Fasting, Feasting

I read this rather quickly and found it very sad and bleak. A very sad older unmarried Indian woman, Uma, living at home with her parents in a very isolated existence. An Anita Brookner character transplanted. Her brother far away in Massachusetts studying and living with an American family in a very similar isolation.
The title Fasting, Feasting probably refers to the overabundance of food in America and is meant to contrast with the Indian situation but since the Indian family seems pretty cushioned from the outside I don't think that worked so well. Nonetheless Uma seemed very real and her situation very heartbreaking and inescapable.
The exasperation you feel with Anita Brookner's characters at their inability to act is gone since this is not the Western world and Uma does not have the choices or opportunities Brookner's characters do. At least Uma has better excuses. It's all even sadder in a claustrophobic kind of way.
Onward!