Sister of My Heart

A Novel

By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

From the award-winning author of Mistress of Spices, the best-selling novel about the extraordinary bond between two women, and the family secrets and romantic jealousies that threaten to tear them apart.

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Her cousin Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite those differences, since the day on which the two girls were born, the same day their fathers died - mysteriously and violently - Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates as well as their hearts were merged.

But when Sudha learns a dark family secret, that connection is shattered. For the first time in their lives, the girls know what it is to feel suspicion and distrust. Urged into arranged marriages, Sudha and Anju's lives take opposite turns. Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household. Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. When tragedy strikes each of them, however, they discover that despite distance and marriage, they have only each other to turn to.

Set in the two worlds of San Francisco and India, this exceptionally moving novel tells a story at once familiar and exotic, seducing listeners from the first minute with the lush prose we have come to expect from Divakaruni. Sister of My Heart is a novel destined to become as widely beloved as it is acclaimed.

©1999 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An inspired and imaginative raconteur, Divakaruni is sure to engender comparisons with Arundhati Roy ( The God of Small Things), but Divakaruni's novel stands in its own right as a compelling read." ( Publishers Weekly)

I enjoyed reading this book much more

I read this book many years ago - it actually still sits on my bedside table. The story of Sudha and Anju is one of love, secrets, heartbreak and ultimately family. The story and characters of the girls will stay with you, even after you have finished reading it. I have always enjoyed Divakaruni's style of writing. The words are beautiful, the scenes she sets are beautiful even many of the characters she writes are beautiful, even when they are ugly. There is a follow up book to this one called The Vine of Desire. If you enjoyed this book, you might want to pick up that book - Anju and Sudha are adults now, but there's still never a dull moment - especially when one's husband is attracted to the other.
Now for why I couldn't give this audio book full stars:
Lisette Lecat has spoiled me for listening to stories about characters from other countries. Her delivery of the accents are flawless and honest. Julia Whelan reads well, but she sounds just like me, and this accent is NOT for this book. I wish someone would have considered it. I mean, Im sure they considered it - what would people who buy this book want to hear - what would they spend their money on? This may be the voice that many people would appreciate, but this is not the voice I wanted to hear - not for this book.
Why not Sarita Choudhury? Why not Frieda Pinto? Why not Sarita and Frieda together?
The performance really made this book difficult for me to listen to. Nothing genuine - not even pretend.
Disappointing about to me. I loved reading this book, I just really hated hearing it.
I understand, that these feelings are mine alone. I still recommend this book - the story is good, and Divakaruni is a brilliant writer.

Do Not listen to this book, read it

The narration is so terrible that you cannot concentrate on the story. Could the producers have not auditioned a narrator who could pronounce basic bengali words without butchering the the beautiful language completely? Especially in a story which is so heavy on many bengali words! How was the writer OK with such a crap narration of her piece of work beats me. DO NOT listen to this book, read it instead, because the story is quite good. I would give zero stars to the performance if I could, but alas amazon doesn't allow me to do that.

A Story Betrayed in the Telling

The nararator insulted the author, embarrassed hetself, disrespected the reader. I ground my teeth with the horrible, continual mispronunciations of EVERY Indian language name, word, and phrase. I was constantly tense so that the great writing was difficult to attend to as in other books by this author. Disappointment! Get a native reader NOWand re-record tgis classic.

Loved it

This story is beautifully told and hard to put down. Excellent. I highly recommend it.

Slow start

Characters were likable and fairly well developed. Although the ending was not a surprise it was well-done. Some parts moved slowly and others I wish were longer.

Best story ever

This author is amazing. Two books I’ve ‘read’ so far by the author and I’ve really enjoyed them both.

Enjoyed the story but not the narration.

The story is engaging. I enjoyed it very much. Need Someone native to India to narrate. Initially I thought I couldn’t listen to the book because narration wasn’t suitable. I’m glad I pushed through because the book is very good.

Wonderful Book

Loved the story. Loved the performance. Perhaps the native words could have been spoken by a native speaker.

Not a fan of the narration

The story is great and captivating. The narration is something left to be desired. It was hard for me, being Indian myself, to listen to someone pronounce names, and Hindi words incorrectly. I think if I listened to this book back when it was published in 2000, it wouldn’t have bothered me so much. However, now with more people of Indian decent in mainstream media being the norm and listening to other narrators speak the accents and words so eloquently this narration just seems disingenuous.

WOW!

This was a truly beautiful book. Yes, you need and want to listen to this audible book.

Friends and Sisters

I loved this book, it shows love on so many levels. Love between a man and a woman, and love between two women that are friends for life. A feelgood book...a real nice read