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A profound, heartbreakingly honest novel about friendship, family, secrets, forgiveness, and second chances. An experienced psychologist, Maggie carefully maintains emotional distance from her patients. But when she meets a young Indian woman who tried to kill herself, her professional detachment disintegrates. Cut off from her family in India, Lakshmi is desperately lonely and trapped in a loveless marriage to a domineering man who limits her world to their small restaurant and grocery store. Moved by her plight, Maggie treats Lakshmi in her home office for free, quickly realizing that the despondent woman doesn't need a shrink; she needs a friend. Determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels valued in her own right, Maggie abandons protocol, and soon doctor and patient have become close friends. But while their relationship is deeply affectionate, it is also warped by conflicting expectations. When Maggie and Lakshmi open up and share long-buried secrets, the revelations will jeopardize their close bond, shake their faith in each other, and force them to confront painful choices.
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Listened to this audio book for book club, and I quite enjoyed the narrator, I think she did a great job, and I know that I would have butchered all the hindi words in my head if I'd been reading it in print.
Was moving, I liked Lakshmi and her arc, and I thought Maggie was a little cliche maybe? I quite liked it immediately after reading as well as during, but I'm not sure if it will have much a lasting effect.
Another person in my book club pointed out that he didn't think it was realistic for Lakshmi's husband to have had such a turnaround and be so nice and "non-abusive" to her. I got the impression that it wasn't a huge 100% different story, like when he still was threatening to have Lakshmi put away back in the mental ward?! My fellow book clubbers all said that they thought he was joking, but I hadn't gotten that impression.