Staff Pick
Examining themes of motherhood, infertility, and immigration, Lucky Boy presents the awful question of who is entitled to a child: The person who birthed him? The person who raised him? Or someone else entirely? Writing characters who are raw with emotion, Sekaran manages to swing your loyalties first to one side and then to the other, and then back again, and then back again, but there are no clear answers here. An immigration story line underscores all of the above, making the answers murkier still. Tension runs high throughout this book, along with stinging heartbreak and brutal sorrow, but at its core is pure and unconditional love for a child; even a child who may be unattainable. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A heart-wrenching novel about the transformative power of motherhood and the redemptive beauty of love, perfect for readers of Jacquelyn Mitchard, Jenny Offill, and Cristina Henriquez. "A fiercely compassionate story about the bonds and the bounds of motherhood and, ultimately, of love." --Cristina Henriquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans
In this astonishing novel, Shanthi Sekaran gives voice to the devotion and anguish of motherhood through two women bound together by their love for one boy. Soli, a young undocumented Mexican woman in Berkeley, CA, finds that motherhood offers her an identity in a world where she's otherwise invisible. When she is placed in immigrant detention, her son comes under the care of Kavya, an Indian-American wife overwhelmed by her own impossible desire to have a child. As Soli fights for her son, Kavya builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else's child. Exploring the ways in which dreams and determination can reshape a family, Sekaran transforms real life into a thing of beauty. From rural Oaxaca to Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto to the dreamscapes of Silicon Valley, Lucky Boy offers a moving and revelatory look at the evolving landscape of the American dream and the ever-changing borders of love.
Synopsis
A gripping tale of adventure and searing reality, Lucky Boy gives voice to two mothers bound together by their love for one lucky boy. "Sekaran has written a page-turner that's touching and all too real."--People
"Heart-rending and heartwarming....There's something for everyone in this wonderful novel."--Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL
In this astonishing novel, Shanthi Sekaran gives voice to the devotion and anguish of motherhood through two women bound together by their love for one boy. Soli, a young undocumented Mexican woman in Berkeley, CA, finds that motherhood offers her an identity in a world where she's otherwise invisible. When she is placed in immigrant detention, her son comes under the care of Kavya, an Indian-American wife overwhelmed by her own impossible desire to have a child. As Soli fights for her son, Kavya builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else's child. Exploring the ways in which dreams and determination can reshape a family, Sekaran transforms real life into a thing of beauty. From rural Oaxaca to Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto to the dreamscapes of Silicon Valley, Lucky Boy offers a moving and revelatory look at the evolving landscape of the American dream and the ever-changing borders of love.