Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Sister of My Heart. Anchor Books, 2000.
Reason read: I needed a book for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge in the category of something cozy. I chose Sister of My Heart because people chose words like beguiling, magical, moving, and emotional to describe it.
From the very beginning of Sister of My Heart, Divakaruni dangles mysteries and secrets in front of the reader. Anju and Sudha are non-blood cousins, but as close as conjoined sisters. Both girls lost their fathers when they were newborns, but how? There is mystery surrounding their simultaneous demise. Each chapter of Sister of My Heart is told from the alternating viewpoints of Anju and Sudha. Each cousin’s voice is too similar to discern but maybe, just maybe that is the point. Their love for one another, their bond makes them as close a singular entity. When one “sister” learns a deep family secret she is torn between keeping it and uncovering it. She needs to weigh the cost of each choice carefully.
This is the story of how one event can leave you scarred. Like a clogged artery, love cannot flow as easily. Secrets snag the once open heart. Is there a chance for forgiveness?
Lines I loved, “This is how love makes cowards of us” (p 166) and “Don’t regret what you can’t change” (p 230). Chitra, are you talking to me?
Author fact: Divakaruni has her own website here.
Book trivia: Even though Divakaruni wrote a few other “of” books (Mistress of…Vine of…Errors of…), Sister of My Heart is the only book I am reading for the Challenge.
Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about Sister of My Heart.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “India: a Reader’s Itinerary” (p 125).
~*LunaSea*~ 