Express Book Club: 'The Inheritance of Loss'

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Express' Book Club is reading Kiran Desai's award-winning novel, "The Inheritance of Loss." Today, Express' Maureen Hoch discusses chapters 29-33. For an introduction to the book club and the book, click here. For Thursday's discussion, click here. Feel free to join the discussion in comments.

I'M READY for some big action to go down in "Inheritance" now that we're more than halfway through, and Chapter 29 doesn't disappoint — it kicks off with Gyan and Sai's first big fight. Gyan has been swept up in the growing furor over the Nepali-Indian independence movement and has decided that all things Western are bad. So he berates Sai for celebrating Christmas with the neighbors. The two quickly reconcile but we also learn that Gyan betrays Cho Oyu to the insurgents that came and robbed the family of all its guns, liquor and food at the beginning of the book. I'm jumping on the anti-Gyan bandwagon at this point. He's wishy-washy and easily led and even the good-hearted cook thinks he's kind of stupid.

I'd been wondering exactly how Biju made his way to New York and we find out that he happened upon some freakish good luck when he applied at the U.S. embassy for a visa, becoming one of the lucky few to secure a legal passage as a tourist. On the New York front, Biju continues his job at the Gandhi Cafe, enduring a rough existence living in the restaurant. When Biju hurts his leg after falling on some spinach on the kitchen floor, he gets in a fight with his moody boss Harish-Harry and we hear a reaction that seems to be a theme to the book — Harish-Harry haughtily suggests Biju go back to India for some cheap medical care and "just return" to the U.S. Of course we all know it's far from that simple. For a lot of the characters, leaving home and coming back seems to be an extremely difficult task.

Back in India, the insurgency movement is gaining steam. An outing to Darjeeling puts Sai and all of the nutty neighbor crew face-to-face with the growing restrictions and tension in the region. Sai sees Gyan marching in a rally with some insurgents, and later on she's so upset that she vomits. Ah, the first time becoming physically ill over a romantic interest — welcome to dating, Sai!

We also get some insight on the judge's last conversation with his one and only friend from his days in England — Bose. The judge just seems really wrapped up in all his own issues and the idea of being an Indian foreigner in India. He's not a likeable character, but somehow I do feel a strange measure of sympathy for his tortured existence. I'm anxious to know exactly what happened to his wife, Nimi, and a little more about Sai's mother.

Do you have any questions for "The Inheritance of Loss" author Kiran Desai? Express will be interviewing her later this week, so post your queries and we'll try to include them in our conversation with the author.

On Thursday, Express' Caitlin Thompson will discuss chapters 34-40.