The Tiger’s Choice: Naming Maya by Uma Krishnaswami
Maya is one miserable New Jersey girl. Instead of spending the summer with her friend Joanie, she’s in India, the homeland of her parents, with her mother. Maya’s grandfather has died, her mother has inherited his house and is spending every waking moment trying to sell it, with little time left for Maya.
Every time I come to India, it’s like entering another world,” Maya complains, adding to a cousin, “I’m American here, but in America, I’m Indian.” Nobody understands, her mother is busy, and Kamala Mami, the housekeeper who is Maya’s constant companion, lapses frequently into her own strange and invisible world. Maya spends much of her time with her own thoughts, mourning the loss of her father, who moved far away after her mother divorced him.
As Kamala Mami becomes more and more immersed in memories of the past and less attached to the present, Maya leaves her own world of idealized memories to help the old woman whom she has learned to love. How can she bring Mami back to be with her? How can she break through the barrier of loss that separates her from her mother?
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