Synopses & Reviews
Nothing in Lakshmi's childhood, running carefree and barefoot on the sun-baked earth amid the coconut and mango trees of Ceylon, could have prepared her for what life was to bring her. At fourteen, she finds herself traded in marriage across the ocean to a stranger in the fascinating land of Malaysia. Duped into thinking her new husband is wealthy, she instead finds herself struggling to raise a family with a man too impractical to face reality and a world that is, by turns, unyielding and amazing, brutal and beautiful. Undaunted, she becomes a formidable matriarch, determined to wrest from the world a better life for her daughters and sons and to face every new challenge with almost mythic strength.
A multigenerational narrative that spans the nightmare of World War II and the Japanese occupation, The Rice Mother gorgeously evokes a world of exotic beauty and vivid characters, where small pleasures offset unimaginable horrors. It is a powerful story of laughter and loss, love and betrayal, in a world where ghosts and gods walk hand-in-hand. Perfect for readers of Amy Tan, Isabel Allende, and Arundhati Roy, The Rice Mother marks the luminous debut of a writer whose universal themes will touch readers, especially women, the world over.
Review
"Over the past decade there have been a smattering of literary novels that have defied convention and traditional reading demarcation lines by taking a grip on the masses...like
Memoirs of a Geisha and
Cold Mountain.
The Rice Mother is one such book—A first novel of Eastern exoticism, myth and magic, and unforgettable characters, living and dead....You'll be hard-pressed to find a more powerful, moving read this year." —
Glamour (UK)
"The Rice Mother exudes the fascination of another world.... It possesses a genuine intimacy and passionate involvement." —The Times (London)
"It would be difficult not to be seduced by the evocation of setting, family life, clothes, food and the intriguing mixture of myth, religion and superstition...there is a freedom and freshness in the manner in which the author explores the interior life of her characters...It possesses a genuine intimacy and passionate involvement." —Elizabeth Buchan
Synopsis
A multigenerational narrative that spans the nightmare of World War II and the Japanese occupation, The Rice Mother gorgeously evokes a world of exotic beauty and vivid characters, where small pleasures offset unimaginable horrors.
Synopsis
At the age of fourteen, Lakshmi leaves behind her childhood among the mango trees of Ceylon for married life across the ocean in Malaysia, and soon finds herself struggling to raise a family in a country that is, by turns, unyielding and amazing, brutal and beautiful. Giving birth to a child every year until she is nineteen, Lakshmi becomes a formidable matriarch, determined to secure a better life for her daughters and sons. From the Japanese occupation during World War II to the torture of watching some of her children succumb to life’s most terrible temptations, she rises to face every new challenge with almost mythic strength. Dreamy and lyrical, told in the alternating voices of the men and women of this amazing family, The Rice Mother gorgeously evokes a world where small pleasures offset unimaginable horrors, where ghosts and gods walk hand in hand. It marks the triumphant debut of a writer whose wisdom and soaring prose will touch readers, especially women, the world over.
About the Author
Rani Manicka, an economics graduate, was born and educated in Malaysia. Infused with her own South Asian family history, The Rice Mother is her first novel.