This was a fun read - such evocative writing and really made me feel for the characters.Can't wait to read more from Shah.

As someone who was born here, it was refreshing to read this book. The book talks about a young woman who immigrated to her with her family from India, and after tragedy, has to return to the land she knew as a child. This book is rich in south Asian culture and traditions, and gives the reader a glimpse into it. I really enjoyed this book and I learned so much from it.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts.

A fantastic novel that deftly captures the demands and delights of living in between East and West. Enjoyable from the first chapter!

The Taste of Ginger is Mansi Shah's debut novel, following first-generation Indian-American immigrant Preeti Desai as she grapples with her sense of belonging. Struggling with a breakup, a job she's not wholly into, and an estranged parental relationship, things are thrown into further chaos when Preeti hears of a terrible accident back home in India.

I really wanted to enjoy this novel more than I did. Shah explores the Indian-American immigrant experience, class and tradition, the Indian caste system – which I found to be a highlight of the story – love, grief and hope. Straddling two 'beautifully flawed' cultures, Preeti is a sort of unlovable heroine, pinballing from idea to idea without a sense of completion or finality. While there are many great moments and topics covered, I felt much of the book – I'm talking about 50% – felt too on the nose; we were told and shown everything at face value, rather than letting the story unravel itself.

Another mid-level book to add to 2022.

The title of the book is taken from an Indian proverb "a monkey does not know the taste of ginger".

And that is the story of our central character Preeti, 30-year-old and single, and her state of mind, even at the end of the novel.

The novel starts in the US and travels soon to India; almost 90% of the story takes place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Preeti has an elder brother Neel who is married to Dipti — both doctors, while Preeti a lawyer working in a White-majority American firm.

Their family moved to the States for greener pastures when Preeti and her brother were young and struggled and fought hard to live an American Dream with their parents giving them a good education to have a successful life, unlike theirs.

Like every Indian family, Preeti's too was not a close-knit one but the siblings were supportive to each other.

But once Neel gets married, the distance between the two increases. Also, their parents didn't approve of Preeti living with her white boyfriend Alex. Soon, her love relationship too ends due to practical and professional reasons.

It is during this time, Preeti's family leaves for India to attend her cousin Hari's wedding without her. Then she receives a call that pregnant Dipti had met with an accident and hospitalised.

She immediately leaves for India to support her family in their trying times. The trip turns out to be a self-discovery of sorts for Preeti as everything changes for herself and around her.

Dipti lives, but Uma (her infant girl) dies prematurely. The rift between Neel and Dipti widens. Preeti leaves her job; pursues her love for photography; falls in love with Tushar, a low-caste photoshop owner; finds about her mother's secret; meets her childhood friend Biren and learns about his queerness, and a lot in between marriage celebrations, Christmas, New Year, and Uttarayan kite festival.

The Indian trip proved to be an eye-opener for Preeti to know about herself and to mend her relationship with her family, especially with her mom.

While reading this novel, I was telling myself you are reading a debut novelist's words, not a Jhumpa Lahiri or a Chitra Banerjee.

Mansi Shah is absolutely amazing in her grip over prose, whether at paragraph level or at sentence or dialogue level. It was a treat to read this novel, thanks to Net Galley for sending me the ARC version.

Already my favourite Indian novel for this year. Don't miss out on this debut fiction even though it is a tad longish.

Preeti is a first generation immigrant from India living in LA. She moved, with her family, to Chicago at the age of 7 and has spent her life since trying to fit in to her surroundings. Much to the chagrin of her mother she has dated only white men and even cohabitated with her last boyfriend before marriage.

She has spent so much of her life separating herself from her culture that a chance to return to India for a family wedding is swept aside easily. However, when her brother, his wife and their unborn child are in an accident she drops everything to be by their side.

What she finds in India is a re-connection to her family and her roots. She find a chance to take a step back and re-evaluate her life path and make conscious choices going forward. She battles with expectations of her while in India and also with the rules of the caste system.

If you enjoy stories of complex family relationships, self-discovery and character evolution I recommend picking this one up.

Taste of Ginger is a book about a woman who is trying to navigate her life between her American upbringing and her traditional Indian heritage. Unfortunately, I don’t think this book was for me. I had a bit of a difficult time connecting with the main character and the story in general. However, I did think it was a very well written story.

I really liked the premise of this book and was gripped by the initial drama of it. However, it then fell a little flat for me. I found the writing to be quite clunky and immature. The conversations between the characters didn’t feel real to me. I also found it lacking in description and found it difficult to imagine where our characters were. There were a couple of themes in this book that were repeated several times and not really developed with any depth. A bit disappointing- it had such potential

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy many immigrant stories as an immigrant myself, always feeling like I was straddling two countries and two cultures with very little guidance from my parents. This book made me think about how different immigration and living in America was so very different for my parents than it was for me - both with its own unique challenges. Reading about Preeti going back to India reminded me of the time I went back to Korea - too American for the Koreans and too Korean when I was in my very white schools and neighborhood. That tension was something that really drew me to this book. There are also issues that are tackled with some side characters Preeti comes to know during her time in India that was realistic and very sad. I did think it ended a little abruptly and I found the conversation she had with her white BFF to be almost cringey and that friendship didn't quite feel believable or authentic to me for some reason. The family dynamics definitely felt a lot stronger.

An amazing debut novel by Mansi Shah.

The Taste of Ginger begins with a family emergency that calls lawyer Preeti back home to India from the USA - a place she hasn’t visited since she was 7.

This book covered so many topics - identity struggles, acceptance, self-discovery, family dynamics, racism, and finding your own path - without getting lost in trying to do too many things.

I really enjoyed Shah’s writing style - and found myself almost immediately immersed in the story.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I found this novel to be enjoyable for several reasons. The author’s writing style was very comfortable- it wasn’t sparse and it wasn’t poetic, it actually felt more conversational which made for easy reading. It also depicts a mother-daughter relationship that felt authentic to me as it was built of rock-solid love despite the rebellions and disappointments withstood. The mother and daughter in question were more alike than they knew and the reader witnesses this dawn on both characters, resulting in mutual respect by the novel’s end.
My favorite part of the novel was the insight it provided on the immigrant experience, at least as represented by Preeti and her family. I want to be respectful of the fact that this is a work of fiction and it cannot possibly encompass the entire range of immigration. I did see some parallels to what my mom may have felt when she moved from Guam to the mainland U.S. in her preteen years. I acknowledge that Guam is an unincorporated U.S. territory and that all Chamorros are U.S. citizens so that I do not appropriate the immigrant experience.

I generally like to go in without knowing anything and let me tell you, it is always a treat when you know nothing about a book and find yourself unable to stop reading it. That is case of The Taste of Ginger for me. I loved this book. It is the story of Preeti, a lawyer living in California, post break-up with a man her parents didn’t approve of and working ridiculous law firm hours when a family emergency forces her to pause her life and return to her childhood home in India. This book hits on everything. It details the struggles of life as immigrants in the United States, trying to build a new life and assimilate in the face of racism and prejudice. It details the struggles of straddling between life in the United States and the culture and expectations of your family and heritage. It details the struggles of being there for your family while trying to find your own happiness. It details the struggles of coming to terms with your own past not being what you thought it was all along. And it details the struggles of following your heart, even when it goes against the rules of society. All with exquisite details of life in India. There is a lot packed into this book - at times, it felt like I was getting hit with too many themes at once - but everything ultimately fell into place and I really enjoyed being there for Preeti’s journey.

This was the first own voice book that I have read in a long, long while thanks to the recommendation of a fellow book reviewer, and I must admit that it hit close to home, quite literally.

Like most immigrant kids, thirty-year old Preeti Desai struggles with an identity crisis - not Indian enough, despite her brown skin and definitely not American, even after all these years of trying to fit in. When a family crisis beckons her back home to Ahmedabad, Preeti is thrown into an uncomfortable situation that forces her to assimilate, if not accept, the cultural differences that have plagued her, her whole life and make peace with her sense of self.

Preeti's struggles with identity and her place in the world is similar if not identical to that of every immigrant child who has been forced to live a dual life - preserve the culture of their original hometown while blending in with their expat surroundings so that they don't stick out like a sore thumb, even when they do. While much of the plot is about Preeti's self-reflections, it is heartening to see her mature in her thought process as the story progresses. It was commendable how the author drew parallels to the racism faced by Preeti, to the still prevalent casteism in India.

As a non-resident Indian myself, much of Preeti's upbringing and existential conflicts were very much relatable. But what resonated with me the most was her complicated relationship with her mother. While Tushar and Biren were interesting characters, sure of their place in the world but bound by the restrains of the society around them, I preferred Biren over Tushar. The latter seemed to alternatively alienate Preeti as American and accept her as Indian, as and when the mood struck, which I found quite odd, as opposed to Biren who remained a consistent character throughout, even to the point of agreeing to an arranged marriage despite his preferences lying elsewhere. Neel and Dipti's heartbreak was depicted beautifully in detail; I would have loved to read more on them finding their way back to each other.

Overall, this was a quick and heartwarming read that brought back memories of home, childhood and family. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This book deals with themes of familial struggles, death, racism, and identity. I feel like Preeti does a good job explaining the differences between her life in America and the realities of life in India, but fails to respect the realities of the culture herself at times. I do feel, though, like she got it together by the end- there is great character development here.

Those who enjoyed Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows and The Henna Artist will like this one. I think it's great for a debut novel, and I didn't have any issues with reading through it quickly.

(Thanks so much to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced copy)

Preeti left India with her parents when she was 7 and struggles for many years with the new culture and in order to make herself accepted. She even finds herself an american boyfriend (which leads to a strained relationship with her family) and becomes a lawyer in a firm where she is the only Indian employee.
She is forced to go back to India to be near her family after a terrible accident and there she rediscovers her roots.
I loved a lot of the themes in this book: the pros and cons of romantic love as opposed to familial love, immigration and assimilation, collective vs individualistic cultures, discrimination. It's certainly a book that gives you a lot to think about.
The descriptions of India and food are fantastic!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Taste Of Ginger by Mansi Shah.

A tale of immigrants. Preeti, a first generation immigrant child, who as an adult, still struggles between feeling accepted in her birth home, India and in America, where the land of opportunities are laced with racial and colour barriers. A sudden trip back to India due to a family tragedy sends Preeti into a whirlwind of emotions in finding herself, amidst also unravelling her family's past.

I am very on the fence about this one. I felt it started out with so much potential. The tale of finding your identity became too lengthy and repetitive, filled with internal monologues and reflections that were somehow leading to nowhere. I didn't quite like Preeti. I found her rather rude, especially with her feelings towards India. Eventhough she was born there and lived there till 9, she didnt paint India/Indians in a good light. It's like she looks down on her birthplace for being not good enough while she disses where she grew up cause she don't belong. Her self loathing reflections got pretty exhausting after a while. And she is so stubborn! Not wanting to listen to elder's advice and definitely has a clap back for whatever is being said to her. There were also discussions on status and caste systems. About filial piety. Believing that everything is fated. I admit i skimmed through abit cause it got too draggy when relationships could have been explored and differences could be discussed with more depth.

Other than that, it was ok. A typical asian family tale of secrets and identities (finally) found. About holding on to traditions. I guess it's just the MC herself taking a really looooong ride in self exploration that irked me. The food mentions were of course, stupendous. Hehe. I mean the beauty of Indian food, you can simply read it and be hungry!

*Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad - a monkey does not know the taste of ginger.'

TW: homophobia, death of infant

This was quite an impressive debut novel. The way the author described each scene or setting immediately transported me to that moment or place.

There were several important themes discussed in this emotionally heavy contemporary fiction novel that gave me all the feels:

- differences between Indian and American culture: collective vs individualistic
- challenges immigrants have to face in America
- how children of immigrant parents have to straddle between two cultures and feel like they belong to neither because their parents are traditional, whereas they are more westernized (this theme resonated with me the most).
- how discrimination exists in each culture - the caste system in India is similar to colorism in America
- realistic portrayal of how death of a child can put cracks in a relationship because each parent deals with grief in a different way

I found the main character of Preeti to be quite relatable, whether it was her complicated relationship with her mother or her closeness to her brother.

Though it is a family drama, at its core, this story is about Preeti’s journey to finding her mom’s acceptance and reconnecting with her Indian cultural roots. I found the ending to be quite realistic.

I believe any child of immigrant parents, whether South Asian or not, will find this story relatable. Those who wish to understand the Indian culture will find it to be insightful.

This is a strong debut novel about Preeti’s discovery of what home truly means. As a first generation immigrant she struggles with maintaining her traditional beliefs and assimilating in American culture. Living in Chicago and attending school she begged for a pair of jeans instead of traditional wears. Every day was a tiny battle for her to shed her background and try to become like the other kids.
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When she falls in love with someone who isn’t Indian she falls out with her family, but when they call with news of a terrible accident in India she must return home.
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Shah does a phenomenal job of writing about India. I truly felt as if I were there. This is a story of self identity, family and figuring out truly where you belong. Thank you @amazonpublishing and @letstalkbookspromo for including me on this tour.
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A family tragedy beckons Preeti Desai, a first-generation immigrant in the U.S., back to the city of her birth in India. There, she has to navigate her way through a cultural and generational minefield as she tries to maintain her personal independence and a carefully nurtured Western outlook.

An enjoyable book that covers timely subjects for immigrants in the U.S., especially for those who came to the US at a young age and who have embraced Western culture and norms. The conflict for Preeta with her extended family, parents, and traditions in the old country, in this case, India, is a serious one. She returns to India when her sister in law gets into a serious accident, and deals with questions of her future, being single after age 30, and friendships and even love outside of her caste.

Well worth reading, with important topics, this is also a romance of sorts.