.
Did I mention it's also completely predictable? Maybe I did.
I read a LOT of books by Indian writers and books set in India and this is third-rate. Sorry - I've read reviews that people loved it, but I didn't. I really didn't.
Rating: really liked it
Jaya is a New York journalist whose marriage is falling apart after several miscarriages. With her and her relationship at a breaking point, she goes to India to rediscover her heritage and look into her family’s past after learning that the grandfather she never knew is dying and her emotionally distant mother Lena, the man’s daughter, has refused to go see him. There she meets Ravi, the faithful servant and confidant to Amisha, the grandmother she never knew, who slowly unfolds the mesmerizing mystery and history of this woman, and in the process, unveils why Lena behaves as she does. In the story also lie the keys to Jaya's future.
Ravi’s story about Amisha, taking Jaya back to the days of the British occupation of India, tells of an intelligent, creative, independent-thinking woman ahead of her time, who struggled with the confines and norms of her culture, and found tastes of freedom in an unexpected friendship with British Army Lieutenant, Stephen. Existing in an emotionally cold marriage and discouraged from her beloved writing by husband Deepak, Stephen opens up possibilities she never imagined, and in the process, her heart. What follows is the aftermath of Amisha’s choices, and the effects on everyone after her - including Jaya, whose own life starts to make sense through the lens of her grandmother and mother’s lives.
I loved this dual-timeline story - particularly wonderful, gentle Ravi, whose stories I would sit and listen to all day. I thought Amisha was a compelling central character. I was sympathetic to her cultural constrictions and why she felt the need to do certain things, even if some would seem to be profoundly self-centered. Despite this, she had a great deal of generosity and kindness in her character, and her friendship with Ravi was lovely. Her story, especially after Stephen enters the picture, is in turns beautiful and heart-breaking, and I felt so invested in it. I didn’t care quite as much for Jaya or the modern story, because she was simply a little less likeable, but by the sweet and uplifting end, I was invested in her as well.
This was a wonderful story with fascinating characters, fantastic structure and rich cultural insight into some of the history of India, and the experiences of Indian women, both past and present. You see the good, the bad and the ugly effects of rigid cultural beliefs and practices. For those who love historical fiction, foreign culture, drama, a bit of romance and a good cry (or two), you’ll likely enjoy this one.
Ms. Badani tells a beautiful, touching story and it's well worth the read!
★★★★ ½ (rounded to 5) ❤️
Rating: really liked it
Absolutely awesome book. I started reading and did not stop until the very last page. Great story, beautifully told. The culture, the setting, the pace, and the emotions were perfectly on target. 5+ Stars for me.
Rating: really liked it
The first few chapters begin in America with Jaya as the narrator. I was immediately pulled in - but found Jaya an annoying protagonist. I eventually warmed to her — but it took almost a dozen chapters. Regardless, the storytelling was engaging.
After several miscarriages...Jaya and her husband, Patrick, separate. Their communication was weak. Patrick moved out quickly.
Next we are introduced to Jaya’s parents. Jaya went to spend time with them - one night sleep over - hoping to find comfort...from the pain she was feeling since Patrick left.
Jaya’s mother, Lena, received a letter from her father in India to come home because he was dying. Jaya learns of the letter. For reasons we don’t know yet Lena will not go back home to India…because her father told her years ago when she got married, to never return home.
Jaya and Lena’s mother/daughter relationship has been strained for years. Jaya was frustrated with her mother because she would never tell her anything about her past. “Focus on the future”, Lena would say.
Jaya was hurting - ( I’d say clinically depressed)....she desperately wanted a child but could never carry one to full-term.
Jaya loved Patrick ....but he was at his wits end - suffering and suffocating in the relationship ....
So after Patrick bolts - Jaya does the same - bolts America- bolts her husband - and
bolts her mother...
Off to India Jaya goes to meet her grandfather.... The mysterious man...( Lena’s father), that Lena refused to discuss.
Once in India, Jaya discovers she was a couple of days too late. Her grandfather had already died.
The transition from America to India, didn’t feel cohesive...but we get the point - Jaya was angry - hurt - and devastated about everything in her life. Bolting to India was a great idea. ( I was reminded that no matter how Far East you run - you take yourself with you no matter where you go). I once bolted to India too.
Besides needing a personal escape journey from her present troubles .....Jaya also wanted some answers .....she’ll get them. Jaya will meet Revi, her grandmothers faithful servant and close friend.
We learn the story of grandmother, Amisha.....who lived during the era of oppression.
It’s heartbreaking....but she was a very resilient woman.
This is a touching story about a woman searching for answers, wanting to know the hidden secrets that have been hidden by her family for generations.
Wonderful stories throughout....we become a fly on the wall learning about these characters.
The descriptions of British occupied India intertwined with modern day India...was also beautifully written. Having been the Indian myself I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the customs, the people, the holidays, the foods, the family history and India’s history.
Themes - Love, loss, betrayal, sacrifice, friendship, ....were heartbreaking & heartwarming.....with a transformational shift that was really lovely.
4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
I think I must have read a different book to everyone else, looking at the ratings and reviews. I was really looking forward to it - I've read lots about India and thought it sounded like an interesting premise. The problem was it was SO predictable - I even wrote the synopsis after I'd read about 15% of the book and gave it to my husband - and I was spot on.
That wasn't the real problem - the problem with the novel is that it just couldn't have happened and it was SO inconsistent. At one point Jaya talks about going to the village to find an internet cafe to send her blog and only a couple of chapters later she's sitting on her bed and 'presses send' to upload the latest installment. There were loads of these sorts of examples.
How could a simple, ill educated girl from a small village have enough English to have a relationship with a soldier from the British Army (don't even get me started on how utterly ridiculous the two of them spending hours alone in a school is), and yet she can't write one word of it. He is able to read her poems (in Hindi)?
And then there is the 'untouchable' essentially being left to run the household of a very well respected businessman - without his wife having any male relatives of his to protect her and his children during a time of civil unrest in a volatile country.
The whole book irritated me beyond belief - I really don't understand why everyone else loved it so much! If you can totally suspend your disbelief about the period of history in which it was written, the shoehorning of the feminist message into a character from the 1920s and the dialogue which just didn't ring true (a British public school educated officer talking about his 'mates' and his 'mum' for example), then I'm sure you'll love it.
Rating: really liked it
"Try a new genre," they said. "It'll be fun," they said. A real life friend who clearly doesn't realize the icy shriveled up state of my psyche gave me a copy of
The Storyteller's Secret, calling it one of his favorite books ever. I gave it 100 pages before deciding that, while I might need a new genre, Hallmark-y emotional dramas about Finding Yourself in Foreign Travel™ and Reconciling with Your Difficult Past and Relatives™ are not it.
I'm also exactly the wrong person to feel sympathy for a woman who implodes her life over not being able to have babies. As a misanthropic ecologist, I feel compelled to point out that there are currently 7.7
billion humans (and rising) on Earth. As a species, we are busy vacuuming up, digesting, and shitting out all the space and resources that used to support organisms arguably a lot more wondrous than humans like redwood trees (5% of old growth forest remaining), amphibians (of which 200 frog species have gone extinct in the last 50 years), and amur leopards (60 remaining in the wild). 60 amur leopards. 7.7 billion humans. How is that not enough humans??
I first thought that my personal lack of connection with the main character Jaya was the biggest problem, but the writing is clunky and overrun with awkward metaphors, cliches, modifiers, and adverbs. Virtually all of the dialogue goes something like this:
"You stood in front of this building, and you watched the walls go up," Stephen said. "Even from afar, I could see your hope." He stared into the distance before admitting, "He always wanted more also and believed others should be able to live their dreams. Drove me crazy talking about it." He laughed, seeming desperate to alleviate his memories.
And:
"I am an old man, Beti." He massages his hands together. "Weariness has seeped deep into these muscles. If I do not give my mind its necessary rest, my body may rebel and break down completely." He raises his head and offers me a weak smile. "Then you will have to come and serve me my meals in bed for the completion of the story." He closes his eyes and leans back against the bench.
Who even speaks like this. WHO. The awfulness of the writing, while not perhaps immediately obvious, has an oleaginous quality that seeps into your consciousness and makes you question whether you'll ever read good writing again. (You will. Just not in this book.)
Predictable, emotionally overwrought, and ultimately uninteresting in the specific way that books targeted as 'women's fiction' often seem to be. No. There are too many books well worth reading to waste any more time on this one. Fellow curmudgeons, steer clear.
Rating: really liked it
A quiet read, free of twists and turns and other serpentine machinations. The beauty is in the simplicity of the story. Perspective is achieved in recognizing what some take for granted are the same things for which others yearn and will never achieve. The freedom to make choices that will chart our destiny, the absolute value of a true friend. Every story holds a secret.
This has been languishing on my Kindle for a very long time. Although the story was a bit on the saccharin side for me, the writing was lovely and I enjoyed learning a bit about the underpinnings of India from two different time periods.
Rating: really liked it
I have never written a Goodreads review before, but I am astounded this book got 4.47 stars. It was totally predictable, trite, cheesy, melodramatic, and basically read like a cheap romance novel set in India. The writing style was hard to stomach. I normally read 6 books a month and this took me 3 weeks because I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up and finish it. Spent endless hours playing FreeCell on my phone rather than pick up my Kindle. Not sure why I even finished it but if I make it halfway I usually try to finish. Thankfully I can move on to something better now.
Rating: really liked it
I don't even know where to begin with this book. I didn't read it, I devoured it. I lived it. It slowly brought me in and then refused to let me go. I read until my eyes needed toothpicks to stay open, and yet I kept reading. It is that good.
The book is written from two vantage points: those of the person telling the main story, Jaya, and the second is from the viewpoint of her grandmother, Amisha.
Jaya is reeling from her third miscarriage. A writer living in New York, the third miscarriage is more than she, or her husband Patrick, can take.
Lena, Jaya's mother, has never been a close, loving mother, and when Jaya questions her about her past in India, she never really answers anything, telling her to "let it be".
On day, Jaya comes across a recent letter, begging her mother to return to India where she was born as a recent family death required her attention. Lena had refused, and Jaya decides to go to India herself and finally hear the true story of her mother and her grandmother.
Once in India, the book lavishly describes the countryside, the sights, the smells, the culture shock Jaya experiences. Nothing can prepare her for the village where her mother and grandmother lived. Finding their home, she meets Ravi, an "untouchable" who is more valuable than a pot of gold. Ravi is the one who will enlighten her about her family history - finally. It is only now that the story can be told following the death of Deepak, Jaya's grandfather who was married to Amisha.
Horrified at the poverty, the division of the classes, the babies and children living in an orphanage waiting for adoption, she nonetheless falls in love with India and all its secrets and beauty.
Amisha's story is beyond heartbreaking. Ravi is the lowest class, the untouchables, and yet he is worth a million of the upper classes due to his golden heart, his loyalty, and his bravery in the face of prejudice.
I cannot say much more without introducing spoilers, and I do not want to do that. A voracious reader, this book has become one of my all-time favorite reads. It left me wanting more, and yet I was strangely satisfied that, in the end, all would be well.
Rating: really liked it
I had no idea what this was about except the it was historical fiction and that could never be boring in my opinion. I loved the setting and have read very little about India during WWII. The writing was mesmerizing and the story was beautiful and tragic all at the same time. I highly recommend this book!
Rating: really liked it
You know those books that just leave your heart and soul satisfied after reading it? Well, The Storyteller’s Secret was one of those books for me.
This book was one of my Kindle First picks and I’m so glad I picked this one. Not only did it keep me gripped from beginning to end it left me feeling lighthearted after reading it.
The Storyteller’s Secret tells the tale of two women, grandmother and granddaughter, one set back in India when the British were ruling and one set in modern day time.
Jaya, the granddaughter, is in India trying to learn about her past and where she came from after suffering her third miscarriage and not knowing how to survive life at this point.
Amisha, the grandmother, is in the midst of India’s ruling under the British during WWII and is desperate to escape the world she lives in. A world where women are only good for childbearing and running a household. No freedoms, no real life. It’s the culture, but Amisha wants to be free from it all.
The Storyteller’s Secret shares Amisha’s heart wrenching story through the voice of Ravi, her dearest friend. Jaya listens intently and throughout the story comes to find herself.
This book was special. Truly special. I highly recommend it!
Rating: really liked it
I know I am in the minority here, but I found this book boring and most of the characters unlikable especially Jaya. The story was predictable and it read like a cheesy, badly written romance novel. I also had nagging suspicions about the author's description of India that were later confirmed. When writing about other cultures more care needs to be taken, otherwise it ends up being a sloppy novel.
Rating: really liked it
This is a beautifully written story which I liked and enjoyed but I can’t say I absolutely loved it and I can’t put my finger on why. The story is told of grandmother Amisha in India and granddaughter Jaya who is American. Jaya has suffered several miscarriages and from a health perspective cannot try again. Her marriage to Patrick fell apart under the psychological and physical strain. Jaya’s parents came to the USA from India on their marriage. Her mother Lena is remote and hard to reach emotionally and perhaps that is linked to the fact that on her marriage her father told her that she was to leave India and never come back. The family receive a letter informing them that the father is dying and requests that Lena return to India. Lena refuses and will not explain why so Jaya sets off to India to try to learn why.
The unfolding story of Amisha is a bold one and helps to explain why Lena is as she is. Amisha was a woman before her time, a square peg in a round hole during the last years of the Raj. It centres around the 30’s and 40’s and I really did enjoy the historical background with the advent of world war and the rise of Indian desire to break free of colonial shackles led by Gandhi. Amisha is independent of thought, very creative as she’s the storyteller, unique in that she insists that an untouchable Ravi become her servant against custom, she tries to be subservient as is expected of her but it does not come easy. Her husband Deepak tolerates her ways to an extent and she is lucky too in that he was frequently away on business which allowed her more latitude than many other in her position. Amisha meets Stephen, an army Lieutenant who runs a local school. She wishes to learn to write in English and in return for teaching some storytelling lessons Stephen agrees to teach her. Their feelings grow for each other and you can work the rest out!!! Sadly, Amisha died shortly after giving birth to Lena and she is raised by a cruel and hard hearted stepmother Omi. Jaya learns so much from Ravi about herself and her grandmother and the storytelling allows her to show compassion and understanding to her mother. The book ended on an optimistic note both for Ravi and his family and for Jaya.
The book describes India past and present beautifully as well as its customs, some of which seem harsh to westerners such the caste system and the fate of the untouchables. How Amisha suffered at the end of her life was also shocking but has to be placed in the culture and perceived wisdom of the time and so it’s wrong to judge. All societies have things that others do not always understand. Ravi and his family were luckier than many thanks to Amisha. I really liked the Hindu customs which are so well explained and I liked and admired the characters. It’s a good book which is well worth reading and I’m glad I read something different from my usual genre.
Rating: really liked it
This is the book of the summer for me. I felt like i was right there in India with Jaya. I had to read this book in one day. Now i have to find a book that comes up to its excellence. Wonderful story, written sooooo well.
Rating: really liked it
If I could merely submit an eye roll
For my review , it would successfully summarize my feelings about this book. Sigh.
