The ever after of Ashwin Rao
Subtitle: a novel
By: Padma Viswanathan
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9781593766139
Subjects: Grief; Air-India Flight 182 Bombing Incident, 1985; Bombings; Aircraft accidents; Fiction
Description: In 2004, almost 20 years after the fatal bombing of an Air India flight from Vancouver, 2 suspects--finally--are on trial for the crime. Ashwin Rao, an Indian psychologist trained in Canada, comes back to do a "study of comparative grief," interviewing people who lost loved one in the attack. What he neglects to mention is that he, too, had family members who died on the plane. Then, to his delight and fear, he becomes embroiled in the lives of one family caught in the undertow of the tragedy, and privy to their secrets. This surprising emotional connection sparks him to confront his own losses. The Ever After of Ashwin Rao imagines the lasting emotional and political consequences of a real-life act of terror, confronting what we might learn to live with and what we can live without.