The Hero's Walk

by Anita Rau Badami

Book Overview

In a small, dusty town in India, Sripathi Rao struggles as a copywriter to keep his family afloat in their crumbling ancestral home. But his mother berates him for not becoming a lawyer, his son... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565123123
• ISBN13: 9781565123120
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Cultural Bridge

This is one of a handful of books that have taken up permanent residence in my mental library. The characters are vividly drawn and the plot is masterfully driven. From time to time, a passage from the book will revisit me. Once again I am reminded that human drama crosses all cultural lines. A beautiful story filled with humor, tragedy and compassion.

The first time I read Badami and she is Excellent!!

I just finished one of the most amazing books I'veread this year. The Hero's Walk is undoubtedly one ofthe finest books ever written in English by an Indian.What makes this book so different and refreshing apartfrom the plot is the treatment of the books and itscharacters. The plot revolves around Sripathi Rao - asimple man with simple needs in the town of Totapuramnestled in the South of India - and in the Big Housewe meet his wife Nirmala - the ever docile Indian Wife- his horrendous mother Ammaya who in most respectscan be labelled a witch - his unmarried sister Putti -who longs for the boy next door, and his son Arun - arebellion in the true sense of the word. Amidst all this lies the past - of his daughter Mayagetting married to a foreigner and residing inVancouver - who has never seen her family for sevenyears now. Her father has abolished her very namebeing taken in the house - till she and her husbandAlan meet with an accident and Sripathi has to go toCanada to claim his granddaughter Nandana. With her parents no more, Nandana is lost and confusedin India and is trying to connect stuff to her past -which is quite a task for a seven-year old. The story revolves around the fact that simplicity isthe biggest act of heroism. Badami's style of writingis dry, subtle and so so heartbreaking that it almosthad me on the verge of tears. Though the authhor does remind you of R.K. Narayan atvarious points in the book, she does have the finesseto take you by surprise. A great read!

Transported me to India

This is a poignant look at the tumultous life of an Indian family; their traditions, joys and sorrows. The characters are wonderfully drawn, the story simple yet compelling. We are given an intimate look into the daily lives of each member of the family. Each character a marvelous study unto themselves. We feel the family's pain and small joys, as they try as best they can to exist in a society that seems to be falling apart around them. Unlike another reviewer who grew tired of the 'excessive' references to sights, sounds and smells, I was fascinated by these descriptions, even when reading about the family waking up to find their home flooded by raw sewage! A final note, if any of you think your mother-in-law is a pain, wait until you meet Ammayya! I would highly recommend this novel.

Amazing read!

As a native of South Asia, the things referenced in the book rang true with me...the characters' voices, their actions, their reactions...it was all so familiar. Badami obviously knows what she's talking about! In particular, you had to love Sripathi...what a character. I'd be curious to know if the author actually knows people like the ones she has written about. At any rate, she's written a book that deserves praise and plenty of attention.

A true depiction of India

This is the most singularly wonderful book I have read in years. Others have reviewed the emotional/psychological aspects of the book, so I will address her depiction of India. I lived in southern India from 1996 to 1997 and Anita Badami's description of the area and the people of India were absolutely on the money. It was a sympathetic, if unforgiving, depiction of her homeland. When the monsoons hit, the streets do run with sewage. The electricity does go off many times throughout the day. The heat is brutal before the monsoons hit. There are scalper's selling tickets to the movies! And Deepavali is a festival of light and fireworks that I remember fondly, coming in the cool wet season of the year. I would read a passage and close my eyes and instantly be transported back to my room in Bangalore with the rumbling of the coming monsoon storm; the smell of dinner being prepared by Radha, our cook, who kept pictures and statues of gods and goddesses from every conceivable religion in the pantry next to our kitchen ("It is best, madam, to honor all the gods. You never know."); and the funny cry of those strange little squirrels with the two stripes down their backs. This book will forever remain on my shelf of favorites, to be read again and again in the future.