The Hero's Walk

by Anita Rau Badami

This was one of the books that were part of Canada Reads 2016.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the book.   It was read as part of the theme of change on CR and I expected some heroic behaviour but didn't see much of either in the book.

The story is about an Indian family whose life is disrupted when they are notified that their daughter and her husband, from whom they were estranged, were killed in a car accident leaving behind a young daughter.  Their daughter had asked them to be the child's guardian and they had reluctantly agreed to do so.  Now they have to go and retrieve the little girl.

The family consists of the father who disowned his daughter when she decided to marry a man in Canada, where she was studying, rather than her Indian fiancee, chosen by the family.  The father feels she has dishonoured them and refuses to hold the wedding in India or have anything to do with her.  His wife is sad about the situation but doesn't stand up to her husband about this.  She treasures the letters her daughter has sent her.  The family has a son living at home who isn't working and seems to be devoting his energy to activism.  The father is frustrated by his "laziness" as the family could really use the additional money if the son was working. The house has fallen into disrepair and the father is contemplating selling it to settle debts.  The household also includes the man's mother and his sister.  The mother is a selfish woman, totally focussed on her needs and entirely disregards any one else's needs or wishes.  She wants her daughter to stay with her and look after her, she keeps turning down every potential suitor who comes along.

The little girl is overwhelmed when she arrives in India, the different culture, living with people she doesn't know, the nagging great grandmother, food she isn't used to.  She is so shocked by all the change that she does not speak.  The girl's grandmother tries to be friendly to her as does the son but she keeps to herself.  The great grandmother, the mean person that she is, steals a jacket (the mother's jacket) that the little girl has been treasuring as a memory of her mother.

The father gets ill and eventually takes early retirement from his job, his sister has a crush on a man next door (from a family her family considers criminal and beneath them).

Things finally come to a head when the little girl disappears.  She is lured away by a crazy woman who lost her daughter years ago.  When the little girl is found she finally starts to speak, the son announces that he has a job in a nonprofit in another city, the sister accepts a marriage proposal from the neighbour and the great grandmother dies.  It seems like things did fall into place and a somewhat happy resolution but not through any intentional heroic effort on anyone's part.  I suspect the father and mother did change and regret their past behaviour but killing off the great grandmother was a convenient way to dispose of her.

I can't say that I cared for any of the characters in this book, except perhaps for the poor sister.