This year's winner of the Man Booker Prize is a novel told from the perspective of an illegal immigrant. Through this immigrant, the author reveals the miseries of India and America, and the destructive dredges of imperialism.
"The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai is not a story of triumph. There are few successes to be tallied and moments of redemption are even harder to come by. Desai exposes her readers to futility, desperation, and cruelty. But her story is truthful and therein dwells a beauty that challenges its reader. Amidst the desolation of her narrative, humanity is laid bare, nonsensical and recurrent in its presentation of difficulties.
An unhappy and long-retired judge is central to the narrative. In accordance with his Indian family's gauzy hopes for the rewards that come with a British-educated son, the protagonist is sent away as a young man.
He returns with few of the accomplishments that his family had imagined; he arrives home with nothing more than a dependence on British frivolities and an impatient disgust for his wife and family. Content to live alone with his dog and his cook, the judge's indulgent misery is interrupted by the appearance of his granddaughter.
Parallel to the judge's history run the hopes of his son Biju, who is sent to New York to reap the wealth of the New World. Desai's illustration of the impoverished immigrant's life exposes the extensive disparities between the American dream and the bottom rung of American survival. Biju is tossed from one unsanitary kitchen to another, wary of being deported and convincing himself that this life in America is better than what was available to him in India.
Sai's discovery of love with her Nepalese tutor adds a further element of strife to this expertly constructed version of 20th century existence. The typical frustrations of young love are compounded by disparate backgrounds and the beginnings of a Nepalese insurgency.
The vibrant colors unique to India shine out from the pages of this book, but the reader is not taken on a pleasurable tour through the country. The British foreign influence continues to wreak havoc years after India's independence is declared. The country's citizens' lives are made miserable, either by their poverty or their loss of identity.
Desai describes a community crippled by its abandonment of its national identity for the mannerisms and tastes of a foreign power. The characters have learned to measure their success with American dollars and British austerity, constantly striving for a place in the world that ultimately disappoints and ruins them.
Each person in this novel about the destructive force of foreign invasion is undermined in his or her attempts to live a white dream of success. The system of foreign wealth and achievement proves intolerant of outside infiltration, and Third World aspirations to First World successes are crushed.
Although "The Inheritance of Loss" is comprised of a reputable series of unfortunate events, Desai does not dwell on constant reappearance of misfortune. Her writing suggests the banality of the situations, alluding to the extent to which such events are commonplace, and making one aware of one's privilege with each twitch of surprise.