I am recommending this very short book, which tells the history of a family that has come into good fortune. It shows, in the end, how that good fortune (with an emphasis on the "fortune") may not have been so "good" after all.
To read a review from The New York Times, click this link. Here is how the book is described on the Goodreads site:
A young man's close-knit family is nearly destitute when his uncle founds a successful spice company, changing their fortunes overnight. As they move from a cramped, ant-infested shack to a larger house on the other side of Bangalore, and try to adjust to a new way of life, the family dynamic begins to shift. Allegiances realign; marriages are arranged and begin to falter; and conflict brews ominously in the background. Things become "ghachar ghochar" -- a nonsense phrase uttered by one meaning something tangled beyond repair, a knot that can't be untied.
Bottom line: the pursuit of money means the murder of the innocent. The end, so very understated, is chilling to the bone.
The family, and our politics, have a lot in common. The characters in the book are striving mightily to avoid recognizing their situation, and how they have been transformed.
May we not do the same.
Image Credit:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30267604-ghachar-ghochar
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