If you’re a Thrity Umrigar fan you will surely enjoy this story about family, secrecy and redemption. Admittedly, it took me some time to engage with the characters. The first half of the book is slow and repetitive. The second half is where the story really picks up and I then I couldn’t put it down.

I love this author's writing and The Museum of Failures was a wonderful story of family, secrets, and redemption. This is also a story about the differences in the cultures of two countries and how that affects daily living. There is so much between the lines in this book, and it might have you looking at your own family a bit differently and realizing things that maybe were not so apparent before.

THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES - THIRTY UMRIGAR

4.5⭐

PLOT - Remy Wadia comes to India mumbai from US planning to adopt a baby and also to visit his elderly mother whom he hasn't seen since his father passed away 3 years ago but on arrival he find his mother in hospital and isn't taking anymore and given up on life.
Remy ridden with guilt now decided to help her mother reciver and in the process some shocking family secrets are revealed forcing him to reevalate his entire childhood and his relationship with his parents.
MY THOUGHTS
This was absolutely immersive read. The family drama and suspense with some brilliant story telling and great in depth characterization makes it a compelling read.
I live in South Mumbai near a Parsi colony where this story is set and reading about Paris culture and its people in the story was beautiful experience for me.
The last 1/3 Rd of the book is where the main action or drama unfolds but the events leading to it though slow burn didn't feel boring and the anticipation persisted throughout .
The authors writing esp character of Remy and Shirin and the whole bandwith of emotions live, anger, betrayal, grief and ultimately forgiveness was fantastic and it touched my heart in so many ways.
This was my 1st read by the author and gonna read her backlist and future books.
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar is another excellent example of creating a novel with richly layered characters while comparing Indian and American lifestyles.

In this story, Remy returns to Bombay, which he has dubbed the museum of failures, as he sees his native country through the lens of his American life. He’s there to meet his friend’s niece with the hopes of adopting her baby, as he and his wife are unable to conceive. This innocuous trip turns into a much more complex time as Remy is hit with roadblocks time and time again.

It’s the story about Remy and his mother that really got to me. He lived a life of never measuring up and feeling quite unloved by her. Through their time together in Bombay, he learns critical information that allows him to see her in a more thoughtful and understanding way. This time away has brought what’s left of his shattered family back together.

His trip extends much longer than anticipated and he realizes the value of being home. His American wife Kathy seemed too good to be true, but I did like their relationship, born of trust and equality. Remy’s life as a poet was buried away, but through his visit in India, he realizes the importance of doing work you love, not just working for a higher paycheck.

Overall, this was a satisfying read and one that fans of Umrigar will appreciate. Her last book, Honor, along with The Space Between Us, are my two favorites of hers. I haven’t met an Umrigar book I didn’t enjoy!

The Museum of Failures
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Thirty Umrigar

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Algonquin Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life.

Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions?

My Thoughts: Remy has not been back to India for years due to a deep seated resentment against his mother. Remy is going to India for an adoption of a baby from a pregnant teen. While in India, the caregivers he left his mother with were not taking proper care of her and she is really ill, and has been neglected. Remy ends up staying in India longer than anticipated and some deep buried family secrets begin to surface. Can Remy forgive his mother?

This story is heart wrenching and heartfelt. Sometimes a parent’s decisions are not always easy and you cannot understand why the decision was made until much later in life, and even then you may not understand the lengths a parent will go for their child. In the beginning, it is very much a slow burn. It hashes out the grievances Remy has felt, and at times, becomes repetitive. However, the last third was hard to put down. Remy’s character is quite interesting, he comes off as selfish, does not seem to care when his own actions carries consequences, and the feelings of other people is insequential to him. The story is narrated mostly by Remy, in his POV, and in a dual timeline with both past and present tense. The characters were well fleshed out, written with powerful emotion, and were intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, layered, poignant, thought-provoking, and brilliant. It is rare to read a story that is both character driven and plot driven, usually it is one or the other, but this story was both.

I fell in love with Umrigar when I read her previous book, Honor. Umrigar has a way of blending American and India culture and write about tough heartache and the healing that comes along with the heartache. However, for this story, I could not connect as early as I usually do, it did not pick up for me until about 60% into the book. This book follows a family drama through mystery and secret unraveling. It is a story on how fragile we are as humans, the ability to forgive, and to reach acceptance from that forgiveness. I read the digital book but have read from other reviewers that the audiobook is fantastic and that the audiobook only has one narrator and she far excelled voice variation, did both male and female voices perfectly. Having said that, I would still highly recommend this story and her previous works. She is a brilliant writer.

Thrity Umrigar is one of my favorite contemporary writers. As a general rule, I'm not interested in "domestic" fiction: tales of strained families or unsteady relationships. Umrigar is the exception to this rule. Her characters are interesting, she imbues them with rich inner lives, and they come from multiple cultures and perspectives.

In the case of The Museum of Failures, our central character, Remy, is a Parsi Indian who moved to the U.S. and stayed there. He's married to an anglo woman, a pediatrician. The couple is at a crossroads. After multiple failed attempts at fertility treatments, they've arranged to adopt the baby of a young girl in India, a niece of one of Remy's childhood friends.

Remy arrives in India, intending to take care of the legal paperwork required for the adoption, but runs unto unexpected difficulties. First, the girl who will be the birth mother has decided she doesn't want to give the baby up for adoption. Second, he finds his elderly mother, who has always been volatile and unkind, is hospitalized with pneumonia. The distant relatives who were supposed to be caring for her, have been largely ignoring her because her volatility makes her difficult to deal with. So, Remy is left without a much-wanted baby and and with long stretches of time spent with a mother he was happy to be living half a world away from.

In a way, readers can predict parts of the plot. Perhaps Remy will be able to bring home the baby after all. Perhaps he and his mother will come to a truce of sorts that will release the burden of his many unhappy childhood memories of her. Perhaps. What does happen is similar, but also utterly different, surprising both Remy and the reader.

If you appreciate fiction that closely examines familial relationships and/or the experiences of immigrants returning to a home that is not a home, you'll find this novel a deeply satisfying read. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

What a privilege to read another amazing book by such a gifted author. Umrigar knows how to write, the story of humanity, it’s failures and successes, wrapped in the most beautiful story telling. Remy is visiting his home of Bombay, discovering that his mother is very ill and in the hospital. Remy was always closer to his father, never feeling love from Shirin. In addition, Remy is meeting a young pregnant woman, a cousin of his friends, in the hope of adopting her baby. I could not put down this book, felt the strong emotions that were attributed to all of the characters. Another must read by Umrigar, highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book as I enjoyed Umrigar's The Story Hour. The premise was intriguing and I love to read about other cultures, but something just fell short for me with this one. It seemed like it needed a few more rewrites to really bring the characters to life and engage the reader. the dialogue in particular just didn't ring true.

As always, Umrigar’s writing is beautiful and thoughtful. Her complex characters and intricately-woven stories make for a rich reading experience.

In this book, Remy, an Indian-born man living in America returns to India to visit his ailing mother, and while he is there, family secrets begin to unravel, causing Remy to question everything he knew about his parents and his family history.

I loved Remy and I could relate with his complex feelings as he learned new information. I loved the way the story dealt with themes of family loyalty, forgiveness and redemption. It is definitely a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to dive more into Umrigar’s backlist.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. Thrity Umrigar is a favorite author of mine, and The Museum of Failures is a five star read for me. Remy was born in India but lives now in Ohio with his American wife. They are having infertility issues, and friends in India suggest a solution, a young relative is pregnant and wants to give up her baby for adoption. He goes back to India, to adopt the baby, and to visit his mother who is getting older and having some issues. Remy grew up feeling very close to his father who dies a few years back, but his relationship with his mother has always been rocky. On this trip, he learns the truth about his parents’ relationship and a family secret, and this upends what he has always believed to be true. A recurring theme is his struggle with feeling at home in India and in America, he wants to be in both places. This is tough to read in some parts (although nowhere near as touch as her last book Honor), but well worth it. Great read, highly recommend. #netgalley #thrityumrigar #themuseumoffailures #bookstagram #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #fictionreader #bookreview #bookrecommendation #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallthebooks #booksbooksbooks #booksofinstagram #bookwormproblems #bookaholic #booknerd #whattoread #readingtime #bookaddict #ilovetoread #ilovebooks #needtoread #readallday

Such a beautiful, poignant tale of secrets, truth, and redemption. Revelations can rewite the history you *thought* you knew. This book reminded me of that saying "Be kinder than necessary, because everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about". The gamut of emotions I felt reading this: anger, annoyance, love, fear, sympathy, horror, joy, laughter, tension, devastation. Read when you have time to get through this in a weekend, you won't want to put it down!

This is a beautiful story with descriptive and clever writing. The author presents a character who straddle two counties and two identities in a sensitive way.. The book was a joy to read.!

Thrity Umrigar’s The Museum of Failures should keep readers turning pages and staying up late at night to learn what happens next. Remy Wadia, an immigrant from India, and his American wife Kathy have been unable to have a child. As the novel opens, Remy arrives in India to arrange a private adoption. Monaz, the unmarried teenage mother-to-be, is the niece of Remy’s boyhood best friend’s wife, so all should be relatively easy. Yet Monaz is having second thoughts.

Although adoption has brought Remy back home, he will reluctantly visit his estranged mother Shirin whom he hasn’t seen since his beloved, doting father’s illness and death several years earlier. Dreading the meeting with his distant and frequently angry mother, Remy discovers she has been hospitalized and is ill, emaciated, and silent.

Remy finds himself caught up once again in the problem-ridden city of his birth and boyhood, a place he was happy to have escaped years ago. What will happen with Monaz and the Wadias’ dream of an Indian child? Why had financially secure Shirin deteriorated so much and stopped talking, especially after Remy had arranged for her care after his father’s death

Umrigar’s latest novel is a story of immigrants, family, and friends, a story of belonging somewhere and not belonging anywhere, a story of love and unrequited love, but also of jealousy, fear, shame, and guilt. It’s the story of secrets and of what can happen when one makes wrong decisions for all the right reasons, the story of humanity with all its strengths and weaknesses. The Museum of Failures is a book well worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonqin Books for an advance reader copy of this recommended new novel by Thrity Umrigar.

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What a thought-provoking and beautifully written book! I loved the questions that Umrigar asks here: How do immigrants feel both at home and never at home in the U.S.A? How are they never really at home in their country of origin? What happens when children grown up and discover secrets that their parents kept, thinking they were protecting them? How do children/adults hold onto fears that they might repeat their parents' mistakes?

Such a wonderful story with an incredible ending!

I really enjoyed this book, especially the second half as it explored the complexity of relationships within family and how we can never truly know what others are going through. It was an emotional ride with a satisfying ending.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Remy has to leave Columbus where he works in advertising. His reason? Adopting a baby from his cousin and a visit to his mother who is in hospital. Remy is mostly focused on his own life. I loved the atmosphere and emtions in A Museum of Failures, and it was interesting that Remy had given this name to Bombay.

I didn’t really like Remy. I was interested and invested in the plot and its twists and turns and the secret. Thrity Umrigar is a new author to me and her writing style was enjoyable. I enjoy different cultures and the mix of Indian and American culture.

Thanks to Thrity Umrigar and Algonquin Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4 stars

Remy Wadia has returned to India to see about possibly adopting a child and while there discovers his mother is sick and in the hospital. Their relationship has been difficult and Remy finds his mother to be very inscrutable. As Remy takes care of his mom, he feels a connection and wants to make sure she gets better and is settled again before he goes back to the US. When he discovers a picture of a child who looks like him, he finds out there was a secret that had been kept from him his entire childhood and it makes him reevaluate the relationship his parents had as well as the relationship he had with each of them. Meanwhile the mother of the child he planned to adopt is undecided about whether she will keep her child. Overall, a compelling story about family secrets and how they changed the relationships between them all. The characters were well written and complex even if their actions were sometimes unclear.

Remy has not been back to India since his father died three years ago. He was always close to his father but his mother had been a silent, criticizing figure and it was easy to push back coming to check on her. He has come to India to see about adopting a baby although his wife was not able to accompany him on this trip. A friend's daughter has gotten pregnant and he is here to meet her and see about adopting her baby when it is born.

Remy arrives to find his mother in the hospital, perhaps at death's door. The doctors aren't optimistic and she isn't speaking or eating. As Remy cares for her, he feels shame for not taking better care of her over the years, not making sure that the safeguards he'd put in place were working. Over her hospital stay, Remy and his mother become closer and he rediscovers the love he had for her.

But there are dark secrets hiding in his family's background. As Remy discovers them, he realizes that his memories of his childhood were all false, all manufactured. What will he do with the new information he has learned? Will he and his mother be another victim of Bombay, The Museum Of Failures?

This is a haunting book that will transport and touch the deepest emotions in the reader. Thrity Umrigar was born in India to a Parsi family but also grew up around the Catholic and Hindu religions. She immigrated to the United States when she was twenty-one and has written several best selling novels and has won numerous writing awards. This book deserves to be one of her best known novels as it explores the meaning of family relationships and the place that friends play in our lives. She delves into the darkest spaces and relates ways to solve thorny issues that are separating us from those we love. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

A fast read and a good story. Well written and a great escape for a lazy weekend curled up on the couch.

The Museum of Failures seems to be just that throughout the book. This one will just break your heart! We begin with Remy traveling back to India to adopt a child for him and his wife who is back in America. But, upon Remy getting off the plane, it seems that there is bad news after bad news. He goes to visit/surprise his estranged mom, and finds that she’s sick and practically on her deathbed. As he continues to visit her in the hospital he finds out so many secrets of his childhood good and bad, things about his mom he never knew, and things about his father. Meanwhile, the woman who’s giving her child up for adoption becomes wishy washy which takes us on another emotional roller coaster with that entire situation. I tell you it seems that there is no positivity, no little at the end of the tunnel within Remy’s story.

Although, this one is sad, and may be triggering for some, it is a very good story. Be prepared to have your heart twisted when reading it. And, if you’re a crier, grab tissues because you’re going to need them!