READING WITH ANU
- Anu Mahadev
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Anu Mahadev
Hi Matters Magazine readers! Welcome to the new Book Matters column.
I am Anu Mahadev, a Maplewood resident who has lived in the SOMA area
for more than 15 years. In this new column, I share selections of books that
I have recently read and enjoyed.
As much as reading is an outlet, it can also be an education. As a seasoned
reader, I invite you to take it slow, experience and savor each line in these
books and resist rushing through to the next page or chapter. Because long
after you forget the plot, what will stay with you is the beauty and unique
expression of the language that these brilliant authors employ to hook the
reader. Quality over quantity, always!
My picks for this issue are all set in different places and time periods, but
the common thread is that of the traditional and modern family, and the
search for what it means to be part of one, even as the characters search for
their own place in the world. I hope these will prompt you to pick up a copy
at the library or the local bookstore. Enjoy!
Sisters of a Halved Heart by Nayantara Roy
Algonquin Books, June 2026
I am partial to books that explore complicated sibling bonds, especially with sisters. I chose exceedingly well. Based entirely in New York, the plot centers on the fractured relationship between two half-sisters, Mira, a poetry editor at an acclaimed literary magazine, and Joy, a fierce corporate lawyer. It broke my heart to witness their unflagging sibling rivalry, the emotionally treacherous paths
that led to an unforgivable betrayal and their begrudging efforts to pick up the pieces to mend what was left. It made me cry and plunge into the depths of emptiness and
despair. It took me out of myself to root for someone with whom I felt I could exchange bodies. Nayantara Roy must be a poet. This language must belong to someone who can craft intelligently, take you through a maelstrom without resorting to melodrama or the typical cliches, and leave you breathless – as you sink into an impossible situation with no easy escape. While the new-age gurus urge
us to cut out people from our lives, Roy wants us to believe that there is another way
to live, one that chooses the difficult path, that asks us to sit in the mess and stay and
repair, with love and faith. This is not easy for anyone, certainly not the new generation
that thinks winning means to cut your losses and run. The wisdom is in knowing that
no matter how far you run away, there is no solution waiting at the end of the rainbow.
Sometimes staying and persevering for another chance is what gives us strength, courage
and growth – even if it is excruciating in the short-term day to day. Underneath all
of it, this is a love story. But then, aren’t they all? In whatever form it takes, isn’t love
the one thing worth fighting for?
Whistler by Ann Patchett
HarperCollins Publishers, June 2026
Quiet. From the cover with a horse in a dark starry night, we sense the hush of
things slowing down, forcing us to really stop, listen and look to what lies deeper beyond
what our eyes show us. Nothing is what it seems. As cynical, experienced readers,
every time we think the story is going to go one way, it doesn’t. There is no big reveal
or plot twist added in for shock value. This is a beautiful father-daughter story, in the
most unexpected manner. There are some people who make a mark on our lives in a very short span of time, in a very indirect way. Sometimes it takes just one person to make us feel seen, heard, understood and loved. This can carry us through life, through all its struggles and disappointments, and fortify
us in a way that makes us feel secure in all our future relationships. The bond that Eddie and Daphne share is a rare find, strengthened by a single traumatic event that occurred in the past and bound them together in mutual tragedy. The author invites us to stay with the quiet, observe
the complex tangle of family and relationships and accept what it is, rather than fight it or wish for something else. As the layers are peeled back, we see a family that is trying its best, whole or broken, of people who carry the burden of their past but move forward with an open heart, who find love and kindness where least expected and don’t dwell on regrets. Instead, they choose to focus on the present and what’s been given to them, because the real gift is in recognizing
the space carved in their heart, even when the person was not walking alongside them.
We are all made of our own thoughts, choices, actions and experiences, but also of
the people who raised, shaped and inspired us. In that sense, we are all really the same
material. I invite you to be enveloped in the warmth of this book, like a comforting
blanket, and see how these soft-spoken, well-meaning characters make space for each
other in their changing family fabric, even as what they call home gets redefined with
time, even as it remains the place where they are loved for who they are.
Shattered by Hanif Kureishi
Ecco Books, February 2025
Although this is not a recent book, I thought of it because I am still recovering from
a surgery for my right hand that left me incapacitated in many ways these past few
months. Now imagine this author, a contemporary of Rushdie and the author of Buddha of Suburbia and the screenwriter for My Beautiful Laundrette, rendered instantly
paralyzed by a sudden fall in December 2022, unable to move or control any part of his body from the neck down. This memoir is a series of diary entries dictated to his then girlfriend and now wife, Isabella, and his three sons. It is an honest, unflinching narrative of his life in the confines of several hospital rooms, starting with the one in Rome, where he fell. It is not groundbreaking or lofty. On the contrary there are portions that are too raw and crude. But for a person who can now only talk and breathe, the surrender is stark – to all the unavoidable indignities, to the loss of his identity, the humiliation of complete dependence on caregivers and his unrestrained anger and disbelief at first that recedes into depression, remorse and regret. With time stretching out infinitely before him, we are privy to his overworking mind’s innermost thoughts, where he does not like what he sees of himself in the past as a self-centered, spoiled and unkind rebel. He does not attempt to romanticize or be preachy with some profound life lessons. He keeps it very real. There are many instances of bodily elimination descriptions that I did not personally care for. I have a newfound respect for nurses and hospital/ hospice staff for what they do. Deprived of touch, movement, freedom to experience the simple joys of sunshine and fresh air, Kureishi reflects in gratitude on the goodwill of so many people who constantly visit, engage in conversation and bring news from the outside world. He also stays resilient even as his mood plummets and soars alternatively through sleepless nights, motor exercises in rehab, loss of friends and being shuttled around different hospitals in his hometown of London. Is it earth shattering? No, but it is engaging, funny, thought provoking and irreverent at times. I think I
could learn to be patient with my immobile hand after all.
Anu Mahadev proudly identifies as a book nerd and bookmark collector. She
prefers physical books to the Kindle and still fails to follow the plot in an audiobook
without missing her exit. If you’d like to share your thoughts on these books,
or your favorite contemporary family-themed books that moved you or anything
else, please feel free to email her at amahadev@me.com.
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