The World We Found: A Novel

As my first Thrity Umrigar read, I was well aware of the number of novels she had already written, and I don't think this will be my last. In short, the writing was robust and touching, but often in such subtle ways that the story snuck up on me.

The story follows the story of four friends, three who live in India and one in America who is dying of a brain tumor. The three in India want to travel to America to see her before it is too late, but one of their friends has married and converted into Islam. Her husband, bitter from a number of circumstances both personal and political, has become a fundamentalist and has isolated his wife from her friends, and thus isolates her from us as readers as well. It's an interesting thing to do with a character over the course of the novel, but serves to create a secondary problem that keeps us reading.

I thought the modern story set mainly in India very interesting. Having read novels surrounding the partition of India, it's interesting to now look at how modern issues surrounding terrorism and racism reveals itself in a more modern India. Obviously, fear is fear, but so is discrimination, anger, and bitterness, regardless of where you are in the world. It's interesting though when you consider that country's history. You have to feel for the Muslim husband, who has been discriminated against and been mistreated. He really just fears for his family and wants to protect his wife and family, even if it comes out all wrong most of the time. In the novel, we get to see a bit of both sides of the coin, even if in the end we do feel a bit more for the wife than we do for the husband.

Overall, I loved the subtle yet generous ways that Umrigar told the story. While I don't often like stories that move from character to character in each chapter, this was one case where I didn't mind and got too caught up in the lives of these women to see the shifting story lines. Umrigar is a beautiful writer and I will definitely be diving in to some of her other novels in the future.

How and in what ways should the idealism of young adulthood influence mature adult lives? That's the central question grappled with in this thoughtful, character-driven novel as four Indian friends come together one last time because on of them is dying.

In the late 1970s the four young women were inseparable, and part of a revolutionary movement hoping to change the world; now in their 50s they've all settled in different ways into adult lives. Laleh and Nishta both married the rebel boyfriends of their youth, but Laleh's husband has become a wealthy businessman, while Nishta's has embraced his once neglected Muslim faith and isolated her from her Hindu family and friends. Kavita is now cautiously accepting her lesbianism; ironically she never felt comfortable sharing her sexual orientation with her best friends back when they were fighting together for social justice. After being disillusioned by a trip to Czechoslovakia, a country whose communism seemed much less ideal than she had thought, Armaiti went to graduate school in the US and married an American. It is Armaiti who is dying, and it's her request that they all get together again, but that will take finding Nishta who with her Muslim husband has somehow dropped out of sight.

There isn't a lot of action in this novel until very close to the end, when suddenly the plot races along at heart pounding speed, but author Thirty Umrigar brings readers inside her characters' heads to reveal their trains of thought, letting us see, for instance, what it might feel like to have only six months to live, or how living through India's violent 1993 religious riots might affect a formerly lapsed Muslim.

There are no simple answers to the central question, how should youthful idealism inform adult lives, and the characters, especially Laleh's husband Adish, struggle with it throughout the book. In the end Adish finds he may have to do something he knows is wrong to accomplish something he hopes is right.

Thrity Umrigar's A SPACE BETWEEN us was a wonderful book that I passed on to several friends. It has many universal themes and well developed characters. I actually started out liking THE WORLD WE FOUND. The theme of reuniting with friends after many years was appealing. But somewhere along the line the story fizzled. The characters didn't seem real. Someone or the other said "you can never go home again" and its true about friendships and relationships. People change over the years. Friendships and relationships that occurred in college don't always survive after years of separation. But people make their choices. Each of the characters had lots of guilt and "issues" but the author just didn't pull them together.

This story gives the reader an insightful look into modern Indian culture and its juxtaposed with modern American life.

The story develops around four women who have been friends from childhood, have drifted apart in adulthood but are called together by Armaiti who is diagnosed with cancer. Armaiti wants the four to be reunited before she dies.
Laleh is happily married to her college sweetheart. Kavita is a lesbian in a stable relationship and has a great career as an architect. Armaiti is the rebel who fled India to America and married an American. Nishta married her college sweetheart who has become a devout and strict Muslim and will not allow her to travel with the others.
The plot is simply the journey the four have to take to come to terms with their past and the suture they must face without Armaiti. It is well paced and interesting and the characters really are well developed. They each have an individual story to tell and they have a shared story that is evolving.

I love reading books set in the subcontinent or involving women of the
Indian diaspora, and this is one of the best. Four woman college
friends who tried to change India through social action in the 70s
have settled into separate lives as adults. The author succeeds in
making them seem like real women, even as they are symbols of
different directions that the lives of well-off Indian women of that
generation could take. There's a lesbian career woman with a
long-distance relationship stuck taking care of an ailing mother, a
woman who married her college sweetheart across religious lines and is
now trapped by her husband's fears and fanaticism, a wealthy Parsi
woman with children and leisure, and a woman who moved to America and
married wealth. They have all fallen out of regular touch. The book
has two main plots -- the American woman dying of cancer and whether
the woman who is trapped in a controlling marriage will find the
courage and support to escape.

It's smoothly and beautifully written, and could be read in just a
couple of sessions. This book is much better than the other work by
Umrigar that I've read, "First Darling of the Morning", which was a
memoir rather than a novel, and was ultimately unsatisfying. I'd even
say that I found "The World We Found" to be one of the best books of
this genre. I look forward to reading her other novels.

I especially loved the way the book concluded, with the future
completely anticipated but not described.

I had read Thrity Umrigar's "The Space Between" and while the story was great, I still had to force myself to finish the book. With her new novel "The World We Found", I couldn't put the book down until I read the final page.

The premise is that Armaiti learns she is dying from cancer. Her dying wish is to see her three best friends (whom she hasn't seen in 20 years). Armaiti lives in the U.S., which helps set up one of the plot lines in the book. Her other friends, Laleh, Kavita and Nishta still live in India. No one has heard from Nishta in many years. Laleh is the outspoken one. Kavita is a successful architect with her own secret. In their youth, the four wanted to be revolutionaries, change India for the better, fight for the common good of the people. But now, as they learn of Armaiti's illness and her final request, each friend confronts old memories and broken promises from decades past. How do people change so much over the course of time? What are they willing to give up in order to be happy, live their dream, or face the reality of what they have become?

Much of the story centers around how to get Nishta to be able to travel with Kavita and Laleh to see Armaiti. Nishta's life has become her prison. As her friends try to rescue her, old friendships and loyalties are tested, and truths long buried are exposed. The rest of the story focuses on individual choices each woman has made and how those choices directly affect their loved ones. The point of view shifts between the various characters, providing a rich and layered story. I wish the story had not ended where it did. It felt oddly abrupt and a bit disappointing that Ms. Umrigar chose to finish the book this way. A sequel somehow doesn't seem right for this particular story, either.

The bonds of friendship and strength of true love for another person gives a depth to the characters and story that makes it hard not to immediately become entangled in their struggles. The author easily moved between past and present, giving the reader glimpses into the people the main characters used to be compared to who they are now. I found it bittersweet to see just how much they had all changed over the years, how some dreams were never realized and old hurts never really went away. But in the end, true friends, family and love are all that matter.

When I was younger, India was just another country far from my home and didn't interest me a great deal. As I have gotten older and as my daughter has become friends with several schoolmates who are first generation Americans of Indian descent, I have found myself more and more fascinated with India - food, culture, and now literature. I am a huge fan of Jhumpa Lahiri and will read absolutely anything she writes. Thrity Umrigar is an author I was aware of but had yet to pick up a novel by her until now. When this became available, I decided the time was right and happily selected the novel. The cover art alone drew me in.

In this narrative, the set-up is very familiar and often used: four friends who are inseparable in college find that time and distance has come between them as the years have progressed. The old feelings of connection are still there even though only two of the women have stayed in contact. Set primarily in India, three of the women have remained in that country and one has emigrated. Nishta married a Muslim man against the wishes of both their families and she has disappeared from their lives. Armaiti married an American and moved across the world (and cultures) which also created a divide. Laleh married her college sweetheart and the marriage is a good one but she often has difficulty reconciling the socialist cause they used to champion with the comfortable life her husband's business is able to provide for them. Kavita has also remained in India but is single and has gone on to a very successful career as an architect. When Armaiti is diagnosed with a brain tumor and refuses treatment, her dying wish is that all four friends reunite one last time.

While the basic storyline follows that of many chick-lit books, this one is so much more than that. The setting of India and all the political/cultural issues that have been at play over the past thirty years add a whole layer of complexity not found in traditional chick-list books. I would definitely classify this as literary fiction or women's fiction even though the "formula" is traditionally chick-lit. The character development is exceptional - the four women are distinctly different and easily identified versus blending together. The evolution of their lives is incredibly well fleshed-out and even though I found myself frustrated with Nishta's situation and her husband's "ownership" of her, I could understand how things had become what they had. I found myself reading the entire book over a two-day period since I had a difficult time putting it down.

Bottom line: Wonderful book (4.5 stars) that I will be recommending to other readers.

Note: If you enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri, give this a try. I like Ms. Lahiri's novels a bit better, but she can only write them so fast so I will be looking into acquiring more novels by this author.

Thrity Umrigar is a powerful writer. She tells compelling stories about modern-day India: the extremes of poverty and wealth, government corruption, internal prejudices of one class over another, religious differences.The Space Between Us was a brilliant novel I didn't want to end. I found The Weight of Heaven similarly engaging. I was, therefore, disappointed in The World We Found. The characters were somewhat cliche. Some parts of the book were redundant and a bit boring, and I found the ending to be unsatisfying. The entire book leads up to a reunion in America of four college friends. One is dying and one is escaping a fundamentalist Muslim husband. But the reunion is left to our imagination. I enjoyed the book, but it doesn't measure up to Umrigar's previous books.

For Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita and Nishta, college life in 1970s India was about daring and changing their homeland. But then life's battles became little currents that swept each one away from the other and far away from the spirit of revolution. Somehow the idea became resilience, the new reality focus and obligation. Good things like family began to dominate, yet each woman felt as if she had something important --- one too easily forgets the glory of youthful mutiny and happiness in friendship. What these four ladies discover is that they've forgotten a big part of who they are.

The irony about understandings like this is that they often seem to come with some earth-shattering experience. For four friends, this is the discovery that Armaiti is dying from brain cancer. Once she breaks the news to her ex-husband and daughter Diane, Armaiti's thoughts move toward some fervent desperation to reclaim her life as her own, an ideal that prompts her to refuse treatment. Knowing that the end is near and between dealing with her heartbroken daughter and ex-husband, Armaiti becomes desperate to see old friends and phones them in India to ask them to come. Because she chose immigration to the United States after college, this means an international voyage for her friends who stayed in their homeland because of a sense of obligation and nationalism.

Spanning two continents, the women communicate often and reconnect after years of barely speaking. A major difficulty, however, becomes Nishta's husband, Iqbal, who has abandoned his ideals of altruism and equality to become a particularly fearful religious zealot. In the intervening years, Iqbal has converted to Islam and forced Nishta into a life she doesn't believe in. Iqbal has refused to allow outside ideals into his home, and sadly, his uncompromising, extremist views arise from fear --- due at least in part to the devastating, violent events he witnessed during India's revolution.

Iqbal's refusal to let his wife leave the country is not just a problem for the reunion with Armaiti --- it's become a problem for the remainder of Nishta's life in India. But it is not an easy thing, even in modern India, for a woman to leave her husband. While a Muslim man may divorce his wife by repeating one traditional phrase three times, the same wife has little (to no) avenue to accomplish the same thing. It becomes evident that Nishta is a part of the problem as well, essentially holding herself prisoner out of a misplaced sense of love and duty. She's in a precarious situation, unable to communicate or make her own choices, not legally allowed to leave the country without her husband's permission and unable to voice even her own ideals.

Amid the many compelling events that occur throughout Thrity Umrigar's latest novel is a subtle, interwoven history of India and its challenges: evolutions the nation and its people have gone through. There is a great deal here about the realities of life particularly for women, Muslims, and the many educated citizens in impoverished communities who still fight to survive. Gender equality is a major theme and clearly remains a problem in India by modern standards. A second theme is gay rights. Kavita is revealed as a closet lesbian who has only just begun to find the courage to reveal herself to the public but also to her closest friends. A last topic to arise repeatedly is the Parsis as an Indian people --- Persian immigrants to India who were once persecuted but have since grown a distinct ethnic identity, having empowered themselves through amassing fortunes and businesses. Many details in the book reveal a great divide in socioeconomic inequality and the very difficult situation for India's poor.

THE WORLD WE FOUND is a cathartic, deeply engaging book with fascinating details that give insight into India's past and future.

Reviewed by Melanie Smith

Thirty years ago, Armaiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta were college students in Bombay, active in the protest movement of the late 1970s. The girls' experiences in college form the basis for their later lives. Kavita, arrested after a protest and assaulted in prison, becomes an architect, and hides her lesbianism from her family. Nishta, also arrested in the protest, defies her family and marries Iqbal, a Muslim, and is disowned by her parents. Armaiti, who was injured in the protest, loses faith in the socialist movement and attends graduate school in the US and marries an American. Laleh, who did not attend the protest with her friends, feels guilty-particularly when she learns that Armaiti has a brain tumor. Laleh believes that the tumor is her fault, because she was not there at the protest to keep her friend from being injured. Thirty years on, the college friends have all turned their backs on the socialist leanings of their youth, with Laleh marrying her college sweetheart and living the life a a rich society matron, Kavita becoming a successful business woman, Armaiti staying in the US, and going through the biggest change of all as her husband becomes a fundamentalist Muslim.

The brain tumor and Armaiti's failing health prod her to reconnect with the friends of her past, and to ask them to visit her before she dies. This request, and Laleh's determination to fulfill her friend's last wish, forms the nucleus of the novel. It also inspires Laleh and Kavita to seek out Nishta, with whom they have lost contact since the Bombay riots of 1993. The riots are the root cause behind Nishta's husband's descent into fundamentalism, and reinforce his persecution complex <everyone's out to get him, because he's Muslim, not because he's a jerk>.

The novel revolves around several voices-Armaiti,Kavita, Laleh, her husband Adish, Nishta, and that of Iqbal. Each character has a distinctive voice, and a distinctive view, making it easy to know which person's perspective is being told. The prose is smooth and flows well. I felt that the tale was well told, but the whole college-protest element could have been more fleshed-out; if the reader has no prior knowledge of this period in Indian/Maharashtrian history, they may have a hard time understanding the issue. That said, the disjointed nature of the protest story seems true to life-you remember the high and low points and not the day to day events of the past (or at least this is what my memories of the past are like).

I enjoyed this novel, with its look at the modern, Westernized upper-middle-class lives of Laleh and Kavita, and the contrast to the life of Nishta (most definitely lower class, through her husband's choice). The changes that the friends experience as they all come to grips with the state of Armaiti's health and her impending death are realistic, and the resolution with which Nishta makes her ultimate decision in regard to her future is worth reading.

The fundamental premise of this appealing novel is all too familiar: four old friends, haven't seen much of each other since their college days; have grown apart; decide to reconnect. If this were set in the US or the UK, the result may well have been "meh -- another banal chick lit novel". But it isn't. Thrity Umrigar -- who can also write exponentially better than most chick lit authors -- has placed her novel in India, and her characters undergo their transformations against the backdrop of the country's own transformation.

Umrigar doesn't depart much from the template for this kind of book. (Think Class Reunion by Rona Jaffe...) But the setting makes the book. When her characters came of age, it was India in the 1970s, a difficult and traumatic period that would transform the nature of politics and society. At the time Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita and Nishta are the closest of friends, fighting for social change regardless of the differences that would come to loom much larger -- Laleh is a Parsi, while Nishta is disowned by her family for marrying a Muslim, whose family is traumatized by sectarian riots in the 1990s. Those changes have helped to drive some wedges between the women, but when Armiati, now in the United States, is diagnosed with a fatal brain cancer and decides she wants to reunite with her friends once more, they must try to discover what still unites them.

Readers looking for more than a novel that revolves around the nature of friendships between women may still end up disappointed. That's the point of Umrigar's novel, and she does the job well: each character is distinctive; none felt two-dimensional to me. And it was a very fast read; hard to put down, as I always wanted to know what would happen in the next few pages. Of course, had some of the issues that are touched on lightly -- the sectarian divide into today's India; the wealth and social divide created by the country's recent emergence as a prosperous "next gen" developing country -- been been explored in more depth, this could have been a downright fascinating novel. Still, it's a very readable novel for anyone looking for above-average "women's fiction", and the backdrop of those issues makes it feel more fresh and distinctive than it really is. Recommended, but not to anyone who is looking for a piercing literary critique of Indian society today.

I really enjoyed many things about this well written book. Bombay is presented with all the conflicting good and bad of a well thought out character, and I gained more understanding of this place from reading this book. India is a country that combines west and east, tradition and personal rebellion, and I'm glad the author was up to the task of presenting it without letting the setting dominate the story.

The story is familiar to most of us and I think would resonate with many people today who have remembered great friendships they neglected for years. It also presents a love story with a much more realistic example of selflessness and heroism than you'll find in most books.

The angle of presentation is a series of first person accounts, and while I've seen this used by other authors to present confusion or surprise, it wasn't really used that way in this book. I did feel the pace was great, with each 'view' changing right about when I was ready for it to.

The book is satisfying, but to explain how would spoil the story. Suffice to say that I loved the book.

There were four university students, Laleh, Nishta, Kavita and Armaiti who became close friends. They had protested against authority and tried to make a better world back in the 1970s in Bombay. The book lets you know a little bit about each of their past as you learn about their present lives.

Armaiti had been hurt in one of the protests and Laleh has always blamed herself for leaving. She thought she should have been there to protect Armaiti who ended up in the hospital with a concussion. Thirty years later, Armaiti called Laleh to ask if all of her friends could come to America to see her. She was terminally ill with a brain tumor. Armaiti had married Richard, an American. They were divorced now and she had a daughter in Harvard but they were both back home with her now. She had refused treatment and they wanted to be with her in her last days. Armaiti wanted Diane her daughter to meet her friends.

Laleh and Adish were very well off financially and children. She had lost contact with Armaiti but still felt close to her and guilty for not protecting her. Adish is called Mr. Fixit by people at work and even his family and he is very important later on in the book.

Kavita is well known architect who remained single. She used to carry her guitar with her all the time and still lived with her mother. She had always had a crush on Armaiti but had never revealed her secret. Lately she was seeing a beautiful tall German woman that she met through work.

Nishta had always been exuberant and happy in college but now was married to Muslim and he forced to wear a burka and only saw her in-laws as her parents had disowned her. Her world has become much smaller than when she was in the university.

Thirty Umrigar weaves together the lives of the women beautifully. There are little places where explains some of the cultural differences and gives a little bit of history but this does not interfere with the story. This is a story of friendship, forgiveness, independence and suspense. She is truly a great storyteller. Now I want to read other books by her.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in women's friendships and India.

I liked this book set in India, which was basically about college friends who in some ways have changed since their college days and over the years have grown apart. A case of terminal cancer brings back fond memories and brings to light how they and perhaps their ideals have changed since then. The friend with terminal cancer now lives in America and the women still in India want to travel to the states to visit one last time. One woman's family situation has changed dramatically, she married her college sweetheart but due to his personal challenges, his attitude has changed and she is painfully aware that he will not allow her to go. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys reading about other cultures, prejudice, beliefs and life challenges.

I had read another book by this author so I was open to picking up another of her stories. The first book I'd read by Thrity Umrigar was "The Space Between Us", that was also a good book.

Armaiti, an Indian woman who moved to the US years ago and is married with a daughter, discovers that she has a brain tumor and not long to live. She invites her old friends to come and visit before she dies. The friends haven't been in contact with each other for about twenty years. Since they went to university together and were all involved in student protests, these are the people Armaiti would most like to see again.

The three friends, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta, live in India. The former two are independent women, rich enough to afford the trip. They have some trouble locating Nishta, but find her in a Muslim neighbourhood, in difficult circumstances. Her husband, in his student days a liberal-minded man, turned Muslim fundamentalist after the riots in 1992 in which many Muslims were killed. After the first contact, her husband doesn't allow Nishta to talk to her friends again, let alone come to the US with them (at their cost).

The book covers Armaiti and her attempt at coping with her illness, and Laleh and Kavita in India, who keep trying to find a way to get their friend to come with them.

I loved this book! The writing style is easy, but not lazy. The story is very fluent and satisfying.

As in The Space Between US, Umrigar doesn't spend too many words explaining what India is like, the customs of the people or what the streets, houses, etc. look like: it's all "normal" and doesn't need any explanation. I love that. In this book, the reader is not a visitor to India, looking in from the outside, but is treated just as anyone else and doesn't get a lot of explanation. Also, sometimes Indian (Hindi?) expressions are used, none of which aren't translated. This made it all very real and very personal.

I wished it would have ended differently. However, Umrigar has a way with words that won't disappoint. This is my first book by her but I can tell you that it won't be my last!

Armaiti did the unthinkable, she moved to the US and married an American. She moved onto a different life. However, when she is struck with brain cancer she wants to see her college friends one last time. Will the 3 of them be able to make it to the US to see her?

Laleh married Adish and has 2 children. She is in to go to the US. Laleh feels compelled to go, she feels responsible for the brain tumor in a sense. You will have to read the book to find out why though!

Kavita has had her own struggles. She always felt as if she was in love with Armaiti. Will this be her chance to tell her? Obviously because of her choices she has had her own trials. I don't even know if she ever even told the other girls about her sexual preferences.

Most of the book revolves around Nishta and her overbearing, controlling husband. He is very set that she not be going to America. However help might come in the most unlikely way.

Umrigar saves the best for last. Your heart will beating very fast, wondering will they make it? I love books about friendships, relationships, so this one had me hooked. However, it left me feeling a little bit as if, this is it? But I still loved the writing style and this won't be my last Umrigar book!

Thirty Umrigar writes with such compassion and insight. The World We Found is about friendship, struggle and ultimately finding contentment in who you are. The story isn't just about the four college students, it is about India itself and the struggles facing this emerging country. Like the characters in the story, India is facing its own set of challenges where the modern world and 3rd world ideals collide.

The story follows unlikely friends, Leleh, Kavita, Amaiti and Nishta from college to adulthood. Armaiti is dying - she reaches out to her mostly forgotten friends with a request that they come to America and see her one last time. Leleh, and Kavita reconnect and set out to find Nishta, whom they finally track down in a dumpy apartment in an impoverished part of town. Nishta is a shell of a person compared to how she was in her university days. She married her college sweetheart and is now captive in her own home as a result of his sweeping change from social activist to unyeilding religious fundamentalist.

The characters are well written and sympathetic. The plot is realistic and compelling. I love Thirty Umrigar, The Space Between Us was marvelous, and The World We Found is just as good.

* Spoiler alert *

This story about four girlfriends from India who grow up and change, and then try to reunite later in life, never gets to the actual reunion! How disappointing.

In the meanwhile, Umrigar attempts to tackle a few political/contemporary issues such as the rights of religious minorities (especially the differing perceptions of Parsis and Muslims), attitudes towards communism and the economic future of India, and the effect of terrorism and terrorism awareness on Indian society. Several of the characters end up being living stereotypes -- the upstanding Parsi, the bearded and violent Muslim man, the oppressed Muslim wife who must be rescued, and the Indian expatriate who is much happier in America with her daughter who appears to be only white, the dying person who has a revelation about the meaning of life, and so on.

Several of the plotlines are, therefore, a bit tiresome, but the book is overall fairly enjoyable....until the reader realizes the book ends before the promised reunion.

I was disappointed at the lack of resolution.

The latest novel by Thrity Umrigar, takes a look at the lives of four college friends, thirty years after their university days. They have lost touch with each other, but now, Armaiti is facing death with an inoperable brain tumor, and she wants to gather her friends close to her one last time before she leaves this earth.

Umrigar’s The Space Between Us is a memorable favorite, and the The World We Found is a wonderful exploration of friendship and the inevitable changes that come along with growing up and growing older. Here’s some high points: 1) Thrity Umrigar again focuses on women’s issues in this novel; 2) there are several interesting story lines that all connect with the friendships between the women; and 3) the icing on the cake was a real glimpse of life in modern India, and a telling of some recent history that has affected the dynamics between the various groups living there.

In short – I loved it!

Thrity Umrigar has the ability to go deeply into each of her characters, male or female. Whether it is the dialogue or what may be motivating or playing in one's heart or head...she can put it on paper with amazing insight, clarity and exploration.

The story of four girlfriends in India, their friendships, loves, pursuits, lifestyles, political and spiritual ideologies is an exquisite page turner.

When one of the friends, Armaiti, finds she has a terminal brain tumor, she wishes to see her friends one last time. Armaiti is the only one of the foursome, who has relocated to America. Thus, the wheels are set in motion for each of the foursome.

Laleh, Kavita andd Nishta's choices and paths come into focus.

Much is revealed to each character as new decisions and realizations are made and understood.

The book was just wonderful!

I cannot find the words that are sufficient to describe how much I loved this book.

Umrigar's beautiful writing and masterful story telling have won me over. This is the first book by her that I read and I am going to check out each and every one of them, now that I am in love.

In general this is a story about friendship. A strong bond that lasted nearly 30 years and is now being tested - has time weakened that bond? But the book is about much more of that. This book is building upon common stereotypes and than shatters them - time and again.

You will learn to love the main characters and then resent them and than love again.

You will see that in reality, stereotypes do not exists. There is only a collection of individual people. Each person with his own desires, believes, sense of morality and understanding of life. There is no definite right or wrong when it comes to a way of life - wrong only happens when one considers his way of life as absolute.

The friendship between four Indian women which began as university students is tested when one of the four, living in the U.S., is diagnosed with brain cancer and her dying wish is to see all of her friends again before she dies. Two of the other three women, all of whom live in India,have kept in touch with one another although their lives have taken different paths. One woman has finally admitted her sexual orientation; another, a Hindu, has married a Muslim who changed from a liberal thinker to a deeply observant believer; the third is in what is a happy marriage. How these women manage to get together to be with their dying friend makes for a really engrossing "read." The author is a wonderful story teller and I look forward to reading more of her books, aside from the others I have already read and enjoyed.

I really appreciated the story that Umrigar told of four women bound together by friendship and a cause in their youth and trying to regain that in mid-life. My only issue with the storytelling is that the whole premise of the work is that one of the women is dying of a brain tumor and her last wish is to see her best friends from her youth before she dies. The book tells everybody's story trying to make it all happen, but the book ends before the the women ever have their reunion. I was really disappointed that the author would build the whole book around this reunion, and then have it end before the reunion takes place. So I have to say I was taken in by the story and the characters but very let down that it ended when and how it did.

Four girls who were best friends during college have lost touch. Now they are middle-aged, each living her own life. Then they get a request from one of the friends who is dying in America - can you come, just one more time before I die? It seems like a simple request, but turns complicated right away.

This is a beautiful book about female friendship - set in India. What will friends do for one another? What are the limits? What are the responsibilities? Each character is very much alive and 3-dimensional. I found myself caring very much what happened to them as they decided whether or not to go to America. I learned a lot about Indian culture, both secular culture and Muslim culture.

A fine, colorful, heart-felt novel. One of the best things I've read all year.

Thought the storyline was really good--tells of 4 very tight women college rebels who have drifted apart over the last 25 years. One woman is dying and wants to get together before she is so ill she can't enjoy it. Tells of the other 3 still living in India and how they have to address certain problems in their life before they can commit to the trip. The beginning was a little complicated with the introduction of the characters and the unfamiliar Indian names. But once past that the story pulls you in and you become a part of the plot. The ending is realistic however, you do wish that it could have gone just a bit farther for those of us who prefer a bit of a more defined ending. I intend to read more of her books.

I really loved this book. The story of these women and their friendships from college kept me completely engaged. Though their lives had followed different paths since their heady days of being young and idealistic -- their love and affection for one another echoed my own feelings about my roommates from college. There is something about that period of life -- even though the settting is in India - that resonated with me and I was hungry to find out how they would finally come back together. The ending was particularly a page turner and Ms. Umrigar created the sense of suspense necessary to keep me up one night to find out their fates. A novel brimming with a heart and soul while also tackling the tough questions that we all understand as we make choices that set out lives on their paths apart from those who once were the center of our world.

My brother bought this book as a surprise for me. I couldn't put it down. Absolutely loved it! I want to know what happens next in America and am hoping for a sequel. Thrity Umrigar is a gifted writer who takes you into the complexities of life and does not come out with a corny punchline! Great book for a plane ride or vacation reading. All I can say is that my brother is such a sweetie because I have found a new writer to follow! May she have a long and prolific writing career!

I really enjoyed this book and throughout thought about the deep relationships we form with people early in our life that shape us and define us. Will absolutely recommend this to my childhood friends since I could not stop thinking about the feelings and values we had as young adults and how we impart them on the next generation. The ending left me wanting more and ended too abruptly...but like all good books, perhaps it always seems like it ended too fast...before you were ready to part with these "new friends" you met in the pages of this beautifully written book.

Thrity Umrigar’s beautifully written novel, "The World We Found," offers us a new look at modern-day India as we experience this vibrant and constantly changing country from the viewpoints of four different women. Within this story, Umrigar shows the deep interpersonal connections between the four women--Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita and Nishta--and their friendships with each other. However, she reveals each character’s relationship with India as well. Each woman must face the changing facets of their country--be it religious tensions, discrimination, differences in class, or acceptance of queer relationships--and recognize the way these changes affect their lives, the way they interact with each other, and even the relations in their own families.

Umrigar shifts effortlessly from the four different points of view creating a seamless story that readers are sure to enjoy. It truly is a novel that celebrates differences, life, and the value of friendships even in the corrosive presence of time and death.

Thrity Umrigar always amazes me how her books are so easy to read -yet her characters are complex. Her words are beautiful and touching. I can identify parts of myself in characters and yet they are foreign to me. I learn so much about Indian culture. The World We Found is a beautifully written book about 4 friends from college who try to get back to together after 25 years and how their lives have changed. Difficult issues are explored such as religious fanaticism, Hindu vs Muslim, wealth and it privilege, lesbianism, parental caregiving and marital fidelity. Definitely would recommend!!

Thrity Umrigar, through her gift as a writer, pulls you in from the opening sentence. The plot revolves around 4 women who became the best of friends as university students in 1970 Bombay. Their lives move in different directions but the bond they shared as young women remains indestructible despite the turmoil of their different paths. Armaiti, whose path took her to America is sadly forced to deal with a brain tumour. It is her dying wish to see her friends again. It is from this desire that Thrity introduces the other friends, their struggles, their hardships and their fortunes. Together they fight to save each other and fulfill their friend's wish. One is forced to deal with and finally come to terms with her sexuality. Another finds a way to escape the oppression, loneliness and poverty of her current life and the last is freed from the burden of guilt carried in her heart all these years. You will only come up for air after you read the final page. As all of Thrity's books you are exposed to the colour, the smells, the tastes, the devout, the poverty juxtaposed with the wealth of India. As was the case with The Space Between Us and If Today Be Sweet, The World We Found will grip your heart and capture your mind from the first page. Enjoy.

This book was lovely and touching. I can always tell I'm reading a good book written by a talented author when I'm sad I've reached the last page--I could have read more and more pages about these characters. Umrigar writes about a friendship between 4 Indian women that has evolved over several decades. Each character was original and fully-fleshed so that it was easy for the reader to feel like they knew each woman (and their spouses.) The setting of India is another strength of the novel--it adds an additional character to the feel of the story. The dialogue was realistic and the usage of Indian words added to the authenticity. Can't wait to read more of this woman's work!

The World We Found provides an absorbing glimpse into the upper-middle-class life in modern Mumbai of four women who are unexpectedly confronted with their own mortality and the consequences of their life choices. Although they were practically inseparable throughout their childhood and youth, their lives have taken different turns dictated by time, beliefs and physical distance. The illness and imminent death of one of the friends brings them together once again from across continents and forces them to evaluate their values and who they have become. The unexpected similarities and striking differences between Southeast Asian and Western culture as well as the smooth, intricately interwoven stories of these women make this book very appealing.

There are some friendships that last forever and Thrity Umrigar has written a beautiful story about four young women who form a bond that lasts despite being separated by distance and time. Like other novels I have read that are set in India, I was once again reminded that everyone does not enjoy the freedoms we take for granted in the United States. This is a great book for some fairly light reading that I think most will enjoy.

I loved this novel.

Man, the penultimate scene was gripping!

But what I loved the most was the gentle contemplation of death. And differences in class and culture. Really, she's written a thought-provoking and engrossing story. I'm going to read the rest of her novels now.

I loved this book. The relationships of the women, their families and society at large were well-conceived, believable and engrossing. It is one of those rare, wonderful books that traps you: on the one hand, you want to return to reading, because you want to be a part of that world; on the other, you want to slow yourself down, because every word brings you closer to the end.

But I like India very much, and enjoy stories set there. I also enjoy this author, who describes her characters so well, bringing them to life for the reader. This story describes the relationship of four strong women who reunite later in their lives. A delicious read!

This is a beautiful story about friendship, written with such insight and empathy. Although about four female friends, I found that the male characters, Iqbal and Adish, were just as interesting as the female characters.

I think this is one of the best books I have read this year, and I learned so much about Indian society in the 1970s and today.

Amraiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta, close Bombay college friends in 1970s, plan to reunite 30 years later and face their lives based on the choices they made. Although the background of present day Bombay is fascinating, these women could have lived during revolutionary times in any country, Umrigar touched timeless human feelings in this woman's novel.

I have thoroughly enjoyed each and everyone of Thrity's books including her Memoir and have re-read several of them as well since it had been "donkey years" since I read her first one. Her newest one tops them all! Thrity has a wonderful way with words that takes you along with her characters from the moment you open the book. I truly hope there will a sequel to "The World We Found" - so much yet to know about the women and the men in this fascinating novel and where the future will take them.

Thrity Umrigar is one of my all time favorite writers. Her voice is spectacular; it resonates deeply. All of her stories remind me of my time in India and the deep friendships I still have there. For me reading her work is like coming home. She not only shows the complexities of life in India with honesty and integrity, but makes her characters seem like people you might know. The World We Found is yet another beautifully written book that is multi-layered. Keep telling your stories, Thrity, they are without equal.

Ugh. FINALLY, after too many weeks, finished THE WORLD WE FOUND, by Thrity Umrigar. Dull, anticlimactic, annoying. The premise was great: 4 women who were great friends in college in India 30 years ago, are about to be reunited at the request of the one of the 4 who moved to America. That 1 has a terminal brain tumor and wants them all to be together again. The book ends before they are all together in America, and we are left not knowing when or if she dies. One of the women in India, a former hindu radical, is now married to a very conservative muslim who forces her to wear a burka and to cut off all ties with her past. Her only hope to get to America (will she stay there forever?) is to escape in a dangerous cat and mouse scene. Another of the women has a modern marriage but fears she is the cause of her friend's brain tumor. I could go on, but won't bother. I normally LOVE the Indian writers. Not this time. I forced myself to finish, but there was no satisfaction in doing so.