Publisher: William Morrow
Published: March 17, 2020
Genre: Fiction
Source: Print ARC
Rating: 3.5 stars
See what readers are saying HERE!
Amazon UK (UK has release date of 10-20-2020)
Blurb:
From the international bestselling author of Secret Daughter and The Golden Son comes a poignant, unforgettable novel about a family's growing apart and coming back together in the wake of tragedy.
The Olanders embody the American dream in a globalized world. Jaya, the cultured daughter of an Indian diplomat and Keith, an ambitious banker from middle-class Philadelphia, meet in a London pub in 1988 and make a life together in suburban California. Their strong marriage is built on shared beliefs and love for their two children: headstrong teenager Karina and young son Prem, the light of their home.
But love and prosperity cannot protect them from sudden, unspeakable tragedy, and the family’s foundation cracks as each member struggles to seek a way forward. Jaya finds solace in spirituality. Keith wagers on his high-powered career. Karina focuses relentlessly on her future and independence. And Prem watches helplessly as his once close-knit family drifts apart.
When Karina heads off to college for a fresh start, her search for identity and belonging leads her down a dark path, forcing her and her family to reckon with the past, the secrets they’ve held and the weight of their choices.
The Shape of Family is an intimate portrayal of four individuals as they grapple with what it means to be a family and how to move from a painful past into a hopeful future. It is a profoundly moving exploration of the ways we all seek belonging — in our families, our communities and ultimately, within ourselves.
Review-
Wow. So I don’t even know where to start after finishing The Shape of Family. I was both emotionally invested and deeply emotional as I read this bittersweet novel about a family doing their best to stay afloat after a tragedy. So many things happened to these beautifully flawed characters. It made them real. It made them relatable.
I liked that the author was able to write about how each character dealt with tragedy differently from the other. We get the POV from the family of four but of the family members that we get, reminded me a lot of the narrator from The Lovely Bones.
By the end of the book, I’m woman enough to admit that I cried. It has such a beautiful message and tied the book together perfectly. I look forward to reading more books from Gowda; her words are gorgeous.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the Author:
Shilpi Somaya Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. In college, she spent a summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel, Secret Daughter, published in 2010. It was a New York Times and #1 international bestseller, and was translated into over 30 languages. Secret Daughter was shortlisted for the South African Boeke Literary Prize, longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was an IndieNext Great Read, a Target Book Club Pick, a ChaptersIndigo Heather’s Pick, and an Amnesty International Book Club Pick.
Her second novel, The Golden Son, was published in 2015-16 around the world, was a #1 international bestseller, a Target Book Club Pick, a Costco Buyer’s Pick, and was awarded the French literary prize, Prix des Lyceens Folio. Her first two novels have sold over two million copies worldwide, and her third novel, The Shape of Family, will be published in October 2019 in Canada and March 2020 in the U.S.
Shilpi holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Defense Fund, and is a Patron of Childhaven International, the organization for which she volunteered in India. She lives in California with her husband and children.
