Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Late Bloomers is a multigenerational tale that asks the question, what happens when an arranged marriage falls apart decades after it starts? Varadarajan introduces us to Lata, Suresh, Nikesh, and Priya, a family brought together by a traditional arranged marriage and torn apart decades later when the parents divorce. I loved how the author just jumps into all of these messy flawed characters, rotating chapters between each of them as they explore their own lives in the context of their family and try to make a go at doing the right thing, whatever that may be. I loved each of these characters. Varadarajan does a great job of fleshing out each of them into individuals following their own path, sort of together, sort of not. Their journey together was funny, heartwarming, exacerbating, and wonderful. I imagine bookclubs loving this.

What a great first novel, I can't wait to read more from Deepa Varadarajan!

I really liked this multi-perspective take on family and love. It was immersive culturally and I felt like these were friends and people I knew. I love when we get to know a few characters and so this really surprised me in how well it was done (not easy to do)! My only critique is that the end would be sorted out a little differently, but that is just a personal taste!!

Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan is an ambitious family drama debut. Suresh and Lara Raman are divorcing after thirty-six years of marriage and getting out there to explore more. We see their experiences as they dive into the world of dating and how it affects their kids, who have their own dating and love experiences to contend with.

Overall I thought this was a very unique and engaging novel - I enjoyed the writing and would highly recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC - Late Bloomers is out now!

I received an early ecopy of this book from Netgalley. It sounded interesting, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I don’t know a lot about Indian culture, but I’m always curious to learn. The nice thing about this book is that incidental clues are sprinkled in—foods and how they convey caring, the arranged marriage of the parents, family still in India, aunties and uncles and the close ties to family/friends, the expectations, and so forth—nothing new, really, but nothing to cause confusion either. I understood the struggles and concerns of all of the characters; there are some things that all people share. Lies are an underlying theme in the entire book. How do we view the lies of others as compared to the lies we tell others? Or the lies we tell ourselves? To one extent or another, we all tell lies, and this book explores the way that this family—mother, father, daughter, son—hoard their secrets, judge others (and themselves), lie to others (and themselves), yet ultimately, love one another. Told in the past tense, it switches between POVs until they all end up in the same place viewing identical circumstances from different perspectives.

The book starts with Suresh, the father, and closing the loop, it ends with him too. I’d say he’s really the star of this story. His self-absorbed, judgmental outlook is amusing right from the start. Since his unwanted divorce from Lata, he has been trying to find love through the internet and laments the fact that all of these women he meets are liars. They lie about previous marriages, having kids, what they did for work, even their favorite foods. And he differentiates those lies from what he calls RTDs, reasonable deviations from the truth—like your approximate height or weight, and “active was only an accurate description if it included toenail-clipping while watching CNN in my carpeted den.” Because it’s acceptable when he lies.

The thing is, Suresh is constantly making rash judgments about people and some of them are just ridiculous. During one date with a widowed woman, he sees a picture of her with her husband and wonders if she’s really widowed or divorced. Because of his facial expression, he wonders if the husband abandoned her after their daughter had an illegitimate baby. Or maybe he was “a drunkard who gambled away their life savings, leaving Pinky with nothing but this shabby two-bedroom apartment and its paint-peeling walls, worn carpet and cheap, plastic-covered couch.”

Suresh rattles around in the house where Lata left him and death is becoming a closer reality day by day. He’s retired, has never lived alone or taken care of himself, and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s not old, almost sixty, but he’s far from young, and he’s not even middle-aged anymore. “Death wasn’t some glimmer in the distance, assured but out of reach like the moon. It was close now—a porchlight right outside my house, casting its somber glow on my daily steps.” As I approach 60, myself, I must admit, this statement was a punch in the gut.

Lata was always unhappy with Suresh, but the marriage had been arranged by their parents so she stayed with him for 36 years. He wasn’t a bad man, but she eventually realized that being married to a “not bad” man who made you unhappy was no excuse for staying there. Now single, she is embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable when a professor at the college where she works expresses interest in her. She has never dated in her life. She is a ball of anxiety, wanting to take a chance, but afraid of everything that might go wrong. She tells herself all of the reasons why she can’t or shouldn’t go on a date with him, but every time she is faced with the opportunity to bow out, the part of her that wants to take a chance pushes her to do it. And, she tries to keep it a secret, almost lying to her best friend about her potential love interest for fear of being judged.

Priya, 35 years old, is the oldest child of Suresh and Lata. They’re not close, but it becomes apparent this is mostly because Priya is hiding the truth from them. She is in love with a married man and fears he will never leave his wife, even though he tells her he loves her too. Priya never saw true affection between her parents so she doesn’t know how to have a healthy relationship, herself. But as she allows Ashish to see things she might ordinarily hide from other people, like her choice to read trashy magazines in the privacy of her own home, observing: “Dating a liar paradoxically created incentives for honesty—well, about the trivial things anyway.”

She’s exhausted from living a half-life, not having the family she wants, not telling her parents what’s truly going on in her life, and feeling alone and destined to always be that way. As she inspects the circles under her eyes one night, noticing how old she is becoming, she fears that “...one day, I’ll wake up to find that the haggard, drunken, overworked face I’d gone to sleep with wasn’t just some temporary aberration, but my actual face. My aging, sagging, late-thirties face.” Ouch.

Nikesh is a hapless simulacrum of his father. He has a little boy about to turn one year old, a beautiful, successful woman whom his parents think is his wife, and a successful career of his own as a lawyer with the same firm as Denise. But he’s always screwing things up with her, and the reader sees him doing the same kinds of things as his father did with Lata. He promises himself he’ll be a better father, but he hasn’t had any role models to know how to be a better partner. But one of his thoughts really made me laugh because, without ever examining it, I think I may have had the same thought myself. While watching Denise sleep one night, “I pictured a maze of neurons behind Denise’s sleeping face (though, in my mind, neurons resembled sperm because I had no idea what actual neurons looked like).”

Luckily, there are brief respites of comic relief. It might be a simple phrase, like when Nikesh calls Priya and gets her voicemail which conveys irritation, and he thinks, “it was the auditory equivalent of an eye roll.” Then, there’s when Priya uses the bathroom in a bar and reads the graffiti on the wall: “I FEEL IN LOVE WITH HALF A HEART.” Almost panicking as it reaches too close to home, she looks at another slogan and sees: “DEREK IS A DILDO.” Balance regained, she breathes a sigh of relief. It wasn’t a sign, after all.

Suresh is always good for a laugh, as he seems to be clueless about the way society works and how to interact with it. He asks a stranger a sensible question about why the apartments are not numbered in a more logical order and her response is, “Got me.” Then, he spins out, thinking: “Got me? Got her what? Was I to consider this the current vernacular for I don’t know and I don’t care and I’ve never bothered to find out.” The horror.

There’s a scene told from Priya’s POV that is so funny, I won’t even try to relay it here. In chapter 26, the entire family finds themselves in Lata’s apartment under absurd circumstances and Priya uses the situation to define the word “awkward.” It far exceeds awkward, and her droll take on it is hysterical.

We end again with Suresh’s POV, musing on the nature of truth and lies, fact and fiction. “...I guess we’re all guilty of telling untruths—if not to one another, then to ourselves… Most of the time, what we thought of as truth was threaded with self-serving distortions.” To me, the message is clear: We all lie, but we’re all doing the best that we can (based on our histories), and we should offer one another grace as often as possible.

What a touching, fun book. I love how this family navigates through the changes that follow divorce and learn that things aren't always as we think they are. Thanks #NetGalley

Late Bloomers is a delightful character study featuring a recently divorced couple and their adult children. Each is having different relationship problems and we get to hear their thoughts about each other and their problems. It is delightful with lots of love, mistakes, and I enjoyed their clear unique voices. Highly recommended for Jane Austen and Kevin Kwan fans.

This book was both funny and heartwarming combining my favourite things, family drama, and love. Such a great read

Late Bloomers was an excellent debut novel by Deepa Varadarajan. Told from four different perspectives within an Indian family - a recently divorced couple and their two adult children - the novel is full of drama, humor, heartbreak, and little successes and triumphs for each character along the way. Each character's story was very in-depth and you saw each one struggling with their place in life - whether it be in their career but especially in terms of their love lives. Overall the novel was really delightful and a lot of fun to read. The author definitely did not shy away from messy family dynamics and I found the novel to be very genuine and heartfelt. I'm excited to read more from this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the chance to read this novel.

After 36 years of an arranged marriage, Suresh and Lata decide to get a divorce. We follow along as this family navigates life after such a drastic change. Getting a glimpse into each family member's new life was such a treat. I enjoyed learning about their lives separate from the family and getting to see them all come together. Thank you, Netgalley!

An enjoyable novel about a family withholding truths from each other despite their love. Suresh and Lata had an arranged marriage, and after many years together, Lata decides to leave and make her own way, taking a job in a music library. Suresh is Internet dating, finding everyone lies about their status, looks, etc. Their son Nikesh, a lawyer, is living with his son and the mother of his son but has not told his parents they are not married, while their daughter Priya, a professor, is dating a married man secretly. As the story unfolds, with humor and emotion, the family begins to understand that they don’t really know each other as well as they thought. The characters are appealing, the story line both humorous and serious, told in a relatable manner. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I had to request this the moment I saw the Indian name on the cover! When it came to actually reading, though, I was not sure of what to expect. So right now, I have mixed feelings towards the book that I am yet to process.

The story is that of an Indian family residing in the US. The parents are recently divorced and are trying to figure out their new life in their sixties, while their children cope with middle age. Varadaranjan has well encapsulated all the thoughts and emotions of the characters in their respective POVs.

While this isn't the light, breezy rom-com that is my comfort zone, it is very beautiful in its own way. The author breaks the boundaries set for conventional novels and explores the world of retired expats. Divorces are looked down upon in India because they reflect lack of adjustment and a stamp of failure. Expecting anew romantic life after this is unthinkable. The author portrayed all of this with great care in the story.

Read this for a refreshing take to second chances and some great food for thought.

Overall this is a joyful read. While there is lots of humor, there are also deep life issues of who we are in the world vs who we are in the eyes of our families. There is a focus on family dynamics (some pretty dysfunctional), but also an exploration of ourselves that we don't often share with others...the voice in our heads about ourselves. Not all characters are very likeable, but I at least felt like I understood them in the end. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

This is a heartfelt and humorous novel about the Indian-American Raman family, whose parents go through a divorce after thirty-six years of marriage. The resulting events depict a realistic flawed family as they maneuver through changes.

The story was entertaining and emotional, and I recommend it for fans of family dramas.

Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan is the story of an Indian family turned topsy-turvy by the divorce of Suresh and Lata after thirty-six years into an arranged marriage. The book is relatable as the problems they are going through are ones many people of all ages and cultures experience. The underlying feeling throughout the book is love, sometimes misguided or not expressed in the best way, but love is most-definitely there within the family. Something else this book illustrates beautifully is that things are not always as they seem, people can and do put on facades that don't necessarily reflect what is going on with them on the inside.

I slept on this book and read it a little late, but oh my gosh I can't believe I waited! Such a good and poignant book that had me hooked from the first page. The book made me love the characters at points and hate them in others, but overall I grew to enjoy them, warts and all.

I enjoyed the cultural nuance, the characters balancing the current world they lived in vs their cultural expectations. I liked watching them all start over and weave together. Would definitely recommend.

Told from the perspective of each member of the Raman family, we get the story of Lata and Suresh's separation along with the love woes of their children. It's an interesting take on late bloomers and how they all find or end up out of love despite what society's constructs expect from each of them.

Equally funny and heartfelt, this was a moving family drama that follows four different members of a South Asian American family as they try to find love and start over after divorce and failed relationships. I enjoyed the multiple POVs in this intergenerational story and that the full cast audio narration was excellent. Definitely one I'd recommend! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

A family of regular people, with regular issues, float apart and back together in this family saga. This snapshot of life, told with wit and humor, lends a sense of normalcy to life, even when you think there’s nothing normal about it. The writing is well done and the plot well developed. I enjoyed this one!

Late Bloomers is a story about a family, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and relatable. Suresh and Lata had an arranged marriage in India, emigrated to the U.S. and raised their two children Priya and Nikesh. The book is told from the 4 of their perspectives. In their 50s, Lata and Suresh divorce and in this novel, both of them are the "late bloomers" looking to move on with their lives, while their adult children are struggling with their own relationships. The story starts with Suresh, perplexed by Internet dating and the women who tell lies about themselves, while he himself is lying. Others become entangled in the family members' lives, culminating in a chaotic one year old birthday party. This is an entertaining and relatable read.

I struggled to finish this one. The characters were flat for me. Lata being the only one I felt something for. The story felt overly purposeful in keeping the reader at arm’s length. Same as the relationships within the family.