This novel, which spans from 1940's to now, is very similar to the Namesake. Lahiri writes elegantly but I just wish that she would put more passion in her characters, especially romantically. She writes many couples, many people becoming lovers but not really in love. They all start with intelligent conversations (bleh), and then cautiously enter into lukewarm relationships; this happens over and over again--I don't know if I can handle this roller-coaster of emotion (sarcasm)! When Bela gets pregnant we don't even get to know how that happened, not even a glimpse of any guy in her life. I know this isn't a good review, I'm just disappointed that she hasn't lived up to her first marvelous work Interpreter of Maladies. 
 This deals with Indian people, some who stay in India and some who immigrate to the US.