And Laughter Fell from the Sky is a sweet story about two young adults figuring out who they want to be — who they really are — while remaining true to their Indian heritage.
I don’t know why Indian authors speak so well to the conflict of new and old, roots versus wings — but they do. And even for those of us who are not children of immigrants, whose lives look and feel thoroughly typical, there’s an overarching theme of who we want to be, which may be different from who our parents want us to be (or who society wants us to be, or who we think we should be).
Jyotsna Sreenivasan hits this theme hard telling the story of twentysomethings Rasika and Abhay, but it still comes across as an escapist romance as well. Abhay is drifting aimlessly — having graduated from college with a General Studies degree and having no other plans at the moment. He wants to do something meaningful that he’ll love. He doesn’t want to be disappointed.
When he keeps running into Rasika, his high school friend’s older sister, he begins to think that she might be what he wants. She’s beautiful and polished and professional — out of his league, and she is looking for an Indian husband in the traditional way. Her parents are trying to find her a suitable match — one of the right caste from the right sort of family with a good job. Abhay is none of those things. And yet, Rasika enjoys the time she’s spending with him.
Rasika wants to please her parents and to be the perfect Indian daughter, which includes getting married before she turns 26, but perfectly acceptable suitors end up turning her off, when she can’t get Abhay out of her mind.
This was a novel that definitely got better as it went along. I was drawn into the characters from the beginning, but at times it lagged. However, the last third had some unexpected twists and suspense and left me feeling entirely satisfied.
I definitely had mixed feelings about this one because I didn’t really like Rasika. The author creates a good conflict and problem but has them resolved too easily in the end without showing enough character growth. Glad you liked it though.
I liked it for a light read, but I understand your thoughts. That’s why I classified it more as a romance, because I don’t expect as much development or growth. But I think that the way that both characters changed is what led to them getting together, but it was a pretty quick and easy fix 🙂
Great review! Our preschool (made up of more than 114 families) has a major second (and some first) generation Indian families who talk about this sort of thing a lot. Actually, we generally have a high international population and, wouldn’t ya know it, this is a huge issue with many couples coming in. I’ll definitely have to pick this one up!
That must be very interesting!
Well, I don’t think I’m going to go for this one BUT — I just had to say that I LOVE the title!!!
I really enjoyed this one – especially the immigrant themes. I know many disliked Rasika but while I disliked her in the beginning, I came to understand the experiences that shaped her and realized she was trapped between these two worlds and unable to be authentic.