After reading some of the dissatisfied comments of 'Nettors regarding Divakaruni's latest, I went to the bookstore to read it. I sat in their cafe the entire afternoon, completely immersed in the atmosphere of the stories, forgetting even where I was; so that when I at last put the book down, it was with a jolt that I realised I was in a bookstore in downtown Washington, D.C.!! I enjoyed it very much. I especially liked the first story, Mrs. Dutta, and the inner turmoil she was experiencing regarding what she should write to her friend,who was far more perceptive and understood what was in store for her(Mrs. Dutta)when she went to live with son and daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law embodies the Asian immigrant that is all too-familiar, and it was a shame that she had been reduced to what she became when moving to the U.S. Instead of standing up to that wretched neighbor woman, she whines to her husband, "All these years I've been so careful not to give these Americans a chance to say something like this, and now...." I was cheering at the end, when Mrs. Dutta indicated in her letter that she would be returning to India.

The story which was the title of the book, was okay. It started out nicely, until she had to bring in the weird, pregnant ex-girlfriend. As a SAWNET member asked, what was the purpose of that? But it was nice that she made an Indian couple come together and prepare for marriage, and none of the usual tired commentary about how awful Asian men are, how better white men are. The other 2 stories, one taking place in India,involving the children and the other story, "The Intelligence of Wild Things" were both so depressing and I did not like them. I also think both stories could have been developed better, and ended with more of some sort of resolution.

Aiko Joshi, later:

It was nice re-reading "The Unknown Errors of Our Lives" [the title story, i.e.], because when I first read it, I hated it. I thought Ruchira was totally unreasonable and unfair to Biren, and I also found the plot confusing -- until this second reading of it. Divakaruni doesn't say whether or not the tattooed woman initially agreed to the abortion, or whether Biren just gave her the money and said, get an abortion. In re-reading the story, I think Ruchira's being tempted to call Biren and call him a "lousy jerk" was just her initial knee-jerk reaction, automatically siding with this woman without finding out the whole, entire story (after all, she had only the woman's side to go on, and the woman seemed quite cheerful and unconcerned,not expecting anything from Biren who did not know she had decided to keep the child). But in the end, common sense won out, and she realised there would come a time she could ask him about it, but until that time, she would concentrate on building a life together with him. Although I still think Ruchira's making such a big issue about this whole thing was just a way for the author to dramatise the story. I am glad that Divakaruni did not have her actually leaving a message calling Biren a "jerk". Ruchira's being a virgin yet confidently making love with Biren was a welcome relief from the assumption that if you're a virgin, you are going to be a scared rabbit when you have sex for the first time, and shiver and squeak with trepidation.

I saw this story as a sort of "coming of age" for the main character. That is, here was a woman who had grown up in the US, yet had an appreciation for who she was, where she came from; who had experience in dating a variety of men, though not giving herself sexually; going through her life on the verge of waiting for something tremendous to happen; finding her outlet through her painting, and being able to comfortably blend her Indian heritage and Hindu belief with her artistic, American self; coming to terms with the fact that her fiance is worldly, yet also attached to his Indian-ness; understanding that with marriage comes trust, and a willingness to forgive any past transgressions, and having a confident view towards a future that would not be smooth sailing, but a future full of surprises and ultimately, satisfaction and fulfillment in both her own self and in her life partner.

Just finished reading Errors and have to say, I agree about the title story being flawed (the tense switches in particular really became annoying reading hiccups for me). I also find CD's explanatory digressions tedious and think there's only so much of that "rendering the culture transparent" you can do without seeming overly self-conscious about your audience. I liked the Mrs. Dutta story. Of all of them the character seemed the most credible.

I thought the title story barely scratched the surface of anything meaningful, let alone profound. To me, it simply read of a woman (Ruchira) who had found a partner somewhat like herself, straddling two cultures quite comfortably, and was momentarily upset not so much by his past, as by her own insecurities, unreasonable expectations, lack of trust. At least, that is how I viewed her sense of betrayal. However, having said that, it was an easy and not at all unpleasant read.

I've just read this title story myself. And what a waste of a lovely sounding title on a really trite and mindless story. I could find nothing redeeming in the story - neither the style, nor the content, not the long sentences that 'casually' try to explain the Indian allusions to foreign readers. Tried to be generous and read a couple of pages from another of the stories (The intelligence of wild things) but had to soon stop out of the same intense disappointment. These are stories that Ha Jin and Junot Diaz find 'passionate' and 'wondrous' and 'new'? These are all stories that might have had (a little, very little) appeal to me as a teenager (indeed, don't they sound a bit like stories written by emotional students?), but a grown reader writer would expect much more from a grown writer, don't you think? Sorry to be sounding so negative, but am getting so put off by this new soppy Asian writing, especially by women. And especially the short stories. Even Jhumpa Lahiri, after that promise in IOM, lets her readers completely down with that juvenile (and endless) story in the New Yorker a few months ago. All I can think of to explain its publication is that she has some blind admirer in the magazine. The short story is a difficult thing to write to be sure. But after reading William Trevor and Alice Munro, for example, how can one find the gumption to praise this stuff? Even if one wants more 'Asian' comparisons (though why should that be the case? A short story is a short story, whatever the color of the author's skin), don't Gita Hariharan and Anjana Appachana, for example, deserve a much higher standing than CBD? Even so many of the women on Sawnet seem to have it in them to produce stories that are more literary and evocative and mature. Why don't we have some of them turn to writing? They need to give Divakaruni and Lahiri a run for their money.

I say all this knowing, of course, that TUEOOL may well win yet another American award for its author. If it does, all I can say is that the American reading public needs to have its eyes examined.

I too found [the title story] very strange and unsatisfying. Kind of melodramatic for the most part. The "errors" Ruchira goes on about are trivial, even non-existent. When finally the story does take a dramatic turn, the event is shoved under the carpet very quickly without a great deal of examination. I'm not really sure what the point of the story was. About specific scenes, I agree that the sex scene didn't ring true, nor did Ruchira's reaction to Arlene's visit. This story didn't quite gel for me into believable characters with real life experiences. I also found the repeated use of the word 'errors' annoying (rather than 'mistakes' which would have been a better fit in most of those sentences. It felt like the sentence structure was forced-to correlate with the title of the story).

I liked Aiko's defense of the Divakaruni story better than I liked the story itself! :-). It softened my feelings towards the story a little.

Book Description: In this collection, featuring tales set in India and America, Divakaruni illuminates the transformations of personal landscapes, real and imagined, brought about by the choices men and women make at every stage of their lives. The stories include "Love Of A Good Man," a tale of a happily married Indian woman who must confront her past when her long-estranged father begs to meet his only grandson; "Mrs. Dutta Writes A Letter," (selected for Best American Short Stories, 1999), where a widow living in her son's Calfornia home discovers that her old world ways are an embarrassment to her daughter-in-law; "The Blooming Season For Cacti," where two women, uprooted from their native land by violence and deception, find unexpected solace in each other; and the title story where an artist is faced with her fiance's past a week before her wedding must make an important decision.