This heartbreaking book is about two women who must deal with the consequences of caste and class separation and inequality in modern India. An insight into urban Indian life. Recommended to anyone thinking of traveling there. This book can be compared to The Red Tent, The Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. ( )

There's a lot in this book: gender, class, poverty and India's socio-economic-cultural-family-power structure and how the lives of two women in opposite sides of this spectrum unfold over a period of 20/30 years.

It's an uncomfortable read. There are difficult issues that all women will probably relate to, even if they are worlds apart from India.

I thought the ending was disappointing. Hope didn't fit in the story line. ( )

“She would notice how people’s faces turned slightly upward when they stared at the sea, as if they were straining to see a trace of God or were hearing the silent humming of the universe; she would notice how, at the beach, people’s faces became soft and wistful, reminding her of the expressions on the faces of the sweet old dogs that roamed the streets of Bombay. As if they were all sniffing the salty air for transcendence, for something that would allow them to escape the familiar prisons of their own skin.”

Story of two women living in Bombay. Sera is an upper middle-class widow, and Bhima, is her long-term domestic employee. Sera’s daughter and son-in-law live with her. Bhima lives in a slum with her pregnant teenage granddaughter. The novel tells of their daily lives and the vast differences in class between the relatively wealthy and the poor. The women are connected by a long-standing relationship but separated by ingrained customs regarding treatment of the lower castes.

The book is structured in alternating perspectives between Sera and Bhima, providing their backstories and current situation. Sera and Bhima have both experienced marital problems – Sera was abused, and Bhima was abandoned. The primary story arc involves the granddaughter’s unplanned pregnancy. Bhima is illiterate, and deeply concerned that her granddaughter should continue her education.

The city of Bombay (called Bombay in the book, not Mumbai) plays a large part. We see the many religions, diverse population, and regions of the city – slums, seaside, and affluent areas. It is elegantly written, and the characters are well-developed. This is a well-crafted book from an obviously talented writer. I will definitely be reading more of her works. ( )

However close we may feel we are to another person, there will always be space between us, sometimes seemingly space enough for stars and planets to move. And so we have the theme of Thrity Umrigar's magnificent 2007 novel “The Space Between Us.”

Umrigar, who grew up in a middle-class home in Bombay where servants did most of the housework, returns to such a home in her story. Bhima, modeled after a woman who worked for the author's parents, is a 65-year-old servant who has worked for Sera Dubash for many years. At one time Bhima had middle-class aspirations of her own, but her husband was maimed in an industrial accident, turned to drink and then abandoned her, taking their son with him. Now she lives in a slum with her granddaughter, whom she has raised since the death of her daughter from AIDS.

Bhima still hopes for a better life for Mina, the granddaughter, who attends college thanks to Sera's generosity. When the girl becomes pregnant, unwilling to reveal who the father is, Sera offers to arrange for an abortion before the pregnancy shows and brings shame on Mina and Bhima.

All this helps illustrate how close Sera and Bhima have grown over the years and how much they depend upon each other. Yet because of class and religious differences, a vast space still separates them. Bhima, for example, may not sit on Sera's fine furniture or drink out of any of her cups. However close they may be in some ways, it always remains clear they can never be equals. Sera's kindness to Mina, which might help narrow that gap, leads instead to a crisis with the opposite effect.

Umrigar, now an Ohioan, writes with grace and power, qualities she bestows on Bhima, as memorable a character as you will find. ( )