“He gave me the only answer he could—that history proved time and again it was difficult to change what people believed as truth.”
A quote I’m very fond of is ‘Artists use lies to tell the truth,’ from V for Vendetta. It’s an appropriate and apt notion for The Storyteller’s Secret. There are two stories within the book. The first centers around Jaya, a NY journalist who is struggling with her third miscarriage and marital strife. After finding out that her grandfather in India is dying, Jaya is determined to uncover secrets buried in their past. It’s her last ditch attempt to reclaim who she used to be, before sorrow and grief tore a hole in her soul.
The story she finds is one of forbidden love, loss, and duty under the British Occupation of India. Her eyes are opened to a sense of community that she has been previously closed off from, and an understanding of privileges in her life that trickle down from sacrifices her grandmother and mother have made.
I found it a personally eye-opening reminder that change is both slow and quick. That over the course of two generations (a short period of time) the world can rapidly change. I have been doing a lot of self reflection caused by this book thinking of the sacrifices made by my Oma and my mother so that I might have the privileges I do today. That the sacrifices I make may improve the life of my nephew.
Whether or not this book accurately presents India, or the struggles under British Occupation, is beside the point. The story is character driven steeped in culture. A culture seen through outsider eyes, which lends itself to exaggeration. I am of the opinion that you can never fully trust the narrator in first person perspectives, as we’re all prone to personal exaggeration.
The story itself is not complicated, it’s fairly straightforward. It is a book that cleanses the soul of the character Jaya, and if given the chance, can do so for the reader as well.
4/5 stars.
-LJ
“Blood does not define family. Love does.”
