"Em and the Big Hoom" by Jerry Pinto, book review
Since I am doing a review here, do expect spoilers. Em and the Big Hoom is an extraordinary novel written in a way that is usually not seen. The novel shows the life of the narrator(who is unnamed) and his family, seemingly in the 1980s and 90s era of Goa. The prose is fantastic with the narrator's inner thoughts and experiences described realistically. At the centre of the story are the narrator's mother-Imelda and father-Augustine. The first person narrative explores the past of the two central characters through direct enquiry with them or scrutiny of letters and diary entries. Em, as Imelda is called by the two children(one being Susan, the narrator's sister), is an interesting person with her vivaciousness and manic episodes that perpetually perturb her family. The narrator finds himself repeatedly torn between accepting her and having enough of her, even to the point of wanting to move out(which was changed as the Big Hoom told him to only do so if he could affor...