This book was an 'Oprah's Book Club' choice, and it's very relevant to current times, with ongoing global warming and human despoliation of the environment.
*****
In a near-future Kolkata, the situation is desperate. Farmers had fallen from the constant heat; untended croplands had been ravaged by pests; a drought had cleaved riverbeds; and eastern paddy fields were tainted by salt water.
To make matters worse, people were moving to Kolkata from regions of the state that were flooded, and men women and children crowded railway platforms, bus stations, medians, metro stops, and mall garages - selling trinkets or begging for money.
Regardless, markets are empty and there's no food to buy. What remains for the population is hunger, misery, and thuggery. "The heat and the shortage made citizens quick to anger, and quick to turn to violence....The previous week, a man on a bicycle had knocked over a woman for the paper bag of three potatoes in her hands. The week before that, three college students had beaten up an old woman and taken not only her tiffin box, containing long beans, but also her gold ring."
There's SOME relief for a few solo parents with small children permitted to stay in the local shelter, which is funded by Kolkata's one remaining billionaire, seemingly for public relations.
The billionaire herself lives on a floating hexagon in the river. The hexagon contains a home, an office, a library, a four-car garage, a movie theater, a gym, a bowling alley, a spa, clinics and medical supplies, and pantries stocked with food - ilish fish, buckets of shrimp, colorful fruits and vegetables, gulab janum, and more.
Ma, the former manager of the billionaire-funded shelter, JUST gave up her job. Ma, her two-year-old daughter Mishti, and her widowed father Dadu are to leave for America in a week, to join Ma's scientist husband Baba in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Baba had purchased the plane tickets and helped secure climate visas, a long process of supplication in both America and India. Ma is picking up the visas today, and other than that, the family is almost packed and ready to go.
Ma has a troubling secret. She's been stealing food from the shelter for her family, and she's skimmed money to prepare for an uncertain future in Michigan. In Ma's mind she truly hadn't taken much - enough money for a few weeks worth of groceries for a family of four living on a single income, and winter clothing for Mishti. A person has to look out for their family, after all.
Unknown to Ma, similar thoughts go through the mind of Boomba, a young man concerned about his parents and little brother. Boomba comes from a village outside Kolkata, and - because he accidentally burned down the family home - Boomba's relatives live in a rickety shed besieged by mosquitoes that carry malaria and dengue fever. Boomba came to Kolkata to work, get a place to live, and bring his family over. Unfortunately, Boomba's had a lot of bad luck, and he's homeless and desperate.
The drama begins after Ma secures the passports and climate visas for herself, Mishti, and Dadu. Ma wraps the precious documents in plastic, and tucks the treasures deep in her purse. That night, Boomba breaks into Ma's house looking for food, and grabs Ma's purse on the way out.
When Ma discovers the thievery in the morning, she's devastated, and determined to get the documents back.
Dadu helps with the search, but he's ambivalent about leaving his beloved Kolkata. "This was a city he believed in....The city in which knowing somebody meant knowing them forever....Everything beautiful, and everything useful about the city could be found in these relationships of dependence - with one's barber, one's rickshaw driver, one's editor, one's neighbor."
Events escalate over the next week, as Ma maneuvers to get the passports and visas she needs, Boomba schemes to get what he wants, and Kolkata residents grow resentful toward the privileged billionaire.
I'm sure there are different opinions about the unfolding events, but for me, Boomba was the least sympathetic character in the story. Boomba gave no thought to the consequences of his actions, or to the distress he caused. Though I empathized with Boomba's plight, I was put off by his behavior.
I can't say I enjoyed the book, because I was constantly apprehensive about what would happen next. The novel is well worth reading though, and should add to the 'wake up' call being sounded by people concerned about the future of the planet.
Thanks to Netgalley, Megha Majumdar, and Knopf for an ARC of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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