What You Call Winter

May 7, 2007
I
n her auspicious debut, Jones reveals the hopes and disappointments of young children, mothers and old men living in Santa Clara, a mostly Catholic suburb of Mumbai, India. It covers all the ground between six-year-old Jude Almeida, who in the story “The Crow and the Monkey”witnesses his godmother's wild antics at the New Year party, and 77-year old Roddy D'Souza, who in the title story is haunted by visions of his dead father. The opening story, “In the Garden,” is a gem: at home alone on the verge of her 10th birthday, Marian Almeida discovers and tries on the dress that is intended to be her gift. Simply plotted, the story evokes the weight of expectations of a girl about to enter adolescence. Similar themes are fleshed out in “This Is Your Home Also” and the devastating “We Think of You Every Day,” both of which also explore childhood vulnerabilities. Adulthood, however, offers a wider perspective; in “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “Home for a Short Time,” characters reconcile themselves with their decisions—one leaves her mother behind for a new life in the United States, while another stays in India. Jones displays impressive scope and depth of sympathy in her first collection.

June 15, 2007
In these interconnected stories, set in a Catholic suburb of the Indian city of Mumbai, Jones depicts the triumphs and pitfalls of the Almeida family with astounding grace and beauty. Some of these pieces are filled with irrepressible sadness, as in the title story, "What You Call Winter," in which a son sees the ghost of his father bicycling around town. Roddy, an older man, feels his world closing around him as new construction goes upeven the "Talkies" closeas he prepares to visit his grandchildren in the States. Younger characters often find themselves navigating between two worldsAmerica and Indiaas in "Half the Story" or "Home for a Short Time." The most poignant stories, however, are the ones in which the younger generation discover they have no language to reach an older generation. For instance, in "The Crow and the Monkey," six-year-old Jude cannot make his mother understand how important a bonfire is to him. In short, this powerful debut collection is not to be missed by most public and academic libraries.Chantal Walvoord, Plano P.L. Syst., TX

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2007
In these interconnected stories, Jones transports readers to a Catholic town in India and presents an especially accomplished debut that brings to mind first collections by Chitra Divakaruni, Nell Freudenberger, and Julie Orringer. Encapsulated here are poignant, revelatory moments, setting off aftershocks that are seen in subsequent tales. In one, a young girl fakes poor eyesight in order to get glasses like an envied girl at school, straining her familys finances. In another, a retired university professor is haunted by an apparition that resembles his stern, long-dead father. But like any high-quality fiction, describing plot does nothing to convey the deft authority of the prose. Depicting mothers young and old, servants, dutiful daughters, bachelors, siblings, and unhappy schoolboys, Jones is concerned with families, both nuclear and extended, and moments that bring often painful but necessary clarity to life. Evenly paced, masterfully rendered, this collection dives to the very core of family life and brings India, with its papaya trees, cricket matches, rich flavors, and lush landscapes, to magnificent life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)