page_title: The Space Between Us (novel)
section_title: Style and themes
hierarchical_section_title: The Space Between Us (novel) / Style and themes
caption_attribution_description: English: The upmarket neighbourhoods of Walkeshwar and Nepean Sea Road as seen from Marine drive.
context_page_description: The Space Between Us is the second novel by Thrity Umrigar, published by William Morrow and Company in January 2006. Set in present-day Mumbai, India, the novel follows the lives of two women: Serabai Dubash, an upper-middle-class widow, and her domestic servant, Bhima. The pair experience similar situations in their lives: abuse, the death or absence of a husband, a pregnant dependent, and the hope for a better future. Told using an omniscient third-person narrative in mainly present tense, the novel incorporates Hindi words and phrases amongst predominantly English text.
  Influenced by Umrigar's real-life experience with the employer-servant relationship, the novel explores social class in India and the division of power in society. Umrigar, who was born and lived in Mumbai until the age of twenty-one, modeled Bhima after a domestic servant of the same name who worked in her childhood home and for whom Umrigar had much admiration. Upon its release, The Space Between Us received largely positive reviews from English-language critics. While the majority of reviewers enjoyed Umrigar's simple, descriptive prose, a few questioned whether she depended on clichés and exaggeration.
context_section_description: Using an omniscient third-person narrative, The Space Between Us divides itself between the stories of its two protagonists, Sera and Bhima. Although the novel occasionally explores their memories in flashbacks, Thrity Umrigar wrote much of the novel in the present tense and used adjectives, similes, and metaphors frequently in her descriptions. She also incorporated Hindi words alongside English ones in the novel: "What is this, baba? So-so much money," says one character, for example. According to The Independent's Aamer Hussein, "Umrigar's preoccupations are the classic and abiding tropes of domestic middlebrow fiction: love and families, marriage, childbirth, betrayal, lack and loss."
  Among the many issues explored—"poverty engendering poverty; the power of privilege and wealth; domestic violence;... education; women's rights; AIDS"—the novel examines the class system in India. The protagonists experience parallel situations in their lives: abuse from men they loved, enduring "shame and disappointment", expecting the successes of their children to bring them happiness, and comforting each other through their bond. Claudia Webb of the London Financial Times stated: "The one element that separates them is money." While the protagonists share a closer relationship than many servants and masters in India, Sera looks down upon Bhima and refuses to let her sit on a chair in her house or drink from the same glass. Ligaya Mishan of The New York Times saw a parallel in Sera's "mother-in-law's superstition and her physical aversion to Bhima, whom she imagines to be covered in a 'sheen of dirtiness.'" Additionally, Umrigar explored the strength of friendship among the characters, which the class system and its bias threaten. The character Dinaz has some of the views about the master-servant relationship in common with the teenage Umrigar; Umrigar believed that children in general are able to "see through the social clutter" of the classes.
  Gender and the division of power play a prominent role in The Space Between Us. The male characters often use their power and advantage in society to mistreat others through "cruel and abusive ways", according to The Washington Post's Francis Itani; Feroz, Viraf, and the administrator from Gopal's factory thrive in the class system, using their power to bully and cheat others. Friendship among the female characters is presented as a potential way for them to overcome "individual isolation and loneliness". Judy Budz of The Boston Globe wrote: "Will women support each other in the face of family obligations, powerful husbands, and the desire for upward mobility in a downwardly mobile environment?" Umrigar considered the novel more about the division, use, and effects of power in society, rather than the gender divide. She viewed many of the male characters as "victims", instead of abusers. She cited Gopal as an example: he suffers an accident at work, the cause of which she attributed to "the greed of others," and ultimately falls apart as a result. Additionally, Feroz shared a loving relationship with Sera in the beginning; Umrigar suggested that his mother may have negatively influenced his attitude towards women.
caption: Fond of visiting the sea as a child, Umrigar presents it in The Space Between Us as a way for the people to replenish their spirit and connect with nature.[1]
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