It seems that life is totally against Shruti right from the beginning. Her father has left her and her mother and an uncle is imposing traditional authority to arrange a remarriage for her mother. This means abandoning Shruti to the welfare system. In his first novel, Gabriel Packard has Shruti narrate her own experiences and her emotional responses to them.
THE PAINTED OCEAN
Gabriel Packard
Hachette
We follow her from early years to adulthood in defined segments that each present recognisable challenges to a fairly naive Indian girl raised in England.
The first segment tells of the school years in which Shruti and her mother are at odds in terms of cultural expectations. Shruti's love for and need of her mother is expressed in very credible behaviours, by which she shields her mother, a non-English-speaker, during interviews by the police and social workers, acting as a translator. Alas, this has little positive effect, as the cultural domination of Uncle Aadesh, the oldest in the family, is impossible to overcome. Shruti is placed in a foster home and still longs for contact with her mother and, as children will, believes her mother will do something to reunite them. School is also a place of misery, as racist bullying is regular until the appearance of Meena, another Indian girl who seems magical in her powers to become top player. Some hope for Shruti. But despite this, she finds herself abandoned by her mother by the time she is 18 and as an adult is moved out of the welfare system. Packard's portrayal of her dilemma relating to loyalties to her mother, her foster parents, her friend is insightful.
The second segment is university, a less than glorious time. The South Asian Society on which she pins hopes of belonging is not a space for her. In desperation, she embarks on a working holiday in New Zealand but again with many disappointments and mistakes. Moving her from this, a surprise phone call from Meena calls her to India. Shruti is powerless to resist, as she has technically committed immigration fraud.
The third segment portrays the adult years dominated by Meena and her lover, Steve. Again all attempts to be her own person seem to meet resistance as Shruti is swept into a more powerful culture. There is much drama in this part of the story and some compelling descriptions of attempts to escape and survive pull the reader into the action. Eventually, a return to Southampton allows a safe arrival and a reflection on her entire life.
‘‘I think back to the girl I was then. I regret that I was so innocent and filled with hope. It would have been easier to never know any good times.''
Packard gives us, after all her attempts to make a rewarding life, a woman who has little hope.
- Willie Campbell is a Dunedin educator.
