From: fina2f@rosie.uh.edu (Venkatesh, P. C.)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.us.asian-indian
Subject: Books and the Indian-American experience
Date: 22 Nov 1992 13:59 CST
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: world
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Posted for Susan Chacko. Send mail to susanc@helix.nih.gov
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From 'The Kitchen God's Wife', by Amy Tan.

'Three months ago, I took a position as a speech and language clinician
with the local school district. And while I was basically happy with 
the job, I secretly worried that I had missed a better opportunity. 
My mother had put those thoughts into my head. Right after I announced
that I had been chosen over two other candidates for the same position,
she said "Two? Only two people wanted that job?" '

'Over the years that we've been married, we've learnt to sidestep
the subject of my family, my duty. It was once the biggest source
of our arguments. When we were first married, Phil used to say that
I was driven by blind devotion to fear and guilt. I would counter
that he was selfish, that the things one had to do in life sometimes
had nothing to do with what was fun or convenient. And then he would
say that the only reason we had to go [to visit my parents] was
that I had been manipulated into thinking I had no choice, and
that I was doing the same thing to him. '

Now this is the mother speaking about her son-in-law:

'When Pearl first introduced him to me, I tried to be nice. I said,
"Oh, a doctor. I'll send all my friends to be your patients". And then
he told me what kind of doctor he was. A pathologist! -- someone 
who looks at people only when it's too late, after they've died.
How could I send my friends to that kind of doctor? '

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Amy Tan writes about the Chinese-American experience. Guessing from
the characters in her two books, her parents emigrated to the US 
soon after World War II. Her books are a non-sentimental look at the
vast gulf that exists between the immigrant Chinese parents and
the American children, and yet she speaks as an insider from
both perspectives. 

I'm waiting for a similar writer to write about the Indian-American
experience. The closest I can think of is Rohinton Mistry, 
("Swimming Lessons and Other Stories"). He writes with the
same sort of non-sentimental but tender appreciation of both
sides of the generation gap. They're critical, but critical as
insiders, which is distinct from the sort of criticism that
V.S. Naipaul offers. 

Bharathi Mukherjee, occasionally touted on PBS as the spokesperson
of the immigrant experience, writes about people who are
totally unlike any Indian or immigrant I've ever met. The
men in her books are scoundrels or immature or lustful or
all of the above, and the women are vague, confused creatures.
Anita Desai is better, and some of her descriptions of Indian
gatherings in Britain are delightful, but her characters are
hard for me to identify with, perhaps because of the differences
between Britain and the US?

Susan.

p.s If anyone is intrigued by the excerpts and wants to read the
book, I recommend Amy Tan's first book, 'The Joy-Luck Club', more 
than this one.

Xref: sparky alt.culture.us.asian-indian:1214 soc.culture.indian:37303