Tag: comedy

Late Bloomers: A Novel by Deepa Varadarajan

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Late Bloomers: A Novel by Deepa Varadarajan

I absolutely loved reading this book! The story and the characters, wanting to see what happens next, what happens to them, and how the family members reconcile their differences, drove me to finish this novel in two days — only because I could not forestall sleep!

Late Bloomers is a novel about an Indian-American family: Mom, Dad, Son, and Daughter. Mom and Dad are immigrants from India, and after 36 years of marriage, they divorced. Son and Daughter are still trying to wrap their heads around that event, and accept that both parents are now exploring the world of Single Dating. Dad, in fact, is exploring the world of online dating, while Mum has gotten a job for the first time and is making new friends who may or may not have more romantic interests in her. Meanwhile, their eldest, Daughter Priya, is unhappily single-ish and caught in a tangled romantic loophole — and (horrors!) remains unmarried. Their son, a super successful lawyer in NYC, is married, partnered to an incredible woman, and the father of a bubbling infant. But, maybe that’s just the surface.

Indeed, surfaces and the depths they disguise is a major theme in this deliciously contemporary family drama. It revolves around traditional Indian motifs and cultural norms, but really, anyone can relate to the sentiments, concerns, emotional upheavals Late Bloomers brings to the fore. I loved that this focused on Indian-Americans, and the trials of living with a foot in two worlds. Indian culture was infused into the book, but in such a way as to tap into the universal experiences of people all over the world. Readers of all ethnic backgrounds will be able to relate to this novel and easily.

Varadarajan’s prose is smooth and natural, the characters live and breathe as if just inches away from us. We can feel their irritation, recognize it as an emotion we often feel – and often about those closest to us. Likewise, Varadarajan makes their love for one another palpable. These are people stumbling, bumbling, grasping at themselves and each other in the most lovable ways, trying to make sense of change in their lives.

For readers who love a bit of family drama, hilarious nonsense, and good endings, Late Bloomers is a fantastic read.

Sign Here: A Novel by Claudia Lux

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Sign Here: A Novel by Claudia Lux

A departure from the more serious novels I’ve been reading lately, and perfect — if a little late — for the Spooky season. Still, if you are a horror fan, any time is a good time for a paranormal mystery, which is exactly what Sign Here is, with a generous injection of humor.

Sign Here is a combination of the television show, “The Good Place” and one of Simone St. James’s paranormal mysteries, the kind which unravels to reveal a multi-generational history. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and also deadly serious at the same time. I couldn’t have asked for a better post-Halloween read than this. It gripped me to very end.

The novel is set in two dimensions: Hell and Earth. The former is a bureaucrat’s heaven, a place where the radio station is constantly on commercial break and the music is every genre you can’t abide. There’s fun to be had in Hell, but no peace, utterly no reprieve from annoyance. Ever. One of the main protagonists of the novel is a demon who long lost his humanity and now deceives or manipulates souls in order to collect them for his hellish quota. His goal is to complete a “full set” of a family, one soul from each generation. And to find some measure of peace in the afterlife. The two objectives are not exclusive.

The family he has targeted is a wealthy and dysfunctional one, a collection of questionable traits has passed down from one generation to the next. They have a long history with this demon, a transactional history of quid pro quo. There is also trauma, murder, abuse, and just downright immorality in the family’s past; one might say, the stuff that Hell is made of. But they are lovable too. Their flawed histories and personalities make them all the more human, all the more recognizable, for all their privilege and wealth. The reader will get the impression there is something not quite right about them though, and as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that several of them have something to hide — even from the demon himself.

The novel is set at the start of the annual family vacation, a dreaded and welcome event. There’s a newcomer to the lake house with them: the new best friend of the daughter. She’s bright and curious — and may just force the family’s dark secrets into the light.

The two storylines intertwine: Will our demon be able to exploit the family to meet his quota? Will he ever escape his Hell? Will the family be able to keep their horrors safely hidden in the past? Someone’s soul is at stake. Will it be the father? The mother? One of the kids?

Sign Here ends explosively and satisfyingly. Everyone gets what they deserve.