Brown, Rachel Manija - All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India

[oyceter]

Disclaimer: rachelmanija is a friend of mine, and I like her quite a lot. That said, am trying to be as unbiased as possible.

Brown's parents dragged her from LA to Ahmednagar, a very small, very isolated ashram dedicated to Meher Baba in India, when she was seven. Unfortunately, Manija (Brown later changed her name) was the only foreign child in the town, in her school, and in the ashram.

I spent most of the book having a reaction that was a combination of laughing hysterically and thinking "Oh my god! No way!" Brown's childhood is distinctly bizarre -- despite the fact that her parents are Baba-lovers and that her family is ethnically Jewish, she ends up going to the Holy Wounds of Jesus Christ the Savior school, convent-run. There, the kids pelt her with rocks while she practically fails every class because she doesn't understand Hindi.

At home in the ashram, the residents include the librarian who screams outside her window at night, the supposedly holy man who wanders about collecting pieces of nothing, and assorted other strange characters.

There are some places where the pace is sort of off or odd; some of the funny stories feel a little misplaced or like they're dangling there without a point. The interludes to Brown's present life remind me of the interludes in Marya Hornbacher's memoir, but they don't blend in quite as well because of the difference in prose style (Hornbacher's book blends the past and present much more often).

These are nitpicks though. It's difficult to believe that everything in the book is non-fiction, not because I think Brown is exaggerating, but because it is such a different, bizarre and harrowing experience.

Much of the book is hilarious, and the book would be worth reading if only for the great stories. But underneath the anecdotes, Brown also writes about the nature of faith and religion while wondering how her parents could have moved halfway around the world to an isolated ashram. Also, about two-thirds of the way through the book, the anecdotes change so that they become horrifying in their cruelty, instead of horrifically funny. Brown isn't the one who is cruel, but the casual cruelty of nature, of the nuns who run her school, of the children and even some of the ashram residents is stunning.

Sort of spoilers start here!

Then Brown writes about her near suicide attempt when she was twelve or so, which is so wrong and painful and heartbreaking. And she writes about what saves her, what makes her keep going, and I just wanted to hug her.

I'm amazed that she made it through those five years in India and that she manages to write about it with grace and humor. And the little notes in the end on how she used to berate herself for not being a warrior like the ones she admired in stories but finally realized that maybe just enduring and making her way out was a triumph were pitch perfect.

There is such a sense of strength in this book, not just of endurance, and a sense that Brown grew up to be the kind of person who could turn her horrible childhood into that strength.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- fillingthewell's review
- minnow1212's review

Comments

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

I spent most of the book having a reaction that was a combination of laughing hysterically and thinking "Oh my god! No way!"

d00d, you remember the bit with the just-released bird? and the cat? I think I shrieked with simultaneous laughter and horror at the same time. It was sort of v Whedonesque in the combination of the hilarity and the horror (except no vampires. Just Baba! Well, Baba's not that scary, just those Baba-lovers. Talk about the undead).

The interludes to Brown's present life remind me of the interludes in Marya Hornbacher's memoir, but they don't blend in quite as well because of the difference in prose style

I actually sort of liked that they were a little different, and retrospective -- it was a relief from the really dreadful childhood events. It was like the reader got to step back with her and gain a little distance and perspective (and we were reassured Rachel hadn't wound up floating in the Ganges, even tho, well, we already knew that, cause she wrote the book). -- I was envious of something I've rarely seen done in memoirs -- she seems to have instant emotional access to her childhood experiences, in that you see it seemingly as the child did, rather than an adult looking back and saying "And this and then that happened to me...." It's got this terrifying immediacy. I think that's why people describe it as gripping and read it so quickly, and so on.

But underneath the anecdotes, Brown also writes about the nature of faith and religion while wondering how her parents could have moved halfway around the world to an isolated ashram. Also, about two-thirds of the way through the book, the anecdotes change so that they become horrifying in their cruelty, instead of horrifically funny

Yeah, that "I had failed" bit was absolutely heartbreaking. I had visions of an H-bomb going off over the ashram at that point.

the little notes in the end on how she used to berate herself for not being a warrior like the ones she admired in stories but finally realized that maybe just enduring and making her way out was a triumph were pitch perfect

Oh, yeah, the bit about Nehru was GREAT -- and I loved how she wove the comic books and the Mother India history and the girls' boarding school books all thru the narrative, so you could get a picture of her mind and what sustained her.

Also, without wishing to be spoilery, I found the end parts about her parents v moving -- a lot of the memoir is not just about what happened but why, and her unceasing drive to find those answers, to figure out what happened and make sense of the experience, is what makes the ending so good, I think. It deserves to be a classic.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you so much!

The cat story is one of my favorites, too. If I had to pick one story that summed up the entire experience, that would it. I think it's the only time in my life that I ever screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" up at at the sky, like people so frequently do in movies.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Thank you, for writing the book! I've already pressed it upon several people (and noted, when T went to get a science book at Barnes & Noble, it was still up front in the Biograpy section where I'd put it. Hehehehe).

If I had to pick one story that summed up the entire experience, that would it

Oh ghod, yes. I think I shrieked so loud at that point T came in from another room to ask what I was reading.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I finished reading it yesterday. I liked the interludes, because, frankly, they reassured me. I needed to know she got out of that life and into her present one.

So far I've pimped the book at choir rehearsal and to a visiting friend. Local friends next.

[knullabulla.livejournal.com]

Hi, oyceter! Will you be joining us in Tahoe? Let me know as soon as you know yes, or no.

Most of us will be there from June 22 to June 29.

[oyceter]

Nope, sorry, but thanks. Trying to save up for Wiscon....

[knullabulla.livejournal.com]

you will be sorely missed! have fun at wiscon!