The Leaving of Things by Jay Antani: book review

The Leaving of Things (2013) is set in America and India in the late 1980s.

Teenager Vikram is living a rebellious, restless life in Wisconsin, America, not knowing who whether he is more Indian than American, or more American than Indian.

Neither does he know what to do with his life after school. However, his parents intervene and decide for him. They pack up and take the family back to India permanently.

Vikram leaves behind friends, and a girlfriend, in America, so he is not at all happy. But he finds that he is more creative in India, and his love of photography blossoms. So does a new love.

A family crisis brings another decision. Does he return to his friends in America or does he comes to terms with his loneliness in India? Does he return to America which he finds more progressive and free – the land of his heart – or does he remain in India which he finds more imaginative and evocative, where his senses are enriched – the land of his soul?

This is, essentially, a transitional novel, from school child to adulthood, as Vikram struggles with his own identity, the expectations of others, his loves, and his creative passions.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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