Nishita Parekh uses the classic locked-room mystery format in her debut novel (to be published on January 16) The Night of the Storm. The novel explores how one surprisingly dysfunctional Indian-American family comes apart at the seams while trapped inside a home by rising flood waters and high winds as Hurricane Harvey devastates Houston and its suburbs in August 2017.
"Friendship highways had several exit ramps, but sibling relationships had no open doors, even if siblings who loved playing together as children grew up into adults with nothing in common, and family tensions wreaked silent damage like an undetected tumor."
The book's main character, Jia, is the recently divorced mother of a twelve-year-old son who has recently moved to Houston from Chicago to escape her ex-husband. Jia's sister (Seema) has convinced her to make, what is by this time, a dangerous drive to Seema's home to weather the storm there along with Seema and her husband. Others sheltering in the home for the duration of the storm are: Seema's brother-in-law and his wife, Seema's mother-in-law, and Seema's toddler daughter.
This is not exactly one big, happy family, it is instead one already trying to hide a lot of structural cracks like: adult brothers still competing for their mother's affection, a family matriarch who enjoys playing favorites among her daughters-in-law, a brother who has recently been getting a little too handsy with Jia, and a white woman who has married into the family but still feels mostly unaccepted. It was probably only going to be a matter of time before someone cracked anyway under all the intolerable togetherness, but all bets are off when someone dies and the others figure out that someone in the family has to be a murderer.
Great premise for a murder mystery, no doubt about it, but The Night of the Storm didn't quite work for me. It doesn't help that details about what it's like to endure a storm of this magnitude, where you are basically on your own with no one to call for help, don't feel real. At one point in the story, the group even decides to place a dead body in the home's garage because it will be cooler there - an impossibility in any Houston garage in August. But the main problem for me is that this has to be the most narcissistic bunch of people I've encountered in one novel in a long time, including Kia who is intended to be the most sympathetic of the bunch. The only truly sympathetic characters in the book, in fact, are the two children.
And then there's that supposed-to-be-shocking twist that's clumsily tacked onto the very end of the novel almost as an afterthought.
The bright spot is that I learned a lot about Indian culture, especially when it comes to the relationship between mothers and sons - and their sons' wives- and how all of that still works to some degree within many Indian families who have immigrated to other parts of the world. The author does a good job of creating a family brought together by marriage but pushed apart by tradition and jealousy.
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| Author Nishita Parekh |
At least there were parts of this one you liked. It's too bad she didn't get all the storm parts right; and I never like it when an author throws in an unnecessary twist at the end. I don't think I'll be adding this one to my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteParekh can write effectively, especially when digging into the inner workings of a complicated family like this one. It was interesting to read again about a family run by an almost all-powerful matriarch like the one in The Night of the Storm. Unfortunately, the storm itself was never convincing, and I found a lot to quibble with in that area.
DeleteOh my, a Houston garage in August! Surely not cooler. Well it sounds like some hits & misses with this one. But a catchy title/cover. We have too many narcissists these days ... including the election denier in chief.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine what would happen to a dead body stored in the heat and humidity of the typical Houston garage in the month of August...even in the middle of torrential rains like those of a hurricane. Few garages are insulated against the weather, and the temperature can easily run to 110 degrees inside a closed one on a sunny day.
DeleteSo, so disappointing when people feel the need to bring politics into EVERYTHING.
Deletehey it's not politics, just pure narcissism !!
DeleteHi Sam, Usually I like locked- room mysteries but the characters have to be if not likeable than at least interesting and I sense from your review that this wasn't the case here and that the author set the hurricane in Houston but doesn't know the area that well. But as you say there are good parts to the novel, learning about Indian culture and family relationships.
ReplyDeleteShe used a lot of Houston landmarks correctly, I'll give her that, and I do think she either lives or has lived somewhere near the setting of the home in this book for two or three years. It was more a feeling I got that she hasn't really experienced the kind of storm she describes...just the little things that didn't make much sense to me. I don't think she writes the kind of mystery that appeals to me most, the deeper ones that really delve into characters, motives, and include a side-plot or two as icing on the cake.
DeleteWell, darn! I like a good locked-room mystery, especially when there's a storm brewing outside to up the intensity and danger in the situation. The more atmospheric, the better for me. It sounds like this one is seriously lacking in that department. And if it's inauthentic to boot, that's a problem! The characters sound pretty awful too. All these things would drive me crazy, too, so I think I'll skip this one. Thanks for the warning!
ReplyDeleteI really hate to scare off other readers because of my personal reaction to a book, but I suppose my comments to the review indicate that my feelings about it were even stronger than I thought they were when I wrote the initial review. I was disappointed.
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