Sunetra Gupta

'Memories of Rain' is a dense novel about the end of the marriage between Moni, a young woman from Calcutta, and, Anthony, the Englishman who married her and took her to London ten years earlier. Anthony had entered Moni’s life at the height of a rain storm and flood when her brother had brought him into their home.

“Memories of rain” is about the passion which they had once shared and traces the thoughts and emotions of Moni and Anthony through three days. Moni has decided to return to India, taking their daughter with her, on the day of the girl’s birthday party, and intends their departure to be a cruel surprise for Anthony. Flashbacks highlight the changes in the couple’s relationship.

The book alternates the point of view of Moni and Anthony. Moni feels the pull of her own culture as well as the emotional dependence which her husband has cultivated in her. Anthony sees himself something akin to the old empire builders and sees her in terms of his own needs rather than as a person with her own.

'he had come to this land, like his forefathers had done, with the conviction that all he wanted would be his, he had come not with greed, only a desire for knowledge, for experience'

Hardly the basis for a sustainable marriage but this story isn't simply one of an immigrant bride who has been drawn into the obit of her husband.

Gupta employs long stream of thought sentences that go on for pages at a time similar to the writing of Virginia Woolf. There is little actual action and this isn't my favourite kind of writing. I felt that I just had to work too hard to get anything out of it and whilst I can admire Gupta's writing this novel just didn't really grip me.… (more)

So very glad I decided to read Sunetra Gupta's challenging and wonderful book "Memories of Rain." The novel is the story of Moni and Anthony, who fell in love in India during a torrential rainstorm. Ten years later, after a move to England and the birth of their daughter, their love has gently receded like flood water and Moni is in almost constant contact with Anthony's lover. She plans to leave him and return to India on their daughter's sixth birthday, a cruel surprise designed to say everything that she has been unable to speak.

Gupta's prose is often challenging -- some of her sentences are page long-- but it is also beautiful and evocative of water. Not so much the rain, but the sea as everything ebbs and flows together. She gives Moni, who is largely silent and mysterious a poet's voice. The blurb on the back of the book calls Gupta an heir to Virginia Wolf, and I can understand the comparison as the tone of the book reminded me of Wolf's "The Waves." Very present in the story is the division between two cultures as well.

Gupta weaves a rather simple story of love and loss, often told in flashbacks, into a unique an interesting novel. A stunning and great read.… (more)