THE SPACE BETWEEN US by Thrity Umrigar

In Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us, the "space" applies to every relationship in the book, and it can be socio-economic, generational, or a gender-defined gap. Bhima is a domestic servant to Sera in Bombay. They have been friends for years, but the delineation between employer and employee is very well marked, as they are both handcuffed by the expectations of their culture. Still, Sera's family has provided ample assistance to Bhima's—ensuring that the doctor administers antibiotics to Bhima's husband when he's dying of an infection, providing for Bhima's granddaughter Maya's education, and then taking Maya to a good doctor for an abortion. One of my chief complaints about this book is that, except for Sera's father-in-law, the men are unilaterally evil—Bhima's husband, Gopal, who became an alcoholic and left town with her young son after an industrial accident, Sera's deceased husband, Feroz, who was a wife-beating tyrant, and Sera's son-in-law, Viraf, whose treachery is disclosed at the end. Mainly, though, the book seems to promote the theme that gratitude is a form of bondage. I certainly have no argument with that. Many of us view our bosses as friends at some level and our employers as benevolent dictators, but yet we'd relish the opportunity to "take this job and shove it."