Rich Like Us

Once again I am falling behind in my posting, but I am going to try my best to keep up. Alright so for the most aggravating class this semester, as known as World Literature in English, I have recently had to read Rich Like Us by Nayantara Sahgal.

The novel is told in two point of views, first person when we are following Sonali, and third person when we are with Rose. Rose is and English woman who was taken from her life if hard work in the lower classes for England to India by Ram, who already had a wife. When the reader is following Rose's story we see that though Rose is English she is much more Indian then her own husband and wins the love of both Ram's father, who hates everything English, as well as ram's first wife Mona. However Mona's son Dev, who Rose now lives with due to Ram's stroke, hates Rose. She does not hold her tongue when she sees Dev working with the corrupt government to set up a factory. This brings Sonali into the story who losses her job because she does not approve the factory being brought in from England. Sonali's part of the novel focuses more on current problems in India, such as the Emergency. By intertwining the two characters stories we see both the past and the present easily.

I really don't have much to say about this novel. I didn't hate it, but I didn't exactly like it either. It was an easy read and talked about important issues, yet I couldn't really get into Sonali's part of the narrative, I was much more interested in Rose. This might be because I knew about what Rose was talking about, England and WWII, where as I have little knowledge about the Emergency. If you are interested in India or the Emergency in general I think it is worth a read, but otherwise I don't recommend it. Overall it gets a 2.5 out of 5.