Bombay Time / Thrity Umrigar. Book

A rich, moving, and deeply felt first novel, Bombay Time portrays the lives of longtime residents of a middle-class apartment building, and their complex relationship with the city of their birth. The men and women who live in Wadia Baug are all Parsis, a small ethnic minority whose relative affluence and Western orientation make them stand out in a city of mass poverty. Gathering for the wedding of one of their youngest members, the older residents look back on their youthful, more idealistic selves.With wisdom and compassion, Thrity Umrigar introduces us to the Parsi men and women who have grown up together in the aging community of Wadia Baug. She traces young Adi Patel's disintegration into alcoholism; indicts Dosamai, the old neighborhood gossip; exposes the shattering romantic betrayal Soli Contractor suffered many years ago; depicts the rise of Jimmy Kanga, the local success story; and examines the history of the reclusive wisdow Tehmi Engineer. Above all, Umrigar gives us a nuanced portrait of Rusi Bilimoria, a middle-aged businessman who is struggling to come to terms with a bad marriage and the realization that many of his dreams remain unfulfilled. Long ago stripped of the ideals he held as an inexperienced young man, Rusi tries hard to make sense of his life and hold together a community that is fraying around him.A keen observer of human relationships, Thrity Umrigar has created a remarkable novel about a group of men and women who are at once completely unique and utterly recognizable to us all.AUTHORBIO: Thrity Umrigar grew up in Bombay, India. A recipient of the prestigious Neiman Fellowship, she writes for the Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, and she is a contributor to the Boston Globe. She lives near Akron, Ohio.Read More