Saturday, November 05, 2016

Review: A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel

A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel A House for Happy Mothers: A Novel by Amulya Malladi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The surrogacy market is thriving in India, or at least was before the government started talking about shutting it down as they deemed it was an exploitation of Indian women.
I've watched quite a few documentaries on the subject and it's heart breaking, even if it can be a win-win situation for both the couples that can't have children, and for the mothers, who can improve their normal lives due to the money they get as surrogates. And I say it "can" be, as how can we know if we're not in that situation?

Priya and Madhu are a well-off Indian American couple who have gone through several miscarriages. Asha and Pratap have 2 children and live in poverty. They've seen how having another couple's baby can improve lives, as their sister in law has been a surrogate. Their son is almost a genius, and Asha wants him to go to the best school he can.

Although both couples have misgivings about surrogacy, they will do it, as it's the means to an end they all want.

This is a well writtenbook, but I felt it lacked depth. It's more a description of what happens than the feelings that go with it. And, here appears my feminist side, there's the situation of Manoj, who seems to be a brilliant boy, and sending him to school, but never of finding out if the little girl is as intelligent as her brother (she seems to be very young) and sending herto school too.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

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