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The Taste of Ginger

A Novel

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The Taste of Ginger

By: Mansi Shah
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
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In Mansi Shah’s stunning debut novel, a family tragedy beckons a first-generation immigrant to the city of her birth, where she grapples with her family’s past in search of where she truly belongs.

After her parents moved her and her brother to America, Preeti Desai never meant to tear her family apart. All she did was fall in love with a white Christian carnivore instead of a conventional Indian boy. Years later, with her parents not speaking to her and her controversial relationship in tatters, all Preeti has left is her career at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm.

But when Preeti receives word of a terrible accident in the city where she was born, she returns to India, where she’ll have to face her estranged parents...and the complicated past they left behind. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of her heritage, Preeti catches a startling glimpse of her family’s battles with class, tradition, and sacrifice. Torn between two beautifully flawed cultures, Preeti must now untangle what home truly means to her.

©2022 Mansi Shah (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction World Literature Tear-jerking
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Critic reviews

“Narrator Soneela Nankani takes listeners on the roller-coaster ride of emotions felt by Preeti when she returns to India for the first time since she was 7.…Nankani handles flashbacks gracefully, uses several accents to define characters, and makes Indian traditions and settings sparkle.”—AudioFile Magazine

“Narrator Soneela Nankani adeptly delivers the emotion-charged story, drawing on her skill with accents….Listeners who appreciate fiction with themes of class divisions, immigration, and self-assessment will enjoy.”—Library Journal, a Best Fiction Audiobook of 2022

“Immersive, beautiful and descriptive."—Audicted Podcast
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I enjoyed hearing about life as an American who emigrated with her parents from India. It gives an insight into what it might feel like when you don't belong in either country and how there is a need to fit in.

I didn't like the voice of the narrator. I found it whiny and this was irritating.

Good story about belonging to two cultures

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Wow, I have experienced exactly the situations the author describes regarding belonging, otherness and self acceptance as a non-white in a white country, where white people dominate all high paying career fields.

This is a book I can recommend to my white friends as a way of understanding that, without feeling judged or attacked.
This is a novel, not a self help book or a factual account. But I felt the story did a brilliant job or sharing fact and fiction; getting lost in the tale of family, and duty with the backdrop of Western Indian.

If you fall into a majority racial group in your country, this will be a thought provoking and educational piece of reading. Light enough, but impactful.

If you fall into a minority racial group in your country, this will be all sorts of relatable. Regardless of your heritage, the parallels are strong.

Essential read re race and culture.

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The voice of the narrator not for me.
The story would have been more enjoyable.

The theme of culture.

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