My Family and Other Saints

by Kirin Narayan

Book Overview

In 1969, young Kirin Narayan's older brother, Rahoul, announced that he was quitting school and leaving home to seek enlightenment with a guru. From boyhood, his restless creativity had continually surprised his family, but his departure shook up everyone-- especially Kirin, who adored her high-spirited, charismatic brother.
A touching, funny, and always affectionate memoir, My Family and Other Saints traces the reverberations of Rahoul's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226568210
• ISBN13: 9780226568218
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A family memoir

I found this a fascinating story, not just of India in the 60s, but of a family in a very extended sense. Narayan's biological family fills the pages of her memory, even though one of the most important characters, Rahoul, is almost always absent from the action being described. Other people, other saints, are critical members of the extended family, as are the urugs who come to India and through the Narayan household seeking their own brand of enlightenment. This is a great chronicle of the meeting of the US and India, in the Narayan family and in the larger culture. There is so much packed into this family chronicle that it's hard to remember until the very end that it is also the chronicle of a girlhood, the story and memories of a child who herself embodies that mid-century fusion of east and west. There is gentle humor, fun-poking, and a pervasive sense of sadness and loss that never overwhelms that feeling of promise and potential. It's an exquisite balancing act, one to be savored slowly. Once I began reading it, I wanted it never to end.

a riveting account

"My Family and Other Saints" is a riveting account of family life in India. Not only does Narayan bring to the reader a vivid world of real characters (complete with myriad charms, quirks and flaws), but she provides a window into the eclectic traffic of culture and the fascination with Indian spiritual traditions that characterized the decades of the 1960s and 70s. "My Family" is also the story of a young girl struggling to find her way in a family whose life is darkened by a father's addiction to alcohol. As a deeply affectionate but unsentimental portrait "My Family and Other Saints" cannot help but provoke readers to reflect on their own lives. And though the book centers on her family, the anthropological eye of Narayan is evident throughout, as her sharply drawn scenes provide fascinating glimpses into the world of middle-class India.

Could Not Stop Reading

My Family and Other Saints is an account of the author's childhood in the suburbs of Bombay (Mumbai). Narayan has beautifully crafted her book and it is impossible to put down. One is touched by her compassion, humor and insights (anthropological and otherwise). The look at India in the 60's and early 70's is fascinating. I have lived in and visited India, but this revealed so much more about the country. I would recommend this book to any reader interested in family, India or riveting stories.

A welcome perspective

I was delighted to read a work by an author who lived in South Asia. Narayan recounts childhood events with keen attention to character development and human emotion. Her perspective on non-South Asians trooping and some times invading her home are insightful and truly comedic (Her father playfully coined the term "urug" for would be spiritual seekers to India). For once, the non-South Asian experience is not the central theme. Because of Narayan's diverse background and unique upbringing, she is able to impart great insight into the complex life of a middle class family in the Juhu suburbs of Bombay with wit, humor and grace. I encourage anyone interested in South Asia and the complexity of family dynamics to pick up the book.

A fun memoir of hippie-era history -- from an Indian viewpoint

I really enjoyed this book. I was a "hippie" myself back in the 60s and 70s, but, alas, never made it out of the Midwest. Still, I shared an interest in Eastern philosophies with much of my generation, and watched with fascination as many went abroad to study meditation in India. Kirin Narayan's memoir of her childhood provides a very refreshing perspective on that era -- from the Indian side. The daughter of a spiritually skeptical Indian father and a spiritually adventurous American mother, Narayan's childhood family home in a beach community outside Bombay was quite literally a cultural crossroads. As a sensitive adolescent who just wanted to be "normal," Narayan watched with ever-changing emotions as her many colorful Indian relatives interacted with the almost constant stream of bliss-seeking hippie tourists who sought out her family's home as a crash pad and her mother for advice on everything from renewing a visa to clearing their chakras. She tracks the course of her beloved older brother's spiritual growth, and his relationships with gurus who ended up becoming family friends (and well-known spiritual leaders). There are many entertaining anecdotes and character sketches -- about her Indian grandmother who talks to her cow and always seems to be bumping into the spirits of dead gurus, about an artistic American grandmother who lives in a beach hut nearby, about her enlightenment-seeking brother Rahoul who teases young Kirin and makes little god-statues, about her mother's hopping from ashram to ashram in search of her own spiritual path. And not least about Kirin herself and her struggle to fashion her own identity in this mix of East and West, ancient and modern. The book is sometimes quite funny, sometimes quite sober, and sometimes quite sad, and I was carried along by the narrative. If I had to cite a shortcoming, I'd probably agree with the New York Times reviewer who wished the father's story had been more completely told -- he is both a sympathetic and worrisome presence throughout the book. Also, I would have liked a glossary -- even just a short one -- of the many Indian words and phrases sprinkled throughout the text. Some of them one understands from the context, but others I never did figure out. If you enjoy books that immerse you in another culture and paint a picture through stories and anecdotes of lives very different from your own, you'll like this book.