The Inheritance of Loss

The Inheritance of Loss is the second novel by

Indian author Kiran Desai. It was first published in The Inheritance of Loss
2006. It won a number of awards, including the
Booker Prize for that year, the National Book Critics
Circle Fiction Award in 2007,[1] and the 2006
Vodafone Crossword Book Award.

It was written over a period of seven years after her

first book, the critically acclaimed Hullabaloo in the
Guava Orchard.[2][3] Among its main themes are
migration, living between two worlds, and between
past and present.

Summary
The story centres around the lives of Biju and Sai.
Biju is an Indian living in the United States illegally,
son of a cook who works for Sai's grandfather. Sai is
an orphan living in mountainous Kalimpong with her
maternal grandfather Jemubhai Patel, the cook, and a First US edition
dog named Mutt. Her mother was a Gujarati and her
father a Zoroastrian orphan himself.[4] Author Desai Author Kiran Desai
alternates the narration between these two points of Country India
view. The action of the novel takes place in 1986. Language English

Biju, the other character, is an illegal alien residing in Genre Novel

the United States, trying to make a new life for Set in Kalimpong and the
himself, and contrasts this with the experiences of United States, 1986
Sai, an anglicised Indian girl living with her
grandfather in India. The novel shows both internal Publisher Atlantic Monthly
conflicts within India and tensions between the past Press (US)
and present. Desai writes of rejection and yet awe of Hamish Hamilton
the English way of life, opportunities to gain money (UK)
in America, and the squalor of living in India.
Through critical portrayal of Sai's grandfather, the Publication 31 August 2006
date
Media type Print (hardback &
retired judge, Desai comments upon leading Indians paperback)
who were considered too anglicised and forgetful of Pages 336 (hardback
traditional ways of Indian life.
edition)
The retired judge Jemubhai Patel is a man disgusted ISBN 0-241-14348-9
by Indian ways and customs -- so much so, that he (hardback)
eats chapatis (a moist South Asian flatbread) with
OCLC 65764578 (https://ww
knife and fork. Patel disdains other Indians,
w.worldcat.org/oclc/6
including the father with whom he breaks ties and the
wife whom he abandons at his father's home after 5764578)
torturing her. Yet Patel never is fully accepted by the Dewey 823.92
British, despite his education and adopted Decimal
mannerisms. LC Class PS3554.E82 I54

The major theme running throughout The Preceded by Hullabaloo in the

Inheritance of Loss is one closely related to Guava Orchard
colonialism and the effects of post-colonialism: the
loss of identity and the way it travels through generations as a sense of loss. Some
characters snub those who embody the Indian way of life, others are angered by
anglicised Indians who have lost their traditions; none is content.

The Gorkhaland movement is used as the historic backdrop of the novel.

Reception
Natasha Walter found it a "grim" novel, highlighting "how individuals are always failing
to communicate".[5] The Observer found some excellent comic set-pieces amid the
grimness.[6] The New York Times claimed Desai "manages to explore, with intimacy and
insight, just about every contemporary international issue: globalization,
multiculturalism, economic inequality, fundamentalism and terrorist violence."[7]

In 2020, Emma Lee-Potter of The Independent listed it as one of the 12 best Indian
novels.[8]

References
1. "All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists – Page 2" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20090225065707/http://www.bookcritics.org/awards/past_award
s/page_2) (Press release). Bookcritics.org. Archived from the original (http://bookcritic
s.org/awards/past_awards/page_2) on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
2. "The Inheritance of Loss: Kiran Desai" (http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/book
s/2) (Press release). Booker Prize Foundation. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
3. "Kiran Desai interview" (http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2006/01/kiran-desai-interview_20.
html). Jabberwock (blog). 20 January 2006. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
4. Kiran Desai (1 December 2007). The Inheritance of Loss (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=HWfBJdEHm0EC&pg=PA29). Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. pp. 29–.