The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

This book carries the reader on a journey through the eyes and heart of an Indian boy, as he grows to manhood from the 1940's to the 1970's.  The setting is split between Calcutta and England.  The plot does contain a mystery; how did cousin Tridib die? In addition, the narrator's crush on a distant female cousin, Ila, is presented with a melancholy that is so subtle; one is almost taken off guard when the reality of the situation is revealed.  The author's gift is giving the reader the ability to feel his emotions and see what he sees, all the while making the characters in each passage with him just as real to us.  His descriptive analysis of people is brilliant.  Interwoven within the descriptions of India, is the violence during the Bangladesh Partition, an examination of cultural differences between the narrator's Indian family, and the Prices, an English family met through Tridib's diplomatic family ties and the impact of the narrator's father on his immediate family.  It is really not until the latter part of the book that the reader feels a sense of knowledge about Indian history and more importantly the lasting impressions the narrator leaves us with.  His life is shaped as he realizes where he has come from, how he fits in and the impact of choices made by both his immediate and extended family, including the Price family.

Read alikes: These have been selected for Indian setting, journey through past or present and cultural description.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

This subtle, bittersweet debut collection of nine tales by Jhumpa Lahiri is set in India, and the United States. Most of the stories in The Interpreter of Maladies concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's characters face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. Lahiri's prose is elegant and eloquent and she treats her characters with compassion and sensitivity.  Readers who enjoy this wonderful collection will also like Anita Desai's stories as well as the stories of Bharati Mukherjee and G. S. Sharat Chandra's collection Sari of the Gods.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

A sprawling novel set in 1970s India.  A critical political and social study and, while it contains humor, great character studies, and fascinating detail about Indian history and culture, it remains a scathing indictment of political and social injustice. Through the lives of four pivotal characters we come to realize the implications of a repressive caste system, an intrusive, hostile government, and all the kinds of adversity Mistry shows as representative of India in the 70s.  Mistry maintains a fine balance for his characters:  there always seems to be a glimmer of hope that their wish for better life will prevail until it is dashed by a new set of woes.

Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee

Jasmine is a novel depicting Indian culture and the changing modes of American life.  Different identities helped Jasmine adjust to the various stages of her life.  She was born Jyoti, became Jasmine, then Jase and finally, Jane.   She was a widow and an illegal immigrant to America, with no family ties, at the age of 17.  The first night of her arrival in Florida, from India, was a shocking experience for her.  Through perseverance, she eventually works as a "day mummy" in Manhattan.  Unsettled circumstances cause her to travel to Iowa and become the "wife" of a paralyzed banker and mother to an adopted Vietnamese refugee. The ending has a different twist.  Although parts of the novel are slightly contrived, it moves fast and holds your interest. 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Told mainly in first person narration by an unnamed male narrator, the lure of literature is one of the main themes in this novel.  Set during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution in China, the narrator and his best friend, Luo, are sent to the countryside for "re-education."  Basically, to have any traces of higher education and learning erased by the hard labors of mountain life.  Both Luo and the narrator become enamored of the tailor's daughter, who they nickname the Little Chinese Seamstress, but only Luo develops a physical relationship with her.  When the two young men discover a stash of forbidden books, featuring the author Balzac, and orally dramatize the stories for the Little Seamstress, their lives, hearts and minds are irrevocably altered.  Readers of historical and multicultural fiction would enjoy this book.

The Five Dollar Smile by Shashi Tharoor

This is a collection of 15 short stories written by the author while in his teens and early 20s.  The subject matter is quite adult in nature depicting: a self-important police inspector who bungles a homicide investigation - an orphan used by a child relief agency (title story) - a college student who survives a scooter crash in which his friend perishes - a teen's affair with his "Auntie Rita" - "Friends" deals with two good friends who end up quarreling over a girl- "City Girl, Village Girl: a Duet" in the first part a westernized boy visits his ancestral village and has a sexual encounter with a simple village girl, in the second a westernized girl makes a similar trip and has an identical encounter with a village youth (the text is the same with only the changes required by gender) - "The Temple Thief" a thief is persuaded by a Brahmin priest to leave the items he has stolen in a temple (shades of O. Henry) - "The" set in the U.S. amusingly tells the tale of a writer scandalizing his friends by writing revelatory stories about them.Read-alikes according to Barnes and Noble include:Solitude of the Short Story Writer

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian

Soul Mountain is the fictionalized account of author Gao Xingjian's 15,000 kilometer journey through China in 1986. Part cultural history, part environmental manifesto, Soul Mountain is an "often bewildering .collection of vignettes, daydreams, nightmares, erotic encounters." The journey, told from the perspective of four alternating "selves" is set against the background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Not an easy read, Soul Mountain could be recommended to students of Asian literature and history, lovers of thinly plotted novels, and book discussion groups who want a challenge. Readalikes for this book include: