The Weight of Heaven: A Novel

by

Thrity UMRIGAR

WHY I did not LIKE THIS BOOK

The book is well written, with very believable characters and settings, in the US and India, and describes what sounds a very true picture of India today.

But I ended up not liking it, because it kept going from bad to worse, as for the plot development. I for sure didn’t expect things to turn out as they do, so I guess in that sense it’s an interesting book, with suspense. It is not boring, but most depressing. Sometimes human lives can be pretty depressing that’s true.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Frank and Ellie Benton lose their only child, seven-year-old Benny, to a sudden illness, the perfect life they had built is shattered. Filled with wrenching memories, their Ann Arbor home becomes unbearable, and their marriage founders. Then an unexpected job half a world away in Girbaug, India, offers them an opportunity to start again. But Frank’s befriending of Ramesh—a bright, curious boy who quickly becomes the focus of his attentions—will lead the grieving man down an ever-darkening path with stark repercussions.

A devastating look at cultural clashes and divides, Thrity Umrigar’s The Weight of Heaven is a rare glimpse of a family and a country struggling under pressures beyond their control.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thrity Umrigar, a journalist and associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, is the author of three previous novels, If Today Be Sweet, The Space Between Us, and Bombay Time, and a memoir, First Darling of the Morning. She lives in Cleveland.

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