16 Aug / Such Big Dreams by Reema Patel [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
Novelist Reema Patel and narrator Lavanya Gandhi prove ideally paired, symbiotically making their debuts. Patel, a Toronto lawyer with experience in Mumbai’s human-rights legal sector, draws on her experiences to create Rakhi, a 23-year-old office assistant at Justice for All.
Rakhi caught the attention of Justice for All’s powerful director, Gauri, after a childhood surviving the vicious streets and then living in a girls’ home. Gauri sees in her relationship with Rakhi a distorted second chance at (distant) motherhood; for Rakhi, navigating Gauri Ma’am’s controlling demands is quickly becoming more trial than blessing.
When Rakhi is again tasked with attending to the latest foreign intern – Alex, a Harvard-bound Canadian with wealthy Indian relatives – she’s surprised to realize he seems rather different from previous overprivileged, blindly entitled interns. He encourages her to pursue college and aspire to a life outside the slums, beyond being dismissed and invisible. But big dreams, of course, come with high – if not impossible – prices.
Gandhi’s impressive adaptability turns a good story into an engrossing performance, moving fluidly between Rakhi’s spirited tenacity, Alex’s Canadian bravado, and Gauri’s gruff neediness. She deftly distinguishes each member of the sizable supporting cast, from the self-serving Bollywood star to the disgruntled Dutch interns and from Rakhi’s childhood best friend to so many others.
The result is cinematic entertainment indeed.
Review: “Media,” Booklist, July 2022
Readers: Adult
Published: 2022