Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal
In Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal, the home of thirteen-year-old Pinky is full of secrets. Having lost her mother in infancy and given up by her father, Pinky lives with her aunt and uncle and three boy cousins in Bombay, in what used to be a beautiful colonial home. Her aunt, having lost her own baby to drowning in infancy has never truly taken Pinky in, but fortunately Pinky is cared for by Maji, her extremely devout grandmother who reigns as matriarch as the home. The one question that Pinky has never been able to get Maji, nor the servants of the home, to answer is why is the children’s bathroom in the home bolted each night at sunset. In a moment of defiance, Pinky unbolts the door one night and in doing so lets out the ghost of her baby cousin which is intent on taking revenge on the household for her untimely death.
Haunting Bombay is the story of the family’s dark secrets that have been kept hidden for more than a decade. In the attempt to rid the household of the small ghost, the family must reveal that which they’ve ignored for years and risk tearing their family further apart while doing so.
Haunting Bombay was a beautifully told book with haunting characters. I loved getting to know each of the characters, including the servants. I love back stories and Agarwal gave us enough story for each character that the story needed each and every one of them. Although there is still the element of the cruel family who unwillingly takes in an orphan, I’m glad that her grandmother fiercely loved her. It was an nice change from the typical orphan story. I loved the Indian setting and culture, the oppressiveness of the monsoon heat and dampness, the superstitions, and the food (mmmm . . . . why do I always pay special attention to the food?).
At the heart of this story is a ghost. I knew there was a ghost when I started to read the book, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much the ghost would present itself in the story. Haunting Bombay truly has its supernatural elements which I honestly didn’t enjoy as much. I might have preferred the suggestion of such things rather then the clear manifestation of the supernatural. But I thought that Agarwal did a great job of seamlessly combining the supernatural with a story about a family tragedy. I also think that the book could have been a bit shorter. At 362 pages, it’s not a long book, but I struggled a bit through the ending and found myself anxious to finish.
After finishing the book and unraveling the mystery behind the young ghost, I could see that clues had been scattered throughout the story but I was glad to have not picked up on them while reading. I truly did not know how this story would end which kept me involved and invested in the story. For those who would not only love a cultural book set in the heart of India but also a ghost story during this fall season, Haunting Bombay would be an excellent book to pick up. For a debut novel, Agarwal does an excellent job with characters, language, and a sense of time and place.
While I didn’t find myself falling head over heels in love with the manifested supernatural elements of this particular story, Agarwal is an author that I would definitely read again for the pure joy of story, setting and characters.
And as a total side-note, when I was little I named my journal for a while. I had completely forgot that I had named it Pinky until coming across this oddly named character. Funny.
Links of interest: Shilpa Agarwal website, blog, and on Twitter. Visit TLC Book Tours for more reviews on Agarwal’s blog tour.
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press. April 1, 2009.
Hardcover, 368 pages. ISBN 156947558X
Haunting Bombay is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Adult, Book Reviews, Fiction
Tags: A-D Author, blog tour, E-H Title, published 2009, review copy, TLC Book Tour
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Thanks for being on this tour, Natasha! You make the book sound like a fantastic read, even though you didn’t like the ghost part.
I can’t believe you named your journal! I’m laughing about that because I never would have thought of that.
Great review, as always!
on October 19th, 2009 at 11:24 amI agree that some parts of the supernatural aspect were not as appealing as the rest of the book. I really love how the ghost’s story wrapped up, though.
on October 19th, 2009 at 2:57 pmI really enjoyed your review of this book. I was on the fence about reading it because of the ghost and the supernatural element in the story, which I don’t usually care for. But it sounds like despite the ghost the story is still worth reading because the author has written a beautiful book. I think I definitely want to try it anyway and see what I think.
Thank you!
on October 19th, 2009 at 5:43 pmHi Natasha! You wrote a great review of this one. I actually just finished it last night, and I’m touring it on Thursday. I don’t think I liked it as much as you did, but it was still a good story. And I agree with you about the ghost – I think I would have been more intrigued by a suggestion of the ghost, rather than having the ghost be an actual character like she was.
on October 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pmGreat review of what sounds like a book I most likely won’t read. I am not into the supernatural either especially if it involves children.
I think Pinky is an awesome name for a journal!
BTW, this is my first comment but I’ve been reading for a couple of weeks, is it okay if I link to your blog?
on October 19th, 2009 at 9:13 pmPeople name their journals…too cute…my grandmother’s nickname was Pinky to her neighbors because they couldn’t pronounce her Finnish name. We also had a neighbor who’s nickname was Pinky.
I really enjoyed this story and loved the supernatural parts as well if not more than the rest of the book.
on October 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 am