The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai · b. 1971 · India / United States
Why it matters
A retired judge and his orphaned granddaughter's household in the Himalayan foothills unravels alongside their cook's son's precarious life as an undocumented immigrant in New York. Winner of the 2006 Booker Prize, tracking globalization's costs from both ends at once.
At a glance
colonial & postcolonialfamily sagacomedy
Difficulty 6/10slow pace384 pagesDual storylines and a large cast shift between the Himalayas and New York, woven with wry, digressive humor.
Deep dive
How Desai pairs a self-hating colonial judge with an invisible immigrant cook's son to show humiliation working the same machine from opposite ends.
Where to go next
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