Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss (2006)

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Author and Production History

  • Kiran Desai

Publishing History

  • First published in the USA by: Atlantic Monthly Press; in Hardcover: January 2006 ISBN-10: 0871139294 ISBN-13: 9780871139290; in Paperback: August 2006 ISBN-10: 0802142818 ISBN-13: 9780802142818
  • First published in the UK by Hamish Hamilton in 2006

Awards

  • Booker Prize Winner 2006: At 35 Kiran Desai was the youngest woman to ever win the award

Reviews

Plot Summary

  • One: February 1986. Kalimpong, northeastern Himalayas. The judge plays chess, watches his female dog called Mutt and waits for his tea, while the cook tries to find something to serve it with, and the seventeen-year-old Sai awaits a mathematics tutor called Gyan with whom she has had one-year-long love affair. They are robbed and humiliated by a juvenile Nepalese guerrilla gang.
  • Two: Unwilling, the cook has reported the robbery in the judge’s name. The police arrive and investigate unenthusiastically, noticing the downfall of the judge’s once wealthy home and his servant’s poverty. The cook’s wife died seventeen years ago, his only son, Biju, works as a waiter in the US. The cook tells his dramatic story of the snake incident.
  • Three: Biju’s experiences at a fast food restaurant in the US, selling hot dogs with a fellow server, Romy. Being nineteen and feeling too young and disgusted by the sheer thought about the Dominican prostitutes, he is the only worker who does not attend a nearby brothel. The manager’s name is Frank – ironic for someone selling frankfurters.
  • Four: The cook is humiliated by the police for his poverty and low social standing. Sai feels embarrassed and tries to make her friend feel better but only succeeds in making the situation even more uncomfortable, the gap between even more visible. The cook has great expectation as to his son’s, and thus his own, future.
  • Five: Biju changes jobs often and has difficulties assimilating the multicultural world in New York, which is divided into a first-class and a second-class clientele. When he meets a Pakistani co-worker, he is almost glad. At least he knows what to expect from him: well-known reciprocated hostility.
  • Six: The cook closes the gates, fearing the local thief, Gobbo, and talks to Sai about her background. Sai’s parents married against their families’ will and emigrated from India to Russia, where Mr. Mistry was promised to become a space pilot, leaving their six-year-old daughter at St. Augustine’s nuns’ convent. The Mistrys are run over by a bus and leave their orphan child in the care of the nuns and now her grandfather, Justice Jemubhai Patel, who had moved into Cho Oyu, a house built by a Scotsman. Sai had a hard time at the convent where she befriended Arlene Macedo and learned to distinguish between Englishness and Indian culture, as well as a certain fascination with sin.
  • Seven: Sai arrives at her grandfather’s house at the age of nine. She finds her only relative assimilating a lizard and his dog Mutton a film star. The judge is bossy towards the cook and not thrilled by the presence of his granddaughter. As he cannot afford a convent school education and does not want to send her to a government school, the judge hires a tutor for Sai.
  • Eight: The judge is disturbed by Sai’s arrival and cannot sleep. He remembers his first journey to England, the ashamed parting from his parents, the stay at Mr and Mrs Price’s and his loneliness in Cambridge. In the morning, he tells Sai of her tutor: Noni (Nonita), an elder spinster who lives with her widowed sister Lola (Lolita). The cook shows Sai around in the neighbourhood: Uncle Potty, their nearest neighbour, a farmer and a drunk; Father Booty; two Afghan princesses living with Nehu; Mrs. Sen, whose daughter Mun Mun left for America and the two sisters, who live at Mon Ami and feel contempt towards the Russian-Indian relations but nevertheless develop sympathy for Sai.
  • Nine: Lola and Noni hear about the robbery at Cho Oyu and fear they might be attacked by there own watchman, Budhoo a retired Nepalese army man. The sisters have a cat called Mustafa, read Jane Austen and are characterized as very pro-British. Lola’s daughter Pixie (Piyali Bannerji) works as a BBC reporter.
  • Ten: Biju takes up another job at an Italian restaurant but the owner and his wife cannot cope with his smell, and so he changes to Freddy’s Wok where he has to deliver by bicycle. One night, he delivers dinner to a group of young Indian girls celebrating “Antigentrification Day”, feeling loathing and respect at the same time. He looses his job and spends all his saving during a very cold winter, which he spends sharing a den in a basement in Harlem. In the springtime, he finds a job at a bakery and a friend: Saeed Saeed from Zanzibar.
  • Eleven: Sai takes lesson at Noni’s on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The cook takes to liquor production, first for Biju’s sake, then for himself, too, as he likes to spend money on small luxuries. He invents stories about his employer to make himself look better. His invented legends about the judge’s past and the judge’s own memories mingle. In 1919 Jemubhai was born to a peasant and court swindler, sent to school, to Cambridge, travelled the region to spread justice but, in reality, was corrupt and contaminated. The cook entered the judge’s service at the age of fourteen and his wage hasn’t been raised much since.
  • Twelve: Sai taking lessons at Lola and Noni’s. Meanwhile, Mrs. Sen is informed that her daughter might be offered a post at CNN and rejoices in her feeling of superiority of Lola with her daughter working at BBC. Noni remembers a romance story told by her kitchen maid, Kesang, and fears that Sai might not be raised to her social standards. Having come to an end with her science knowledge, she decides to plead for a tutor for Sai. The judge sends for a tutor reluctantly.
  • Thirteen: The principle recommends a post-graduate student, Gyan. The cook sits with them while Gyan and Sai do maths as accurately as possible as not to show that they really observe each other. The cook’s loyalty is divided between science and superstition; he is surprised to find out that Gyan is Nepali, not Bengali as he thinks the latter more intelligent due to their diet rich in fish. Sai becomes conscious of her looks and obsessed with her face.
  • Fourteen: Biju works at the Queen of Tarts bakery with Saeed, a young Zanzibar, womaniser and illegal immigrant, who had to go back to Zanzibar after a INS raid at a night club once, but came back under a different name: Rasheed Zulfickar. Saeed has implied for the green card several times, but Biju never will as the Indians are not admitted for the lottery. The MetalBox watchman asks the cook to ask his Biju to procure work for his son and the cook takes pride in having a son whom he can address in this matter.
  • Fifteen: The cook receives a letter from Biju saying that he got a new job in a bakery and the father is at once so happy that he cannot but tell everybody how has son is manager of a restaurant now and that soon he will fly to the US himself, too. He even imagines Biju getting married to the grocer’s daughter.
  • Sixteen: Sai asks the cook about his grandfather’s marriage. The cook first tells the judge loved his wife very much and become grumpy only after her death. Then he remembers that he did not like her, in fact, and that she was a man woman from a high standing family. When Sai asks her grandfather, he remembers the circumstances of their wedding. Due to a shortage of money, he was to be married to a rich man’s, Bomanbhai Patel, daughter, Bela. Bomanbhai was a financier, merchant, brothel-owner and expected status to be added to his wealth if his daughter married the first boy in the village who was to study in the UK. In exchange, he paid for the ticket to England. On their wedding night, the 14-year old Bela was so scarred that Jemu took pity and did not touch her. His last remembrance is that of the newly-weds on a bike. The judge suspects Sai’s tutor to have funny ideas. Noni encourages Sai once more to make something out of her life: “time should move” (125).
  • Seventeen: Saeed plays soccer with a mouse until it dies. The cook sends even more pleading letters to his son and becomes an important personality in the village based on the hopes he raises. Saeed experiences a similar lot when his mother gives away his address to village friends and family and Saeed is stalked by those asking for his help. Omar and Kavafya are the two other men working at the bakery. Together they try to get a green card illegally but only loose their money. Saeed has no need to visit prostitutes as he has enough girlfriends as it is. When a customer finds a mouse in a loaf of bread, the bakery is closed by health inspectors, Saeed finds another job at a Banana Republic shop and Biju realizes that they won’t see each other any more. Nostalgically, he thinks about his hometown and the times when Sai was jealous of him for his father’s love.
  • Eighteen: In Kalimpong, the monsoon season begins. Gyan has to stay overnight as he cannot possibly go back in the rain and hail. The judge is irritated about the young man’s presence at dinner and asks him uncomfortable questions knowing that he won’t be able to answer, knowing that he himself had to undergo a similar procedure during his examination period in England. His memory leads him back to his study time at Cambridge, his passing the exam by chance, meeting Bose, his only friend in England, turning away from everything Indian, admiring yet not trusting the English. In the meantime, Gyan breaks of the electrifying atmosphere and brings up all his courage to touch Sai. After some time, Sai gets up and vanishes. At night, they all lay awake listening to the rain and thinking: the judge about his past, the cook about his son, Gyan about Sai; and Sai walking restlessly back and forth between her bed and the bathroom.
  • Nineteen: Biju meets Saeed Saeed who tells him of his marriage to a hippie waitress. He married her for papers and now has to study for the INS authenticity test. Despite all that he is liked by the girl’s family. Biju does not have that kind of luck. His father continues sending him letters. The monsoon cuts the village off from the rest of the world.
  • Twenty: The twenty-year-old Gyan and the sixteen-year-old Sai continue with their love affair and gently explore each other’s bodies. Occupied with their love-making they hardly notice the upcoming insurgency.
  • Twenty-One: Noni and Lola talk about the political situation in India and the Nepalese separatist movement. Sai keeps thinking about Gyan and his touch. Mrs. Sen joins their conversation and brings it down to a stereotype view of Muslims. The sisters look down on Mrs. Sen, not only because of her proud talks about her daughter Mun Mun and the arguments over the UK or the US getting the upper hand in globalization politics.
  • Twenty-Two: Biju has found a job at Brigitte’s, a steak restaurant owned by Odessa and Baz, a couple drinking tea and talking politics, business-like attitude, no understanding for immigrants. Biju befriends Achootan, a Muslim who hates the US and wants to acquire the green card out of revenge. Biju goes through a difficult phase of decision and finally resolves not to loose his religion and traditions. He quits the job determined not to work at a place which sells beef any more. At last, he finds a post at a Hindu place, called Gandhi Café, a chain owned by three brothers: Harish-Harry, Gaurish-Gary, and Dhansukh-Danny.
  • Twenty-Three: Gyan and Sai continue their romance and go on excursions to avoid the attention from the village people. They notice little differences and learn to keep some things to themselves. Gyan’s family story is told: his ancestors were soldiers in the British Army, promised wealth and glory but in the end only death came with certainty. Finally, Gyan’s father has ended this tradition and became a teacher. After such conversations and journeys, Sai comes home late and the cook worries about her and reproaches her but is finally soothed with Sai’s placating.
  • Twenty-Four: The narrator turns to the reader explaining that the Indians and Americans are a perfect match marketwise. The Gandhi Café owners turn out to be exploiters of their workers. Malini, Harish-Harry’s wife, comes up with the idea to accommodate Saran, Jeev, Rishi, Mr. Lalkaka and Biju in the basement, where they have hardly any space and have to sleep on tables due to the rats. Harish-Harry is a two-faced man acting avuncular or choleric towards his workers and overly polite towards his clients. In a state of drunkenness, however, he shows his hatred towards the Americans and comes to terms with his lot only when he thinks of the money he makes. Finally, he buys a big house and sends off pictures of it and a luxurious car in front, his wife on top of it, to his relatives in India.
  • Twenty-Five: Mutt is given a coat for the winter time. The cold influences all inhabitants. For Christmas, Sai joins the two elderly sisters, Father Booty and Uncle Potty at Mon Ami where they eat and drink in abundance. Lola remembers what it was like to journey in the 50’s and 60’s and Nona suggests they should go on an expedition once again. Sai remembers a trip to the Darjeeling museum where they talked about Sherpa Tenzing and the colonial way of conquering a mountain.
  • Twenty-Six: While buying rice at the market, Gyan is surprised by a Gorkha demonstration. Amidst the crowd of angry men, he identifies his former college friends: Pada, Jungi, Dawa, and Dilip. He merges with the group and listens to the irate speaker, sceptic and critical at first, showing sympathy and solidarity at last. Roused by the masculine atmosphere of rights-demanding and alcohol-drinking, he feels ashamed of his comfortable relationship with Sai and resolves to take part in the Gorkha liberation movement.
  • Twenty-Seven: The next day when Gyan arrives at Cho Oyu, he provokes an argument with Sai calling her stupid for celebrating Christmas instead of Indian holidays. He reproaches Sai with following the custom of a people who don’t want Indians. Sai responds by pointing out Gyan’s stupidity because he couldn’t find another job but teaching her, whom he calls stupid.
  • Twenty-Eight: The judge remembers the feeling of hate from his youth. When he came back from England, he felt immediately misunderstood, foreign, and superior. His nineteen-year-old wife Nimi had some hopes at his arrival but having taken his powder puff only managed to draw his entire anger and frustration to her person. The judge raped her in a mixture of hatred and lust, a beginning of their relationship which was to even worsen with time. A hired companion for Nimi, Miss Enid Pott, abandons her arguing that she won’t learn English. The judge feels disgusted by his wife’s lack of Englishness and finally, literally, drives her mad.
  • Twenty-Nine: Gyan realizes that his anger is not entirely due to Sai but still leaves slamming the gate shut. He returns to Cho Oyu and apologizes for his behaviour, which Sai forgives although they both do not feel entirely comfortable with it. In fact, Gyan betrays Sai telling his friends about the house and the judge’s possessions, which tragically explains for the plot’s beginning: the robbery of Cho Oyu. The next morning, he feels guilty but realizes that love is a fluid thing.
  • Thirty: The cook has a sense of holding his son’s flesh when, in fact, he is holding buffalo meat to feed Mutt. He remembers how the villagers had said his wife’s ghost would hunt their son because of her violent death and that he never admitted to having succumbed to those voices before the judge. His first attempt to send his son Biju to the US turned out to be a swindle. Then, Biju applied for a tourist visa and, to his astonishment, it was granted to him. The feeling of happiness of that moment is contrasted with injuring his knee after a fall at Gandhi Café and the lack of compassion he receives from his employer. His leg finally heals but the burden of being illegal remains and drives him sick. Saeed Saeed reappears and reports about his small steps to success. Biju contemplates going back home.
  • Thirty-One: In March, Sai accompanies Lola, Noni, Father Booty and Uncle Potty to Darjeeling Gymkhana where they plan to supply themselves with books or liquor respectively for the time of political uproar. By the time, everyone has to follow the Nepalese separation movement under Ghising and Pradhan, top GNLF man. Father Booty tries to support local farmers but fails because everyone wants to have branded goods (i.e. cheese). Sai thinks back of how badly her relationship with Gyan ended. They meet other townspeople: Mrs. Thondup and her daughters Pem Pem and Doma, whom they like for being aristocratic; Mrs. Sen whom they do not like for being middle class and, consequently, do not greet; the Afghan princesses. They wonder about rising vegetarianism among soldiers, the Army Beautification Program, the carnivorous monks; and notice the downfall of Darjeeling. Uncle Potty buys rum to get him through rough times. He is tolerated by Lola and Noni due to his high education and parentage. At the Gymkhana library, Sai becomes enraged about old-fashioned guides for Indian gentlemen and Noni wonders about the Christian notions of sin and forgiveness in Crime and Punishment. They discuss Hindu religion, laws and caste system, while outside Nepalese men are on strike and inside the club owner tells of hypocritical and superficial tourists he has to put up with in order to support himself.
  • Thirty-Two: In this Gymkhana dining hall, just before Sai arrived at his place, the judge had a meeting with Bose after 33 years of not seeing each other. The conversation was painful, the judge wondering about Bose’s naïveté and not wanting to succumb to his past. On his way back, the judge remembers racist incidents he experienced in England at which he failed to intervene and realizes that the hierarchical structure between himself and the cook has changed as he ignores his servant’s side business. To his surprise, the judge finds that he does not object to Sai’s presence in the house: apart from being a cheap companion, she seems akin to his status as a stranger in his own country.
  • Thirty-Three: A short section of anterior narration tells of the incidents to come at Gymkhana hall: Nepalese separatists will gather and camp here to finally surrender arms on October 2, 1988, Gandhi Jayanti Day. As for now, the party from Kalimpong leave to have lunch at Glenary’s where they meet other acquaintances and eat Chinese. On their way out, Sai recognizes Gyan among the shouting crowd and is shocked at the ferocity in his expression when their eyes meet. The car has to be stopped on their way back; Sai vomits overcome with the shock of the moment. They are stopped by bridge guards, Father Booty’s camera and cheese and all their books confiscated. At home, Sai heads straight to bed injuring the cook’s pride as he suspects her of putting restaurant food before his.
  • Thirty-Four: The authorities return the books but keep the camera, search Father Booty’s house, find out that he has no valid residence permit and force him to leave the country, his house and dairy taken over by a Nepali doctor. Sai projects all her anger on Gyan, whom she holds responsible for the wrong done to Father Booty and remembers the day Cho Oyu was robbed.
  • Thirty-Five
  • Thirty-Six
  • Thirty-Seven
  • Thirty-Eight
  • Thirty-Nine
  • Fourty
  • Fourty-One
  • Fourty-Two
  • Fourty-Three
  • Fourty-Four
  • Fourty-Five
  • Fourty-Six
  • Fourty-Seven
  • Fourty-Eight
  • Fourty-Nine
  • Fifty
  • Fifty-One
  • Fifty-Two
  • Fifty-Three
  • Fifty-Four
  • Fifty-Five

Characters

  • the cook has no name, he mingles legends, invented stories and authentic memory, unreliable narrator

Narration

Setting

Time Structure

Language and Style

  • Indian idioms:
  • Onomatopoeia:

Topics

  • religion, faith, superstition:
  • alcohol: chhang (73)

Intertext

Adaptations

Specials

Further Reading

Links

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