A deft explanation of how the lack of cultural awareness can cause unimaginable chaos. Although the central character, Juliet, means well, her outlook is the product of her western upbringing and her inability to see past her own world view. The outcome, of course, is inevitable and tragic. I wondered at the end if she had really absorbed that lesson or would continue to rail against the reality of other cultures. Janet Turner Hospital is a wonderful writer and her descriptions of the oppressive heat of southern India had me perspiring in sympathy. I was drawn into the story and found myself inwardly shouting at Juliet that the consequences of her actions were all too obvious to me, the reader, and why could she not see that for herself.
The Ivory Swing By Hospital, Janette TurnerThe first novel by Australian-Canadian writer Hospital has aged well. Hospital's tale follows a Canadian family's stay in south India.Publisher CommentsThe Ivory Swing has been reprinted as a stylish new volume in University of Queensland Press's Classic series. This novel is a winner of a prestigious literary award in Canada for a first novel. The story is alive with wit and tragedy, ripe with sensuousness as it deals with the migration of a woman from Canada to Southern India. This is a story of a women who is divided between family loyalties and her need for self-expression. And when you defy ancient mores of a culture it can lead to tragedy.----mom's travel fiction list
