The Space Between Us

Author: Thrity Umrigar

One-sentence summary: The struggles and joys of the lives of two women in modern-day Bombay who share a special relationship and history despite their different stations in life are retold alongside each other and from their unique perspectives.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: We loved the power of the story and the characters as well as the inside look at Indian culture, life and relationships.

Our least favorite thing about it: The story was very sad and all of the main male characters were portrayed as villains.

Main Topics of Discussion: Love, Hate, Relationships, Indian Culture, Perceptions, Tragedy

Our favorite quote: This may not be our “favorite” quote in terms of what that usually means because of what this particular quote implies, but it was definitely the most discussed quote from our meeting and it shows the beauty and subtlety of Umrigar’s writing style.

“Tomorrow. The word hangs in the air for a moment, both a promise and a threat. Then it floats away like a paper boat, taken from her by the water licking her ankles. It is dark, but inside Bhima’s heart it is dawn.”

Notes: One of the most unique things about our discussion this time is the different perspectives we all had when reading the book and how that affected our views of what happened. Specifically, there were two very different views of how the book ended as well as the tone of the encounter between Viraf and Maya. The other main things we discussed were Sera’s decision at the end of the book, the separate tragedies of the women’s marriages, the handling of the abortion, keeping secrets (both Sera and Bhima), and the dual nature of relationships. This last point was discussed as it related to Maya and Bhima and Bhima and Sera. There was an honest portrayal of feelings of intense love and hate in the relationships of these characters that was particularly interesting. Something we discussed only briefly was the issue of education and how that affected the lives of the two women.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We had authentic Indian food, we were able to speak with Becky on the phone despite her illness and we “heard” from Amberly via her choice for our next book!