Member Reviews
Late Bloomers is a delightful story of the Raman family, and finding your own path in a world with many predetermined expectations. Recently divorced after 36 years in an arranged marriage, Suresh and Lata are living on their own, with opposing feelings on the matter. As Suresh quickly jumps into the world of online dating, Lata is content to settle into her new job and lead a quiet but peaceful life on her terms. The adult Raman children, Priya and Nikesh, are also balancing the societal expectations of their lives, against the real version of how they truly live. This book has many funny passages involving online dating, as well as many moving passages, especially as Lata describes certain aspects of her unhappy married life, and really does make you stop and think about how many of your own decisions are based on expectation. Deepa Varadarajan does an excellent job finding the right balance of a light hearted family novel, with a mix of humor, and thought provoking reflection. Late Bloomers is a book I would highly recommend, and I very much enjoyed it. Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for an advanced digital copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
4.5- I seem to really enjoy books about Indian families. I love reading the descriptions of food, clothes, and the scenery, and I truly love the dynamics within each family.
The members of the Raman family- Divorced parents Suresh and Lata and their adult children Priya and Nikesh are all going through their own relationship troubles which includes keeping secrets from the others in their foursome. Over a 3 week period in August all of their secrets spill out creating chaos and finally understanding while bringing the hidden past to light.
This book was funny and delightful! Told in alternating first person chapters we are given a front row seat to the lives of each of these dysfunctional (but in the best way!) characters and how they see the lives of the others.
The way the story plays out is perfect. I love the more in-depth look into the 4 separate yet overlapping storylines since each chapter gives us a different perspective of not only the narrator but also the narrator’s view of the other family members.
I found myself laughing out loud quite often and loved every character, even the side ones. This is Deepa Varadarajan’s debut novel and I certainly hope it’s not her only novel. I would love to see what else she has to offer. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy of this. This delightful gem hits shelves on May 2nd.
Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan tells the story of an Indian American family in which the mother and father divorce after thirty-six years of marriage. Theirs had been an arranged marriage where both parties “settled in”, but never achieved the loving relationship frequently attained in such situations. I had read that it was both funny and heartbreaking, but I didn’t find much to laugh about. Instead I found it sad that the parents and both of the adult children had suffered the consequences of this loveless marriage. The poor communication between them enabled them to harbor secrets that affected the development of their own relationships. The few instances of what could be comical came off as predictable and slapstick. I did care about the characters, and wanted them to find a way into each other’s lives. The author did a fine job of illustrating their struggles. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity of an early read in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 rounded to 4
Suresh and Lata had an arranged marriage, but after decades and raising children together, they get a bitter divorce; he feels abandoned, she stayed out of duty, liking him less and less. They are still young enough to want lives that are not lonely, so they try to navigate the modern American dating scene, while still very informed by the Indian culture in which they were raised.
Meanwhile there are the lives of their children--one having an affair with a married man, the other pregnant out of wedlock. The families react with emotional drama, judgment, tempers.
What I liked was the writing, especially the tension between cultures, which is different for each generation. But I think I was expecting more insight, kindness, growth? I got more realism than I prefer in a book--I get enough of that around me. Excellent writing, though, I want to reiterate.
I loved this book! When Suresh and Lata end their arranged marriage after 36 years, things for this Indian American family feel rocky. Suresh tries his hand at online dating which is a bit of a disaster. Lata is living on her own for the first time in her life and realizes she has never actually had a real first date. Meanwhile, their adult children Priya and Nikesh have their own stuff going on and are trying to handle the divorce as best they can. This was a delightful book about middle marriage ( even if it's ending) and raising adult kids. I loved it!!
Compelling story about an Indian-American family, told from each of the four members’ points of view. Secrets, cultural expectations, self-doubts, parent-child relationships and regrets are woven into this novel. The characters are very likeable and relatable and the pacing was good. There are some funny moments as well which add to this family drama. A satisfying ending to a good debut novel.
Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
My review was posted on Goodreads, Instagram and Twitter - see links below - on April 25, 2023. I will post it on Amazon on the day of publication.
I love family-centric books so I was really excited to read this one! This was an endearing cast of characters with a backdrop of important themes -- coming of age, diversity, cultural expectations, etc. Great for a first novel and I hope to read more books by this author soon.
As a messy, mournful look into the realistic lives of the members of an imperfect family, I thought this was totally fine. While the storyline is refreshing, most of the characters are unlikeable in less interesting ways; the only ones I was really rooting for are matriarch Lata and her coworker Deanna (who, unfortunately, is a side character who doesn't get as much time on the page). I wanted more growth from the characters, but I also understand that true growth isn't always achievable in the way they're living their lives.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.
This is a multi POV story told from four members of the same family. The parents have just divorced after a 30+ year marriage and are both trying to navigate what being single at this stage in their life means. The children of these parents are simultaneously each dealing with their parents divorce very differently and trying to understand and deal with their own interpersonal relationships. There was also a great number of side characters that drove the plot along.
This book flew by for me, I couldn’t put it down. I struggled with the entirety of Priyas story and found her to be the most frustrating although Nikesh was also a frustration. All in all, a great read about people just trying to find themselves .
An Indian couple in Texas, married for over 30 years with two adult kids, are recently divorced. Each chapter is told in the alternating voices of the ex-husband, the ex-wife, the daughter, and the son. The parents are navigating dating and their children have their own issues they are dealing with in their lives. I actually liked when the book started to get a little absurd and wished that Varadarajan would have taken the absurdity a bit further. Overall an enjoyable book that despite some of the sadness of the situations, had me laughing at times.
Late Bloomers is a book about an older couple who learn to navigate their lives independently after a divorce. The novel illustrates perfectly the flaws of humans as they figure out the nuances of romantic relationships. Although the storytelling is satisfactory, I appreciated the second act of the couple’s lives and their acknowledgment of their flaws, misunderstandings, and lack of knowledge around relationships has impacted what their children know and do. Overall, Late Bloomers is an average novel with a decent reflection on distorted ideology of marriage and dating in South Asian culture.
Suresh and Lata had an arranged marriage and after 36 years and raising two kids together, Lata decided that she had had enough and asked for a divorce. Now Suresh is trying out internet dating, Lata has a job for the first time, their daughter is dating a married man, and their son had a son with an older woman. This a take on modern day life mixed with Indian culture. I found it interesting and would give it 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book to review through NetGalley.
Their messy lives come together a week to split open all (almost) their secrets out in the open. This has been good read with an ounce of reality, a pinch of fantasy and dash of wishful thinking.
Varadarajan’s first novel introduces a family of long-married divorced parents of adult children [one of each sex], who have a clumsy but hopeful knowledge of love, and who maintain a commitment to seeking it out for themselves. While each feels it for another in their lives, that love is not necessarily returned in full. There is affection that never quite rises to the point of marital commitment. Yet the characters are skillfully and lovingly drawn by the author and even to the last page you will root for them to be fulfilled in their search for love. Perhaps one day they will find it.
This book is pretty good but it’s not one of those where you can’t put it down. If you like family drama you will like this book! This book is to remind you that no one has life figured out.
Thank you NetGalley for the ebook ARC!
Each member in this family had issues and they covered many topics. They were a fun, hot mess and had to figure things out. I thought this was a very enjoyable read.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.
I loved how this story was told from multiple points of view within the same nuclear family unit.
It really drove home the fact that people can experience the exact same situation in profoundly different ways.
The characters were all flawed in their own ways, but still (mostly) lovable.
It was an entertaining read and if you like a novel with family drama- this one is definitely for you!
Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #latebloomers
Late Bloomers is an appropriate name for this family. Suresh and Lata, the parents, stayed together for thirty-five years in an arranged marriage. They had two children who are now grown. The lack of closeness and bonding between the parents also affected the kids. Nobody was close. It wasn’t a family that laughed, shared emotions or secrets with each other. Lata leaves Suresh to find her own way, Suresh turns to online dating, Priya has a married lover, and Nikesh’s family has a secret of their own. This is the coming of age story for an entire family, who haven’t known how to be a family. Culturally interesting but all I felt was sadness for “blooming so late in life.” Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the digital ARC. This review is my own opinion.
There's something inherently brave about starting over, as Deepa Varadarajan explores in her charming debut novel, Late Bloomers. That's what Nikesh thinks of his parents, anyway, watching "the two of them trying to cobble together new lives while other Indian people their age were settling into creaky lawn chairs... reconciling themselves to deadened marriages and eventless retirements." But not Suresh and Lata, who have divorced after 36 years of unhappy marriage. Lata gets her first-ever job at a local university's music library and enjoys living alone in her condo. Suresh turns to online dating, eternally optimistic despite the never-ending lies of "[a]ll these internet women." And while Nikesh finds his father's dating adventures somewhat romantic, his sister, Priya, describes her father's behavior as "post-midlife crisis; act your age; ridiculous; embarrassment."
As the narrative shifts among the quartet's first-person perspectives, readers learn that, of course, neither Nikesh nor Priya have much of a leg to stand on in judging their parents' actions: Nikesh has his own complicated relationship with the mother of his young son, and Priya has been involved with a married man in an affair that has lasted about a year and a half. And neither Suresh nor Lata are quite as happy in their second chances as they pretend to be. All of these secrets come to a head when the four reconvene at the family home for Nikesh's son's first birthday.
Late Bloomers is a novel that celebrates love--and the quest for it--in all of its many varieties: familial, romantic, parental, dutiful, young, old, passionate, passionless. Lata relearns how to have a relationship with Suresh outside the bounds of their less-than-happy marriage and with her children as grown adults. Priya questions her past romantic mistakes and what draws her to an unavailable man. Suresh seeks an escape from himself in any variety, feeling his failures as a "portly, indecisive man, who rarely knew the right things to say, who bungled his first marriage, who loved his children but felt his absentmindedness often bordered on neglect." Nikesh avoids the conflicts in his own career and relationship by burying himself in his role of new father.
Within these deeply complex individuals and the many ways they knock together, Varadarajan offers a novel shaped--but not defined--by the flaws of its characters, a story that peels back their layers as they find their way as individuals and as a family. Late Bloomers, at times laugh-out-loud funny and at times quietly heartbreaking, is an intricate novel about people who rediscover themselves. Or perhaps, by being honest with themselves and with each other, discover themselves for the very first time. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer, for Shelf Awareness PRO (Tuesday, April 11, 2023)
Shelf Talker: A family of four gets a second chance at self-discovery--as individuals and as a family--following the dissolution of a decades-long unhappy marriage.
Late Bloomers is about relationships - the ones we’re born into, the ones we choose, and even the ones that are chosen for us.
After 36 years of being in an arranged marriage, Lata and Suresh are divorced and learning how to navigate their newly single lives. While Suresh has chosen to go the way of internet dating, Lata is enjoying her new independence when she finds a job at a library and meets a man there.
Meanwhile, their two grown kids have their own relationship problems. Priya’s parents worry about her as a 35 year-old unmarried woman, but what they don’t know would worry them more: she’s dating a married man. On the other end of the spectrum is their son Nikesh who is married and the father of an almost one year-old.. except for one thing. He’s not actually married.
The book follows all four POV which I think was too much for me. There was so much bouncing around that I never felt invested in any of the characters. I liked Lata and Nikesh, and I was ultimately rooting for them. On the other hand, Suresh and Priya were so unlikeable, and I didn’t feel like I saw any growth in either of them.
This book had some funny parts, and I’m sure there is an audience for it; unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.