The Museum of Failures

The Museum of Failures

Thrity Umrigar

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An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick  Honor When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life. Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions? Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son,  The Museum of Failures is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret. It is also, above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others.


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  • anneke
    Aug 13, 2024
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  • krussell90
    Aug 21, 2024
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  • junefiles
    Mar 14, 2025
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    another reflective and gut wrenching book from thrity umrigar, i see. it takes a whole composure of mine to keep settled down while reading this wave of emotional book. the book succeed in sending me to bunch of queries that popping up in my head unstoppably like popcorn whereas i just read the first 2-3 chapters. the slow pace also takes my patience on trip yet it still worth to enjoy because the family owes the distant child a thousand explanations—remy has nothing to be acknowledged until his father died and the wound is terribly deep...

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