content warnings: loss of a loved one, racism, discussion of 9/11
representation: main indian characters, main hindu characters, main biracial (indian-black) character, side black characters, side indian characters, side somalian character

This book was so lovely, and the worst thing about it is that it's over. I genuinely would have read a full-length novel about each of the women portrayed in this book, that's how much I loved it and them.

The story centres around five women in the same family, spanning generations, as it explores themes of race, culture, equal rights, prejudice, femininity, and so much more. Gun to my head, I couldn't pick a favourite of the five women. I loved them all so much in different ways.

Sonia: You first meet her when she's a young teenager, a budding feminist who is moving from London to America. She's a writer who constantly fights with her mother because of their very different ways of looking at the world. Then the time skip happens and suddenly you see her as an adult through the eyes of her daughter and niece. She went against her mother's wishes and married a black man, and became a journalist who reports on injustice and advocates for equal rights.

Tara: Sonia's older sister, you meet Tara in her final year of high school. She's not good at school and dreams of being an actress, being a fantastic actor after spending her whole life transforming into first an English and then American girl. She ends up marrying an Indian man her parents set up for her and has a daughter, becoming a famous Bollywood actress in the time skip.

Chantal: Being the daughter of an Indian woman and black man, Chantal doesn't quite know where she fits in terms of race, something which isn't helped by her two grandmother's constantly trying to claim her as one or the other. She's also incredibly athletic and intelligent, easily the most American of all the women in the story. After growing up there her entire life, she has very few ties to her heritage.

Anna: After being raised in India with her well-off parents, Anna is forced to move to America for her final years of high school. Incredibly in touch with her culture, she doesn't adapt to America the way the other women in her family did, and finds it hard to handle things like changing in the locker room. She's also a fierce debater, as far left politically as you can get, and has a love of fashion and making clothes.

Ranee: There are very few instances throughout the book where you see Ranee through her eyes; the rest of the time, you either see her as Sonia and Tara's Ma, or as Chantal and Anna's Didu. Her character development was easily my favourite. She starts off as a stereotypical strict Indian mother, but you see her bond with her daughters and granddaughters in ways you would never expect, and you see her overcome her prejudices. Ending the book on a chapter of hers was such a perfect way to end.

One big theme throughout this book is critique, specifically critiquing culture, both Indian and American. There is a lot of discussion of colourism in India, relating mostly to the light Tara and dark Sonia. This also goes along with Ranee's racism, as she cannot accept that Sonia has fallen in love with a black man for many years. There is also a very heavy critique of American culture as well, particularly from Anna who is both incredibly left and grew up in India so she is less blind to the flaws as her cousin and aunt. The aftermath of 9/11 in particular holds the biggest criticism of America, relating specifically to a Somalian friend of Chantal and Anna who wears a headscarf that some men tried to rip off her and who has been spat at in the streets.

This book strangely made me feel very at home, and I would highly recommend everyone read it.