You Bring the Distant Near

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins

Image source can be reached by clicking on the picture

You Bring the Distant Near is a kaleidoscope filled with what is at first a familiar story: a family moves to a new place. But with each deft twist of the narrative, Perkins adds color, nuance and intrigue to this story, reordering the frame of these existing components into new configurations. For one, the Das family isn’t new to moving. Baba, Ma, and daughters Starry and Sunny (short for Tara and Sonia) lived in India, England, and Ghana before they arrive in Flushing, New York, where this intergenerational tale truly begins. Spinning outward from this point, the novel traces Starry’s studious attempts at assimilation, Sunny’s fiery spirit and staunch feminism, and the daughters’ respective romances, which burgeon after tragedy strikes the Das family. Another twist of the kaleidoscope brings the again novel combinations of Starry’s and Sunny’s own children into view—Chantal, raised in the U.S. as the daughter of a black Dad and Bengali-American mom, and Anna, who relocates to the U.S. (despite her own wishes) after being raised in Mumbai, the daughter of two Bengali-American parents. The complexities of nationality and identity are explored here in a rich and empowering way: while there are inevitable moments of pain, fear, and grief, the overwhelming message delivered by You Bring the Distant Near is one of remaining true to one’s values and traditions while keeping an open heart and mind, celebrating humanity in all its diversity. Subjects this book includes that some readers may be sensitive to (but which others may be thrilled to find sensitively discussed in their literature: Racism, hate-motivated harassment, death.

Image source can be reached by clicking on the picture.