Book 2: 1 October 2008
Cardiff in the 1980’s is a place where maths can get you noticed. Rumis Vasi is the town’s ‘maths prodigy’: untangling numbers and Rubik’s Cubes protects her from the harsh vagaries of the playground and gives a pattern to her world. But after years of her father’s determined tutoring, Rumi finds that numbers are beginning to lose their innocence. India infuses her with a romantic sense of belonging and, as she grows older, and desire becomes a dirty word in the Vasi household, the idea of love is opened up to painful examination. In a voice that is by turns very funny and fiercely tender, Nikita Lalwani brings us a captivating story of high aspirations and deep longing, and of the sometime loneliness of childhood.
“Gifted” is Nikita Lalwani’s first novel. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Glen Dimplex Fiction Award 2007, it has won almost universal admiration for its wry, touching and insightful portrayal of teenage dislocation and the often painful journey into adolescence. Described as “’superb, brilliantly realized” by The Independent and praised for its “insight, compassion, humour and heartbreaking honesty” (Stephen Merchant), once again there seems to be few alternative opinions to be had. I did find a few quibbles- some reviewers suggested that the ending is underdeveloped, that is unclear whether Rumi really does have a gift or whether her talent is simply a result of “hot-housing”, that the novel is slight and “while much of it rings true, little in it feels revelatory” (New York Review of Books). Hmmm- it will be interesting to know what you all make of it. I’ve yet to make up my mind….
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