If you're looking for a novel that will stand out in your memory, may I suggest Keya Da's Second Act, written by Sopan Deb. This novel is every bit as heartwarming as it promised to be, if not more so.

Shantanu Das has been living with ghosts for years now. One could say he is used to it – but that isn't quite the truth. It's been years since he and his wife spoke to their eldest daughter – and given her death, that will never change.

When going through Keya's things, he finds a manuscript she had written but never released. Perhaps now is the time to honor her memory and to right the wrongs that haunt the family.

“What is peace but just another precursor to war?”

Keya Da's Second Act is quite an emotional read, so you better prepare yourself for what lies ahead. This book tackles many heavy subjects, predominantly grief, homophobia, and LGBT/what it takes to be an ally.

The thing I love the most about Keya Da's Second Act is the critical conversation this book brings up. We all know somebody who regrets an action in their past. Maybe they said something horrible. Or maybe they didn't back a friend the way they should have. Either way, they're carrying that weight now and are trying to find a way to make amends.

Most of us have the option to reach out and apologize to those we've done wrong. But sometimes that isn't possible – and it will never be possible. That is the situation our main character is in. He let homophobia and familial expectations get between him and his daughter, and her death removed any opportunity to make things right.

Well, not in a direct sense. He can still do something; it just won't be an apology that she can hear. That's what makes this story hit so hard. The loss, the regrets, the (admittedly late) determination to stand up and do something about it.

This is a story of a family finding healing after great loss. It had the potential to be really sad, but Deb’s writing had a humor and lightness to it. It was sweet to watch the characters, who clearly loved each other, begin to repair the rifts. I enjoyed the glimpse into the Bengali community and their traditions. The characters were refreshingly different from my usual reads, but there were a lot of them! The plot was got a little complicated with all their backstories. The narration by Ulka Simone Mohanty perfectly matched the warmth of the story.

Thank you to @simon.audio for this review copy. The opinions are my own.

I really liked all the characters and the complicated relationships between all of them. I liked the conversations about grief, but I expected it to be a bigger part of the story. It followed a lot of perspectives, but I never thought it was hard to follow.

I have never read or heard of this author before this book, but you won't be able to stop me in the future from reading anything they put out. And I will be looking to see what is in their backlist. I loved this book. It was emotional, redemptive, and educational. I especially loved the growth from all of the characters. It was very well written, and I was able to learn about a culture different from mine. It was such a beautifully written story that I did not want to end.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions.

Keya Das’s Second Act by Sopan Deb. Pub Date: July 5th, 2022. Rating: 🌟🌟. I thought this novel started out strong with an interesting premise of finding a story written by a late daughter and learning about her background and family struggles. But, honestly this book fizzled pretty quickly. There was an opportunity to showcase an important topic of identity, acceptance and being true to yourself, but I feel the author did not execute these themes well. Thanks to #Netgalley and #simonandschuster for this free e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Handling grief, especially when accompanied by guilt, is a daunting undertaking. This book handled it very well.

Kenya Das is dead and her family is left to struggle with grief, isolation, and divorce. The Bengali community is a major character in the story and adds an interesting cultural layer. Getting to know this family was enjoyable even as the issues they are dealing with are heavy and sad. Ultimately a story about love, family and healing. I highly recommend this book.

** I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A love, if sad and not meditation on grief, guilt, and reclaiming one's life for the better. Not overly long and a worthwhile read.

This is a moving story about a broken family who puts itself back together in an unlikely way. The author does a good job of explaining Bengali culture without it feeling like a lecture. The situations and plot points, although unlike and improbable, lend themselves to realism and relatability. The novel is filled with symbolism and metaphors which give the story another wonderful layer.

Keya Das's Second Act is an extremely emotional family drama following a Bengali family that tries to mend itself after an unexpected accident. While this story focuses on loss, the juxtaposition of the love in Keya's family dynamic with the other South Asian families in the story proves that this is more of a story of resilience and forgiveness.

This debut really tugged at my heart strings in a way I didn’t expect. This Bengali American family were torn apart by the death of their beloved Keya but when her father finds a box in the attic the contents draw them all together.
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Inside the box were notes and an unfinished manuscript she was writing with her girlfriend. The entire family comes together to stage the play and to find some healing and closure with past mistakes. I especially loved the grandmother in this one!
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Thank you #SimonandSchuster and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was both fun to read as well as raw in its honest portrayal of grief. I also related so much to the way this family functions and responds to situations, including Keya’s coming out. I also love it when I get to read more and more stories of desi immigrant families, showing the different ways in which we exist and how our family dynamics can be much more than stereotypes. Greatly enjoyed this one and looking forward to the author’s next works.

A family tale that struggles with the unthinkable. I found it easy to connect with the struggles. While I liked the story, I do not think that the writing was great.

“Death can be permanent. It is, in most ways. But there are ways for people to live that don’t involve being alive. And there are ways to be dead while still being able to breathe.”

This endearing story explores grief and its many faces. The story is told in scenes past and present, and from multiple points of view. As the quote suggest, not only do we see how Keys’s coming out to her traditional Bengali family alters their family dynamics prior to her death, we see how her story and a hidden box of her notes and a play continue to alter her family, opening their eyes to truths they were previously unwilling and unable to accept. I found the storytelling to be raw and beautiful. Every character was one I grew to care for, either quickly or slowly as I learned more about them. This is not a book to miss!

Fun, clever read. I always enjoy books that make me laugh, learn about how people define 'family' and books that remind us we can always start over. A book about second chances, new love whether it is with new people or those we've known for ages. This was a delightful read.

Keya Das's family is trying to deal with the grief and guilt of losing their beloved Keya. They feel guilty because even though she died in a terrible car accident they all think they're to blame because of how they all acted when she came out as gay to them. After that, she stopped talking with them and was like a living ghost in the house because you could feel her there but her family hardly saw her. No one got to apologize or let her know that they love and accept her no matter what and now they have to deal with her being gone before her time and the fact that they never got to make things right with her.
Her father is cleaning the attic when he finds some of Keya's old notes and a special play she was writing with the girl she was in love with. It's unfinished but it's really great and written beautifully. The family decides that they want to put on her play, her father sells his house and moved in with his mom to help fund it. That's how much he believes in the playabd his daughter. With some help from an amazing support system that the family has acquired, they might just pull off giving Keya Das her second act.

This book was so beautifully written and I enjoyed going on the family's journey towards some peace, making peace with the way they left things with Keya. I smiled and grew close to this family throughout this book. I liked the imaginative way they tried to make things right with Keya, not only Keya but her girlfriend as well.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Keya's family has been torn apart after she revealed her love for her girlfriend, Pamela. Her subsequent death did not give her conservative, Bengali family time to reconcile with her or the situation. Her parents ultimately divorced and her father, Shantanu, has not seen his other daughter in quite some time.

Several years later, Shantanu discovers a box hidden in the corner of the attic. The box contains an unfinished play manuscript co-authored by Keya and Pamela. Shantanu wonders, at this point, if there is something he can do to honor Keya's life.

This is a heartwarming story about the power of redemption.

This one hits hard. In the story of a family broken by tragedy and the individuals picking up the pieces afterward, Deb goes straight for the heartstrings and doesn't let up.
The Das family loses their youngest daughter, Keya, shortly after not handling her coming out with anything even closely resembling acceptance or grace. The father, Shantanu, sinks deep into depression. The mother, Chaitali, divorces Shantanu and marries another man from their close community. And the oldest daughter, Mitali, hides away from both of them and does her best to lose herself in her work and relationship with kind and awkward, Neesh. They're all living half a life when Shantanu discovers a box of love letters between Keya and her girlfriend that also contains a half-finished script for a play. It's in deciding to produce Keya's play that not only the members of the Das family but those closest to them will finally begin the journey to healing and closure.
It's a very emotional story that displays very different points of view with respect and validation for all of them. We get to experience the highs and lows of the Das family, Neesh, and others around them as the full story of the past is interwoven with the events of the present in a healing journey that shows that the path to closure and happiness is different for everyone but it is always better not walked alone.
Deb is very good at setting up the characters on their journey and letting the reader feel like we're walking it right along with them. The inclusion of the Bengali culture and traditions and how they shaped the decisions of the family is a great moment of representation that feels authentic while also being easy for an outsider to understand.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the emotionally satisfying read!

Really enjoyed the premise of this story, especially the opportunity to learn a bit about Bengali culture. Deb deftly wove through multiple narrators and managed to give them each a coherent and unique voice while tying the whole story together. While there is a lot of sadness and loss to the story, in the end it's about survival and thriving. Very well done. Would definitely read more from this author.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster, the author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @sopandeb @simonandschuster, and @netgalley for the e-arc and arc of KEYA DAS’S SECOND ACT (published July 5)

Thoughts 💭: Bengali American author Sopan Deb’s poignant and heartwarming novel explores grief and loss through raw, complex, and broken characters of the family as they make sense of an unexpected loss of Keya, who loses her life in an unexpected accident after coming out to her family. The story begins with Shantanu, a divorcee picking up the pieces of the broken family when he discovers an unfinished play written by his daughter for her companion and love, Pamela. As the drama then unfolds, we see that the family has broken apart. Keya’s sister and her boy friend, Neesh Patel - a drummer with a troubled past - come up with the idea to stage the play, and invite Pamela to become a part of the production, and finish the story.

This is such a beautiful story as many South Asian authors in the diaspora begin exploring themes that continued to be tabooed or are silenced due for the shame they often carry: divorce, grief, loss. However, this novel is also one of the most heartwarming South Asian LGBTQ representations out there, and such stories need to be shared and told so that we can engage in these conversations. Furthermore, the production of a play brings the family together. This moment reminded me of how my grandfathers have been so involved in literature and the arts. My grandfather too has unfinished Hindi plays that I should return to someday, and perhaps translate them.