Buddha's Orphans
A Novel
-
- $19.99
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
A novel of love and political upheaval, in which “Kathmandu is as specific and heartfelt as Joyce’s Dublin” (San Francisco Chronicle).
In Buddha’s Orphans, Nepal’s political upheavals of the past century serve as a backdrop to the story of an orphan boy, Raja, and the girl he is fated to love, Nilu, a daughter of privilege. Their love scandalizes both of their families—and the novel takes readers across the globe and through several generations.
This engrossing, unconventional love story explores the ways that events of the past, even those we are ignorant of, inevitably haunt the present. It is also a brilliant depiction of Nepali society from the Whiting Award–winning author of Arresting God in Kathmandu.
“[Upadhyay is] a Buddhist Chekhov.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Upadhyay . . . [illuminates] the shadow corners of his characters’ psyches, as well as the complex social and political realities of life in Nepal, with equal grace.” —Elle
“[Upadhyay’s] characters linger. They are captured with such concise, illuminating precision that one begins to feel that they just might be real.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“Absorbing . . . Beautifully told.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This absorbing novel is as rich in its quiet moments of loneliness and tea making as it is powerful in its presentation of an ancient culture perpetuating its own misogyny. Over four generations, Kathmandu endures the arrival of Western hippies, the reign of a corrupt royal family, and violent citizen uprisings meant to topple government but instead obstructs the vital movements of daily life. In the midst, Nilu, a wealthy girl with an alcoholic mother, and Raja, an abandoned orphan, grow up, find, lose, and find one another again. Generations recur with inheritances they can't understand, but that drive the momentum of the tale where choices made from a forceful longing have the power to alter fate. Upadhyay's (Arresting God in Kathmandu) masterful prose shows increasing sophistication and a grasp of the sublime, and he is surprisingly effective in conveying the horrors and wonders of motherhood. Throughout, Upadhyay portrays the tenderness of love and the alienating, sometimes fatal effects on women living in a society that doesn't allow for unplanned pregnancies. By the end, Upadhyay is forgiven the few small coincidences that scaffold the plot because the story is so beautifully told.
