Kamla is exceedingly well brought-up under the combined influences of Hinduism, Catholicism and colonialism, and her muted questioning of all the ‘givens’ in her life is a growing theme in this autobiographical novel about an Indian girl in Trinidad. She is at a cultural crossroads, and at one point she’s so upset by the treatment of American Indians in a cowboys and Indians film that she resents the largesse with chewing gum shown by American servicemen. This unassuming and sweet-natured book is above all a tremendous celebration of life and its simple pleasures, such as a shower of rain or a massage, written with a sensuous attention to the physical world.
