Habitations
By Sheila Sundar

Vega is a young woman from India who comes to NYC to do post graduate studies at Columbia and to escape the sadness of her parents and her childhood home. She had a reasonably happy childhood until her younger sister Ashwini dies at 14 years old after a long illness.

Vega has gone to college in India before being accepted at Columbia. At school in Hyderabad she has had an affair with a professor which she eventually realized was abusive. When she gets to New York, she makes a few friends, but often finds herself on the outside looking in when it comes to relationships. She has sexual encounters, both hetero and lesbian. But through it all, she continues to search for what "home" really means. She is alone but cannot decide if she is lonely.

This is a book about searching for who and what you are – and what you want to become. It is told through the lens of Indian culture. It is an interesting study between cultures and, as such, is a learning experience.

Vega is a young Indian woman who moves to NYC to continue her graduate studies at Columbia. She is still reeling from the untimely death of her younger sister just a few earlier. Through Vega we accompany in her journey as she moves through her studies, navigates her love life and transitions from one home to another. But it is the birth of her daughter that opens Vega up to sharing her love with another human more freely and allowing herself to put her desires ahead of what is expected of her.

This is a character-driven novel focusing on the immigrant experience of A young woman who has not properly grieved for her sister. Her loss is so profound that it casts a dark cloud over the joyous events in her life. Set in the 1990’s and moving through the early 2000’s, the reader bears witness to Vega’s coming of age in her 20’s and early 30’s. This was a beautiful novel of self-discovery. I especially loved the relationship Vega has with her ex-husband’s family and the supportive friends she made along the way.

Thank you to @netgalley and @simonbooks for an early review copy.

I'm a sucker for a quiet, understated story of motherhood and personal growth, so this was the perfect read for me. The writing style was tight, restrained, and had a dry sense of humor. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Vega, an Indian woman who spent part of her childhood in Cleveland, is torn between India and the United States as she pursues higher education and eventually a job as a professor. Most of the book is set in the 2000's in New York and she is a relatable mess as she navigates relationships, friendships, and finding community.

Moving at a slow pace, this novel asked a lot of questions in subtle ways as Vega moved through life constantly split between choices. It was easy to empathize with Vega in a lot of ways. I know people who have been in or have found myself in similar crossroads and thought patterns. Not only is Sundar’s writing beautiful, but she also built an MC that felt really real with her flaws and desires. Sundar also chose to show instead of tell with this one and I think it made this one a really introspective read. The novel is very character driven, and the character development also happens in subtle ways. Vega starts as someone unable and unwilling to form close bonds with people, but slowly over the years she finds she still has a small community. This pattern repeats for a lot of different aspects of her life. At the end, the answers, the relationships, they aren’t neat but the novel mimics life really well in that way too and I’m glad for the slice of Vega’s life we got to see.

Huge thanks to Simon & Schuster for this incredible read!

Let me start by saying I don’t mind a slow-burn novel. I don’t mind getting to know the characters on a deeper level before any action takes place. And I don’t have a problem with books that lean more on character development rather than exciting plot twists. However, with “Habitations” by Sheila Sundar, the burn was much, much too slow, and I was left feeling very blase by the time I finished the book. What would have been a solid four-star read turned into barely three-stars.

The story follows Vega, a young Indian woman who struggles to find her way in the world of academia after losing her teenage sister to a fatal medical issue. Vega moves to the states and tries to move ahead in her career, while feeling stifled by her trauma (and eventually by her marriage). Vega is one of those characters who feels things very deeply but doesn’t ever want to take steps to change her ennui. She feels lonely but doesn’t try to remedy the loneliness. She constantly makes poor choices (a hallmark of grief), but these paths don’t ever lead to true growth. These traits would not have felt so frustrating to me if there had been some kind of forward movement with her as a protagonist, but it felt like the book ended in the exact same place it started.

My other main grievance was that this was just too long. There were entire chapters that just dragged the whole story down. And there were many side characters that felt really unnecessary. When I was done reading it, I thought of three or four characters that could have been completely eliminated – their absence not only wouldn’t have been noticed by the reader, but it might have actually helped the story to move along at a more reasonable pace.

Sundar is a talented writer; she writes about the pain of grief and of sibling loss in a realistic, moving way. But her unique writing style and her cadence were lost within the shuffle of a novel that should have been cut by at least 100 pages.

Sheila Sundar is a new author for me. I decided to read this book because I was curious about people who come from another country and make their home in the United States. How they navigate cultures and find their way in a foreign environment. It has to be difficult for anyone who attempts this and I would like to find ways when I meet these people to help make them feel more comfortable.

Description:
Vega Gopalan is adrift. Still reeling from the death of her sister years earlier, she leaves South India to attend graduate school at Columbia University. In New York, Vega straddles many different worlds, eventually moving in and out of a series of relationships that take her through the striving world of academia, the intellectual isolation of the immigrant suburbs, and, ultimately, the loneliness of single motherhood. But it is the birth of Vega’s daughter that forces the novel’s central question: What does it mean to make a home?

Written with dry humor and searing insight, Habitations is an intimate story of identity, immigration, expectation and desire, and of love lost and found. But it is also a universal story of womanhood, and the ways in which women are forced to navigate multiple loyalties: to family, to community, and to themselves.

A profound meditation on the many meanings of home and on the ways love and kinship can be found, even in the most unfamiliar of places, Habitations introduces Sheila Sundar as an electrifying new voice in literary fiction.

My Thoughts:
Sundar's prose is both beautiful and heartfelt. I enjoyed reading about Vega's journey to find herself. I also enjoyed reading about how she fit in during the time she spent at different locations in America and then back in India. I felt her sister's death overshadowed Vega's life and held her back from moving forward in some ways. This book is not full of action, but is full of reflection and self-realization as Vega finds her way in her work, as a mother, and in her personal relationships with others. I feel like I am more aware of Indian customs and foods for having read this book.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I would like to preface this review by saying thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me an advanced copy of Habitations in exchange for my honest review.

Habitations follows main character, Vega, as she navigates academia, grief, motherhood, and relationships.

This is a little slow at times but I promise it is worth it. Vega takes us on a journey throughout her life navigating the loss of her sister, loveless relationships, and found family. This story is a beautiful example of navigating our twenties trying to find a sense of home. But, as Vega learns, home can mean many different things.

Habitations is plain in the best way and the perfect comfort read for those trying to find a sense of belonging. This is the perfect story for those lost in life trying to find the way home.

Vega Gopalan leaves India to attend graduate school in New York. A prior visit when she was younger
was so her sister could receive medical treatment for a condition that eventually killed her.
The world of academia isn't esasy, having to deal with people's perception of Indian people.
She receives help from relatives and friends of the family, it makes her life easier.
The death of her sister continues to impact the way she handles relationships. Vega stuggles to
find where she fits in.
Interesting look into the world of academia.
#Habitations #Simon&Schuster #NetGalley

Vega Gopalan is a typical Tamilian Brahmin girl from Chennai India. She finds a place at Columbia University to pursue her higher studies. While in New York, she is living the American Dream and quickly finds herself veering towards Western culture and thought. She falls in love with her female roommate, something that would not be acceptable in her hometown at the time. She is forced to return to India once her visa runs out and this leads her into a loveless marriage with an Indian man holding American citizenship followed by motherhood. Throughout the novel Vega is also grappling to come to terms with her grief over her sister who died very young. She struggles to find contentment in her life as she moves from one relationship to another and one city to another. This is a story that is thoroughly enjoyable but difficult to review. It is the biography of one woman's life as she migrates to USA as a student and then tries to make a life there mostly on her own terms. It deals with the most mundane stuff yet keeps you reading till the end. It has thought provoking reflections on grief, love, friendship, community, social prejudice and motherhood and what exactly it means to find happiness. Read it for the complex characters and the wonderful writing

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster and Sheila Sundar for the ARC

Here is my review for habitations! Thank yon net galley for giving me early access of this book in exchange for an honest review! Can’t wait to see what’s next for this author’ technically I gave it 3.5 stars!

Habitations follows the story of Vega, an Indian girl who is set to become a scholar and gets accepted on a graduate program in the United States. Her family is dealing with the death of her sister Ashwini, who passed away a few years before. There is a lot of context of the Indian culture and sense of community, which I enjoyed very much to learn about. I also loved learning about the academic environment in the US, especially for international students who have to deal with immigration bureaucracy and culture crashes on top of their studies.

We witness how Vega becomes her own woman, pursuing her studies with the support of her family and relatives. How she falls in and out of love and how she comes to arrangements that are not ideal but are convenient for her career path. We all make sacrifices, especially women, and Vega really embodies all that making it look effortless in some way, even though we all know is everything but effortless. I related to her so much about wanting to be everything and yet don't feel content with yourself. The struggle is real.

I loved everything about this book and I hope it gets the hype it deserves. I'm sure I'll be thinking about it for a while.

The book was so different, loved the writing style and I also adore Vega, she was such a complicated character, but i couldnt get enough of her.

An incredible debut from Sheila Sunder. Vega was a very flawed but compelling and interesting woman. The writing was beautiful.

An excellent debut about a flawed but compelling woman, Vega, who comes to the U.S. from India for graduate studies. There is a pervasive sense of melancholy throughout this novel, and everything Vega does, good and bad, is colored by the death of her younger sister when Vega was a teenager. I really enjoyed Sundar's writing, even when Vega's choices made me sad or frustrated. I will definitely read whatever Sundar writes in the future, and my one dissatisfaction with this book was that ending felt rather abrupt and sudden. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a digital review copy.

Spanning New York, Newark, Chennai, and Cleveland from 1998 to 2008, this book quietly follows Vega, a woman dealing with loss while in a new country. The author skillfully reveals Vega's growth over a decade, capturing the ups and downs of her journey without any forced drama.

As Vega matures, the story explores her mistakes, her moments of bravery, and her quest for understanding in adulthood. Themes like love, privilege, and the fleeting nature of relationships are subtly touched upon, making readers think without being too heavy-handed. While scenes from 9/11 adds some tense moments, the focus remains on Vega's personal evolution and emotional struggles. The author handles feelings of regret and guilt with nuance, adding depth to Vega's story.

This book is a true character study and is a thought-provoking dive into Vega's life and her search for herself. This quiet, reflective novel showcases the author's storytelling skills and leaves readers pondering life's complexities.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The tone do this one is sad and unhappy. I’m not sure if it was my mood that didn’t let me get into it or if this one simply just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much for the ARC!

Unfortunately, I did not finish (DNF) this book. Objectively, it is not a bad book at all, however, it just wasn't for me.

The cover is absolutely stunning, though.

I took a month to read this advanced readers copy I was able to get my hands on a few months ago, between finishing other books more rapidly. This is certainly a slow burn that I wouldn’t recommend for the average reader, but as someone who enjoy speculative women’s fiction, I found this introspective novel delightful.

The plot follows main character Vega from her early 20s into her early 40s as she continues to grapple with the sudden, early death of her sister while trying to find her place in the world. The setting of the novel shifts from NYC to Chennai, India, to Louisiana, to New Jersey. Vega explores the topics of foreign study, green card marriages, and single motherhood in this novel that examines the intimacies of identity, immigration, expectation and desire, and the meaning of family.

Vega is a complex protagonist in her self critical nature and her desire to form close bonds with others and inability to do so due to her lasting trauma and grief from her sister’s passing. The author did an excellent job honestly and intimately portraying the phases of identity discovery through Vega’s fraught relationship with Naomi. Unlike many fiction books, the characters in this novel were not idealized and Vega towards the end of the novel was even able to acknowledge her early faults in her relationship with Suresh, her ex-husband.

This book was quite long and drawn out, which is why I had to take a star off, but I appreciate books that end up as a sort of rumination on modern womanhood, which is think this broadly falls in to. This also had an expanded focus on what it means to be an immigrant woman inhabiting predominantly white spaces, which added an additional, thoughtful layer of complexity to all the character POVs. Overall, I really enjoyed rolling this around in my brain and putting myself in the shoes of all the characters! This book publishes on April 2, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

DNF.

An interesting premise but felt the execution made for an meandering read overall.
Despite interesting takes on grief and the cultural differences between the US and India, Vega was a hard main character to follow and empathize with. Don't feel like we like we get to know her and her unhappiness feels never ending.