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hosborneauthor's review
5.0
Reviewed on behalf of Readers' Favorite
The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey by Madhu Bazaz Wangu is a women’s fiction novel of epic proportions. Wangu chronicles the life of Shanti Bamzai, a young woman growing up in 1960s India. Shanti has great dreams of becoming an artist, and forgoes convention by insisting to study art at a university in Delhi. However, after her studies, Shanti falls in love with a man, and finds herself falling back into the traditional role of wife and mother. Her family is encouraging, but Shanti realizes she can’t have both. Yet, when her husband is offered a job in America, Shanti rediscovers her first love, finding there is much more to her life than what she has come to know.
I greatly admired Shanti’s character throughout the novel. I felt her pain and hurt when her husband demeaned her small triumphs, trying to work in being an artist, mother, and wife all in one. Wangu really focused on showing the changing ways of the world, and how women often had to fight to become something more than their expected roles. This is a stunning novel, well researched and thought out. I loved watching Shanti’s life unfold, seeing her transformation throughout each part of the novel. This certainly is not an overnight read, and each section of Shanti’s journey as a woman is as important as the last. I was inspired by her ability not to give up on her dreams. The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey by Madhu Bazaz Wangu is undoubtedly one of the best novels I have read this year. It is well-worth the time you will spend embracing every element of Shanti Bamzai.
The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey by Madhu Bazaz Wangu is a women’s fiction novel of epic proportions. Wangu chronicles the life of Shanti Bamzai, a young woman growing up in 1960s India. Shanti has great dreams of becoming an artist, and forgoes convention by insisting to study art at a university in Delhi. However, after her studies, Shanti falls in love with a man, and finds herself falling back into the traditional role of wife and mother. Her family is encouraging, but Shanti realizes she can’t have both. Yet, when her husband is offered a job in America, Shanti rediscovers her first love, finding there is much more to her life than what she has come to know.
I greatly admired Shanti’s character throughout the novel. I felt her pain and hurt when her husband demeaned her small triumphs, trying to work in being an artist, mother, and wife all in one. Wangu really focused on showing the changing ways of the world, and how women often had to fight to become something more than their expected roles. This is a stunning novel, well researched and thought out. I loved watching Shanti’s life unfold, seeing her transformation throughout each part of the novel. This certainly is not an overnight read, and each section of Shanti’s journey as a woman is as important as the last. I was inspired by her ability not to give up on her dreams. The Immigrant Wife: Her Spiritual Journey by Madhu Bazaz Wangu is undoubtedly one of the best novels I have read this year. It is well-worth the time you will spend embracing every element of Shanti Bamzai.
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