Someone You Love Is Gone

September 15, 2017
A woman struggles to come to terms with the death of her mother.Basran's (Everything Was Goodbye, 2010) second novel takes the reader on an intergenerational journey through a family's history of loss. Centered primarily on Simran, the oldest daughter of an Indian family living in Canada, the novel is divided into three interwoven storylines titled only "Before," "Then," and "Now." In "Before," we learn the story of Simran's mother's marriage in India. "Then" explores the family's prolonged estrangement from Simran's brother, Diwa. "Now" follow Simran's life as an adult--her struggles with her marriage, her distant relationship with her daughter, feelings of guilt about a lost child, and her depression following her mother's death. We travel with Simran into the depths of grief and struggle with her to emerge out the other side. While the contemporary storyline is the most developed and interesting, "Before" and "Then" serve to add depth to the characters and their histories. Basran's writing is poetic, which often serves to add a haunting quality to the prose, but at times feels overwrought: "From the bridge I can see the on-ramps and off-ramps, the rivers and mountains--and the separation of this place and that place disappears. I realize that every road and every place and every person is just a way home." Through the story of Simran and her family, Basra illustrates the way losing a loved one shakes the foundations of a person's life, transforming her and altering all the relationships that remain. A realistic and emotional exploration of grief.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2017
Simran's entire world seems to fall apart when her mother dies. Their connection, contentious and loving, had been a constant she depended on. Seeking closure, she begins to recall her childhood memories, looking for answers to the family riddles that have always plagued her. Why did her parents send her brother away when he was young? Why was her mother so unhappy and out of place in their Canadian home? Why didn't her parents ever return to their native India? Her marriage is troubled, her daughter will barely talk to her, and her sister is anything but supportive. Only her brother, finally returned after decades away, seems to have compassion for the depth of her anguish. It will take all of them, though, to put Simran's pain, and her mother, to rest. Simran's grief is palpable throughout her struggle for recovery, its disruption of her day-to-day life authentic and frustrating. This is primarily a heartfelt story of family and self-exploration to which Basran (Everything Was Good-Bye, 2013) adds depth with scattered cultural and historical references and a touch of mysticism.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)