If Today Be Sweet: A Novel

by Thrity Umrigar Narrated by Jeed Saddy

Overview

The recent death of her beloved husband, Rustom, has taken its toll on Tehmina Sethna. Now, while visiting her son, Sorab, in his suburban Ohio home, she is being asked to choose between continuing her old life in India and starting a new one in this unfamiliar country with her son, his American wife, and their child. Her destiny is uncertain, and soon the plight of two troubled young children next door will force the most difficult decision she has ever faced. Ultimately the journey is one that Tehmina must travel alone.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In Umrigar's tender fourth novel, Tehmina "Tammy" Sethna is torn between two cultures that couldn't be more different: Bombay and Cleveland. The former is her homeland, but after her husband's recent death, she's been staying with her son and his family in America. Tehmina loves being near grandson Cookie, but she often feels like an intruder in her American daughter-in-law's home, and she's disconcerted by the changes in her son, Sorab, who is stressed from the corporate rat race. Though Tehmina's loneliness floods her with memories of her husband, the Parsi community back in India and her traditional ways, she finds no small amount of purpose (and celebrity) in Cleveland after suspecting her neighbor of child abuse and intervening on the children's behalf. Immigration laws, meanwhile, force her to decide whether she'll remain in Cleveland or return to Bombay. Umrigar (The Space Between Us) shows the unseemly side of American excess and prejudice while gently reminding readers of opportunities sometimes taken for granted. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Library Journal

Recently widowed Tehmina Sethna has a big decision to make. Should she remain in India, clinging to her past, or vote for the future and go live with her son in America? With an eight-city tour; reading group guide. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Umrigar's latest (The Space Between Us, 2006, etc.) offers a tender portrait of a Bombay widow and her Americanized son, and the culture clash that ensues. Tehmina Sethna has been emotionally adrift since her beloved, charismatic husband Rustom died. She was hoping to find some solace with her only child Sorab in Cleveland, but the long bleak winter and Sorab's disapproving wife Susan has made the stay awkward at best. Sorab and Susan have invited Tehmina to leave Bombay for good, move in with them and start life anew, but there seems little on offer in America but bland opulence. Though her family is in America (including seven-year-old grandson Cavas) and Tehmina has a good friend in the spirited Eva Metzembaum, the lure of India and the memories she shared there with Rustom may prove more powerful than the ties of family. Umrigar shifts nicely between Tehmina and her son Sorab, who's having problems of his own: In India there would be little question about Tehmina moving in with the family, but can the same deference be expected of an American wife? Acutely aware of Susan's subtle complaints about Tehmina (she doesn't rinse out the tub after each use, she's too emotional about her dead husband), Sorab finds he's becoming slightly afraid of his wife's thin-lipped grimace. Furthermore, while his wife is suggesting they buy a larger house if Tehmina decides to stay, Sorab's awful new boss is hinting his position is in jeopardy. Though Sorab and his Indian friends make for a vivid picture of assimilated life in the American Midwest, the story belongs to Tehmina, who must very soon make a decision about returning to Bombay (and all the vibrancy it represents) or staying with her remainingfamily. Though the ghost of Rustom is advising her, it is Sorab's next-door neighbor who inadvertently helps Tehmina with her decision-a mother who is abusing her two young sons spurs Tehmina into action, helping her become the robust, independent woman she was before her husband's death. Though less expansive than her last novel, Umrigar's intimate portrayal of a mother and son divided by culture is a convincing testament to the enduring power of place.

From the Publisher

Both the opportunities—and costs—of forging a new life in America are thoughtfully explored. Ultimately, the novel reflects on what makes an individual part of a community, and movingly depicts the heartaches, responsibilities, and rewards of family life—among one’s own blood relatives as well as one’s ‘family of choice.’ . . . [A] meditation on the complex process of building a new life.” — Charlotte Observer

“Umrigar has undertaken to show us the cultural divide between Indian and American cultures . . . She makes an interesting point, one she’s mentioned in other works: We make up our own families wherever we are; we choose our circumstances; we are capable of being heroes anywhere.” — Washington Post

“[A] poignant story . . . What might have been just another story about widowhood is, in Umrigar’s hands, a canvas on which love, death, family, pain, and personal transformation are subtly painted. Readers see through Tammy’s eyes as she struggles to understand her new role in life and the new definition of family. This novel transcends culture and will appeal to a wide variety of readers.” — Library Journal (Starred Review)

“Umrigar renders a sublime, cross-cultural tale about lives driven by tradition and transformed by love.” — Booklist

“A tender portrait of a Bombay widow and her Americanized son, and the culture clash that ensues. . . . Umrigar’s intimate portrayal of a mother and son divided by culture is a convincing testament to the enduring power of place.” — Kirkus Reviews

“[A] tender fourth novel . . . Umrigar shows the unseemly side of American excess and prejudice while gently reminding readers of opportunities sometimes taken for granted.” — Publishers Weekly

“[A] lyrical novel about a very special woman whom anyone should be proud to call a friend. . . . A refreshing story about an Indian woman of the Parsis or Zoroastrian faith. For believers, there is restorative power in fire and light and her actions speak of her fiery zeal to right wrongs and the illumination she provides others simply by her existence. Hers is an ancient culture—one that existed long before the United States and its promises of equality to all individuals.” — Decatur Daily

“Tehmina is an appealing character . . . Her attempt to make a new life for herself after the death of her much-loved husband is moving, and her sense of displacement from her home—even while she feels the pull of family and a fresh start—is believable.” — Columbus Dispatch

“A convincing testament to the enduring power of place.” — Kirkus Reviews

Columbus Dispatch

Tehmina is an appealing character . . . Her attempt to make a new life for herself after the death of her much-loved husband is moving, and her sense of displacement from her home—even while she feels the pull of family and a fresh start—is believable.

Booklist

Umrigar renders a sublime, cross-cultural tale about lives driven by tradition and transformed by love.

Charlotte Observer

Both the opportunities—and costs—of forging a new life in America are thoughtfully explored. Ultimately, the novel reflects on what makes an individual part of a community, and movingly depicts the heartaches, responsibilities, and rewards of family life—among one’s own blood relatives as well as one’s ‘family of choice.’ . . . [A] meditation on the complex process of building a new life.

Washington Post

Umrigar has undertaken to show us the cultural divide between Indian and American cultures . . . She makes an interesting point, one she’s mentioned in other works: We make up our own families wherever we are; we choose our circumstances; we are capable of being heroes anywhere.

Decatur Daily

[A] lyrical novel about a very special woman whom anyone should be proud to call a friend. . . . A refreshing story about an Indian woman of the Parsis or Zoroastrian faith. For believers, there is restorative power in fire and light and her actions speak of her fiery zeal to right wrongs and the illumination she provides others simply by her existence. Hers is an ancient culture—one that existed long before the United States and its promises of equality to all individuals.

Washington Post

Umrigar has undertaken to show us the cultural divide between Indian and American cultures . . . She makes an interesting point, one she’s mentioned in other works: We make up our own families wherever we are; we choose our circumstances; we are capable of being heroes anywhere.

Booklist

Umrigar renders a sublime, cross-cultural tale about lives driven by tradition and transformed by love.

Charlotte Observer

Both the opportunities—and costs—of forging a new life in America are thoughtfully explored. Ultimately, the novel reflects on what makes an individual part of a community, and movingly depicts the heartaches, responsibilities, and rewards of family life—among one’s own blood relatives as well as one’s ‘family of choice.’ . . . [A] meditation on the complex process of building a new life.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176368338
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

If Today Be Sweet
A Novel

Chapter One

Tehmina "Tammy" Sethna sat on a lawn chair next to her daughter-in-law, Susan, and basked in the warmth of the hot sun that she had brought with her all the way from Bombay.

It was a week before Christmas and Ohio was enjoying a virtual heat wave. The two women sat in a companionable silence on their front lawn, Tehmina wearing a navy blue sweater over her batik-print shalwar-khameez. Her gray hair was held down with two bobby pins, so that the slight, lazy breeze that ran its fingers through the grass on the front lawn could not do much to ruffle it. There was not a lick of snow anywhere.

"Seventy degrees," Susan said, for the fifth time. "December in Cleveland and it's seventy degrees. This is unfrig—unbelievable."

Tehmina beamed. "I told you," she said.

Susan pushed her sunglasses down her nose and peered at her mother-in-law. "Well, you've made a believer out of me," she said lightly. "Importing all this sunshine from India. Heck, Mom, if this trend continues, there's no way we'll let you go back to India. The mayor of Rosemont Heights will pass a proclamation or something, forbidding you from ever leaving."

Something inside Tehmina melted and turned to honey at Susan's words. She looked at the younger woman at her left. The sunshine had massaged and lifted Susan's mouth, which usually curved downward, into a smile. Susan's hands—Tehmina still remembered the first time she'd seen those hands and marveled at how large and masculine and raw American women's hands were—Susan's hands were resting limply by her side, unclenched, relaxed. The harried lookthat she wore most of the time, that made Tehmina jumpy and nervous around Susan, that look was replaced by contentment and happiness.

Tehmina remembered how Susan had been during her past visits to the United States—relaxed, fun-filled, happy. Something was different this time around, something was missing, and Tehmina knew exactly what—who—was missing. Her dearly departed Rustom was not with her this time. Rustom with his big laugh and boundless confidence; Rustom who could step foot anywhere—in a new restaurant, a new apartment, even a new country—and make himself and the people around him feel at home right away. Rustom who could make his white, blond daughter-in-law giggle and blush as if she was a schoolgirl again. Rustom, who could make his serious, earnest son, Sorab, burst with pride over his old man.

Tehmina pulled on her lower lip with her thumb and index finger. Unlike me, she thought. My presence only burdens Susan and Sorab now. Not like the old days. So many times Rustom and she had visited the children in America and always it had been a good time.

The light shifted in the trees across the street and it reminded Tehmina of something. An incident from last year. "You know what we're doing?" Rustom had bellowed at all of them from the pool at the hotel in San Diego. "We're making memories, for the future. Something happy for you kids to think of, when we oldies are no longer around."

Sorab had immediately thrown one arm around his father's neck. The two men were standing knee-deep in the water, while Tehmina and Susan lay poolside in lounge chairs. Little Cavas, whom everybody called Cookie, had been napping next to Susan. Tehmina looked at the blue water and at her husband and son. Water glistened off their brown faces and chests. She noticed idly that Rustom's belly was firmer than his son's. Too many years of this pork-beef diet for Sorab, she thought. I need to remind him again about his cholesterol.

"What're you talking about, when you're no longer around?" Sorab said, tightening his grip and bringing down Rustom's head so that it rested on his son's shoulder. "The way you're going, Dad, you'll outlive all of us."

Rustom shook his way out of his son's grip. "When it's your time, it's your time." He grinned. "'The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on,'" he added, swimming away from Sorab.

Sorab groaned. "You and your Omar Khayyám," he said. He turned to Susan. "I swear, my dad has an Omar Khayyám poem for every occasion."

Tehmina now shifted in her chair to look at Susan. "Remember our trip to California last year?" she said. "Remember what my husband said in the pool? About the moving finger writes and then moves on? Do you think he had a—a feeling or a sense—about his death?"

Susan stared straight ahead. Even behind her dark glasses, Teh-mina could feel her daughter-in-law stiffen. The suddenly cold silence buzzed around them. When Susan spoke, her voice was tight as a ponytail. "Mom, you remember what Sorab told you? About how you're not to keep thinking about the past? What's the point of thinking about—the sad stuff—if it just brings you down?"

Tehmina started to reply. She wanted to say: When you have known Sorab and loved him for as long as I'd known my husband, then you will know what it's like to miss someone so badly it's like your own organs betray you. Your heart, your skin, your brain, all turn into traitors. All the things you thought belonged to you, you realize you shared with the other person. How to explain to you, Susan, what the death of a husband feels like? Such a shock it is, like experiencing your first Ohio winter, with that bitter wind slapping you on your numb face."

She also wanted to say: That's what's wrong with you Americans, deekra, you all think too much of laughter and play, as if life was a Walt Disney movie. Something a child would make up. Whereas in India, life is a Bollywood melodrama—full of loss and sadness. And so everyone rejects Bollywood for Disney. Even my Sorab was seduced by your Disney life—all this pursuit of happiness and pursuit of money and pursuit of this and . . .

If Today Be Sweet
A Novel. Copyright © by Thrity Umrigar. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Videos