All the Lives We Never Lived

Un vrai roman qui raconte l'Inde autant qu'il raconte la vie des personnages. Anuradha Roy est une écrivaine inspirée, et son livre a été salué très justement par la critique internationale

Lovely read! An intriguing tale about an artist's quest to fulfill her higher purpose set within the confines of a arranged marriage traditional construct of pre-Independence India, and the impact of her free spirited decisions on her family. Loved the fact that the book is narrated by the son of the artist.

All the lives we never lived is the story of a boy named, Myshkin Rozario, who has now turned old and is a horticulturist by profession. The story opens with him reminscing his mother, Gayatri Roazario who had ran off with a German, named, Walter Spies. Myshkin reminisces his past life as he attempts to piece together the jigsaw of his mother’s abrupt disappearance when he was a child. The narrative is set in pre independent India when freedom struggle was racheting up. Myshkin's father is a principled, no nonsense kind of man who is also an ardent follower of freedom fighter, Mukti Devi. Myshkin's mother is a rebel and an avante garde whose interests lie in painting, music and travel. Myshkin's father looks down upon her and keeps nudging her to model herself after Mukti Devi. Gayatri detests this humiliation from her husband and wants to break this marital bond and travel the world. The opportunity comes knocking when Walter Spies arrives at her doorstep. Gayatri goes away with him, leaving her 10 year old child clueless and helpless. Myshkin, in the beginning, hates his mother for doing this. But eventually he understands her predicament - her will to be free and flowing, her desire to be not bound by rules. Gayatri's constant communication with him through letters, make him long for a life that his mother's living. He waits for her to come and take him along. However, as time passes, the daily life absorbs his longing for his mother. This is when the World War II breaks out. Myshkin gets worried about his mother as he does not recieve any news from her. After lot of contemplation, Myshkin, at his current age, decides to set out on a travel that his mother had, years ago with a hope to hear about her from the people who must have had met her. Anuradha's story telling is lyrical and lucid. You will be enamoured by the powerful imagery in the book, especially the part where Gayatri describes her stay in Bali. You will actually live it. For me, Gayatri's character is a takeaway.

There’s a Gayatri in every girl that needs to come out of cage. Her heart needs to be followed. Her dreams are meant to come true. I could relate so much with Gayatri. She’s not a fiction character for me. She’s very much real and we have become very good friends. Still left with a few pages and with turn of every page, my desire to meet her is getting stronger. Wish things like this could happen!!

So beautifully written, as soon as I read the first page I was there. Could see and smell the different places and have a vivid picture of the characters in my head!