This is a sad but beautiful story about family and becoming a parent. It's moving and twisty (the family secret threw me for a loop!) with wonderfully complex characters.

Thanks to Algonquin books for the copy to review.

3.5 stars - I really liked the last half, but the first half dragged, and the MC was frustrating and self-righteous, so it was hard to root for him. I loved the development of his relationship with his mother and the family secret aspect, but I wish that had come into play earlier in the story.

I have been wanting to read a book by Thrity Umrigar (First Darling of the Morning, The World We Found, Reese Book Club pick Honor and more) for quite some time and her latest, THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES, is excellent. It revolves around a young man, Remy Wadia, who has returned to India in the hopes of adopting a Parsi baby with his American wife, Kathy. He also has not seen his mother, Shirin, for three years and is shocked to learn she is in hospital and near death. This story is full of emotion and Remy, especially, has to deal with grief, anger, loneliness, fear, and confusion. Umrigar writes that Remy "had often thought of Bombay as the museum of failures, an exhibit hall filled with thwarted dreams and broken promises." The novel explores his growth as he is devastated by past secrets and re-evaluates important relationships. THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES is a LibraryReads selection for September 2023 and highly recommended. 4.5 stars

“What a monster time is, laying to waste everything in its path, destroying youth and beauty, even tarnishing memory. Maybe that was the only thing humans had to fear - the steady ticktock, the relentless current. Because, ultimately, what was death, even, other than the ceasing the clock?”

If there’s anything I’ve learned during my time on earth, it is that things aren’t always as they seem. And yet, when it comes time to use this knowledge in practicality, everything seems to fly out of our minds. We take everything at face value, without stopping to think about the nuances.

Thrity Umrigar’s newest book, The Museum of Failures, is a lesson in seeing the undertones, to acknowledging them while staying kind to oneself, to emerge from seeing ourselves as a museum of failures. We follow Remy Wadia, who’s returning to India to adopt a child and plans to visit his mother, almost as an afterthought. But he discovers that she is unwell, has stopped speaking, and is now in the hospital. Guilt eats at him and he decides to help her recover before returning to his life in the USA. But as time passes, he discovers truths and family secrets that shake him to his core. What Remy does in the face of his foundations crumbling remains to be seen.

Thrity Umrigar is a master storyteller, taking these questions about familial relationships and secrets, life and death, love, faith, and forgiveness, and turning them into points to ponder with the wide-lensed perspective that she offers. She does all of this with such empathy and kindness, so beautifully, that even though you find yourself swinging from one end of the radar to the next in how you feel about these characters, you just see it all. You question yourself and everything you know - the mark of a great book and a great author.

The first half of the book does feel a stretch, but there’s beauty in its slow pace, not frustration. When the characters go over their experiences multiple times, it might seem like unnecessary repetition, but you will appreciate it in the second half, when everything comes out in the open. They say the devil is in the details but in this book, the smallest details have such mind-numbing explanations that you readily forgive everything that you thought was negative about it.

If you’ve never read a Thrity Umrigar book, let this be the one you start with. One of my few 5 stars of 2023!

I tried to get into this book a few times but it was a struggle. I can’t fault the story itself because I waited to listen to the audiobook and that format didn’t work for me. The narrator’s female voice just ruined things for me so my rating and review is skewed by the experience. That being said, I do enjoy this author and will make sure to read her future books if the same narrator is chosen.

First things first, I LOVE Thrity's books. Honor was one of my favorites of 2021 and has a spot on my "best of all time" shelf. I was so excited to dive into her latest--and even got an early copy from @netgalley (which I promptly finished after the pub date. :/). Still, this book was so emotionally satisfying. Not many authors can pull the heartstrings, educate about other cultures, and speak to the endurance of humanity in the face of tragedy like Thrity.

Remy Wadia is back in Bombay to adopt a baby from a young pregnant relative of his friend. When back in the city he calls, the "museum of failures," he reconnects with his mother, whose distance and coldness have plagued Remy and his relationship with her for most of his life. While there, family secrets are uncovered, tragedies are revealed, and he slowly makes peace with his family, his life, and, most importantly, his home city and country.

Unlike Honor, which revolved around a pretty stark and horrific cultural practice, this one is more personal and domestic. Remy's family struggles, as well as those of his mother and father, speak to Indian culture, the Indian-American experience, and issues that affect anyone. In Umrigar's delicate and deft writing hands, each is explored with emotion and grace.

If you're not in the mood to read about riding dragons or heading off to London to find your soulmate during the holiday season, check out this affecting and emotional drama. It's the perfect book to cozy up to when you're stuck inside during chilly, snowy season and want to cry but also be moved by the resilience of humanity.

Thanks to @netgalley and @algonquinbooks for the gifted copy!

READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Uncovering family secrets
• Mother-son relationships
• Critically examining privilege

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
An impactful story about family secrets and their consequences. After years away, Remy returns home to India to pursue a potential adoption opportunity. While there, his plan to surprise his mother goes sideways once he realizes she's been hospitalized. Being by her side, Remy has to confront their stilted relationship.

This was an interesting reading experience because I wasn't sure about the novel until I was about halfway through. The reason was the protagonist. At first, the more I got to know Remy, the more I disliked him. He was a perfect example of someone who believes himself a good and generous person while completely unaware of his privilege, with a bad tendency of throwing money at a situation to "fix" it.

But his character does develop by the end of the novel. At least, I can see him moving in the right direction. And the biggest contribution to that is the heartwrenching relationship with his mother, which deepens throughout the novel. Something that struck me was how his mother didn't want condolences or recognition of the challenges she faced. The only thing she sought was the love of her son, which is motherhood in its very essence.

Travel to India with Remy Wadia who is making a long overdue trip to his hometown, Bombay, to meet the pregnant girl whose baby he and his wife are planning to adopt. While in India, he plans to make a surprise visit to see his mother from whom he is estranged from. Then the adoption gets complicated and he finds out his mother has been hospitalized and the cousins who were supposed to keep an eye on her didn’t, Remy takes on caring for his difficult mother. As he makes repairs to her home and hears her delusional outbursts, he discovers the buried secrets that his mother lived with and that maybe she wasn’t “difficult” but that she was just heartbroken.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about family secrets, misunderstood resentments and eventual forgiveness and healing. The way the relationship between mother and son unfolded was done so well. Thrity Umrigar has written another great story and I look forward to exploring her backlist and future work.

Thank you to @netgalley and @algonquinbooks for an early review copy.

I absolutely love Umrigar's work and this was no exception. She beautifully captures each character and makes the reader feel every emotion so intensely.

If you’re a Thrity Umrigar fan you will surely enjoy this story about family, secrecy and redemption. Admittedly, it took me some time to engage with the characters. The first half of the book is slow and repetitive. The second half is where the story really picks up and I then I couldn’t put it down.

I love this author's writing and The Museum of Failures was a wonderful story of family, secrets, and redemption. This is also a story about the differences in the cultures of two countries and how that affects daily living. There is so much between the lines in this book, and it might have you looking at your own family a bit differently and realizing things that maybe were not so apparent before.

THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES - THIRTY UMRIGAR

4.5⭐

PLOT - Remy Wadia comes to India mumbai from US planning to adopt a baby and also to visit his elderly mother whom he hasn't seen since his father passed away 3 years ago but on arrival he find his mother in hospital and isn't taking anymore and given up on life.
Remy ridden with guilt now decided to help her mother reciver and in the process some shocking family secrets are revealed forcing him to reevalate his entire childhood and his relationship with his parents.
MY THOUGHTS
This was absolutely immersive read. The family drama and suspense with some brilliant story telling and great in depth characterization makes it a compelling read.
I live in South Mumbai near a Parsi colony where this story is set and reading about Paris culture and its people in the story was beautiful experience for me.
The last 1/3 Rd of the book is where the main action or drama unfolds but the events leading to it though slow burn didn't feel boring and the anticipation persisted throughout .
The authors writing esp character of Remy and Shirin and the whole bandwith of emotions live, anger, betrayal, grief and ultimately forgiveness was fantastic and it touched my heart in so many ways.
This was my 1st read by the author and gonna read her backlist and future books.
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar is another excellent example of creating a novel with richly layered characters while comparing Indian and American lifestyles.

In this story, Remy returns to Bombay, which he has dubbed the museum of failures, as he sees his native country through the lens of his American life. He’s there to meet his friend’s niece with the hopes of adopting her baby, as he and his wife are unable to conceive. This innocuous trip turns into a much more complex time as Remy is hit with roadblocks time and time again.

It’s the story about Remy and his mother that really got to me. He lived a life of never measuring up and feeling quite unloved by her. Through their time together in Bombay, he learns critical information that allows him to see her in a more thoughtful and understanding way. This time away has brought what’s left of his shattered family back together.

His trip extends much longer than anticipated and he realizes the value of being home. His American wife Kathy seemed too good to be true, but I did like their relationship, born of trust and equality. Remy’s life as a poet was buried away, but through his visit in India, he realizes the importance of doing work you love, not just working for a higher paycheck.

Overall, this was a satisfying read and one that fans of Umrigar will appreciate. Her last book, Honor, along with The Space Between Us, are my two favorites of hers. I haven’t met an Umrigar book I didn’t enjoy!

The Museum of Failures
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Thirty Umrigar

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Algonquin Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life.

Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions?

My Thoughts: Remy has not been back to India for years due to a deep seated resentment against his mother. Remy is going to India for an adoption of a baby from a pregnant teen. While in India, the caregivers he left his mother with were not taking proper care of her and she is really ill, and has been neglected. Remy ends up staying in India longer than anticipated and some deep buried family secrets begin to surface. Can Remy forgive his mother?

This story is heart wrenching and heartfelt. Sometimes a parent’s decisions are not always easy and you cannot understand why the decision was made until much later in life, and even then you may not understand the lengths a parent will go for their child. In the beginning, it is very much a slow burn. It hashes out the grievances Remy has felt, and at times, becomes repetitive. However, the last third was hard to put down. Remy’s character is quite interesting, he comes off as selfish, does not seem to care when his own actions carries consequences, and the feelings of other people is insequential to him. The story is narrated mostly by Remy, in his POV, and in a dual timeline with both past and present tense. The characters were well fleshed out, written with powerful emotion, and were intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, layered, poignant, thought-provoking, and brilliant. It is rare to read a story that is both character driven and plot driven, usually it is one or the other, but this story was both.

I fell in love with Umrigar when I read her previous book, Honor. Umrigar has a way of blending American and India culture and write about tough heartache and the healing that comes along with the heartache. However, for this story, I could not connect as early as I usually do, it did not pick up for me until about 60% into the book. This book follows a family drama through mystery and secret unraveling. It is a story on how fragile we are as humans, the ability to forgive, and to reach acceptance from that forgiveness. I read the digital book but have read from other reviewers that the audiobook is fantastic and that the audiobook only has one narrator and she far excelled voice variation, did both male and female voices perfectly. Having said that, I would still highly recommend this story and her previous works. She is a brilliant writer.

Thrity Umrigar is one of my favorite contemporary writers. As a general rule, I'm not interested in "domestic" fiction: tales of strained families or unsteady relationships. Umrigar is the exception to this rule. Her characters are interesting, she imbues them with rich inner lives, and they come from multiple cultures and perspectives.

In the case of The Museum of Failures, our central character, Remy, is a Parsi Indian who moved to the U.S. and stayed there. He's married to an anglo woman, a pediatrician. The couple is at a crossroads. After multiple failed attempts at fertility treatments, they've arranged to adopt the baby of a young girl in India, a niece of one of Remy's childhood friends.

Remy arrives in India, intending to take care of the legal paperwork required for the adoption, but runs unto unexpected difficulties. First, the girl who will be the birth mother has decided she doesn't want to give the baby up for adoption. Second, he finds his elderly mother, who has always been volatile and unkind, is hospitalized with pneumonia. The distant relatives who were supposed to be caring for her, have been largely ignoring her because her volatility makes her difficult to deal with. So, Remy is left without a much-wanted baby and and with long stretches of time spent with a mother he was happy to be living half a world away from.

In a way, readers can predict parts of the plot. Perhaps Remy will be able to bring home the baby after all. Perhaps he and his mother will come to a truce of sorts that will release the burden of his many unhappy childhood memories of her. Perhaps. What does happen is similar, but also utterly different, surprising both Remy and the reader.

If you appreciate fiction that closely examines familial relationships and/or the experiences of immigrants returning to a home that is not a home, you'll find this novel a deeply satisfying read. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

What a privilege to read another amazing book by such a gifted author. Umrigar knows how to write, the story of humanity, it’s failures and successes, wrapped in the most beautiful story telling. Remy is visiting his home of Bombay, discovering that his mother is very ill and in the hospital. Remy was always closer to his father, never feeling love from Shirin. In addition, Remy is meeting a young pregnant woman, a cousin of his friends, in the hope of adopting her baby. I could not put down this book, felt the strong emotions that were attributed to all of the characters. Another must read by Umrigar, highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book as I enjoyed Umrigar's The Story Hour. The premise was intriguing and I love to read about other cultures, but something just fell short for me with this one. It seemed like it needed a few more rewrites to really bring the characters to life and engage the reader. the dialogue in particular just didn't ring true.

As always, Umrigar’s writing is beautiful and thoughtful. Her complex characters and intricately-woven stories make for a rich reading experience.

In this book, Remy, an Indian-born man living in America returns to India to visit his ailing mother, and while he is there, family secrets begin to unravel, causing Remy to question everything he knew about his parents and his family history.

I loved Remy and I could relate with his complex feelings as he learned new information. I loved the way the story dealt with themes of family loyalty, forgiveness and redemption. It is definitely a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait to dive more into Umrigar’s backlist.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. Thrity Umrigar is a favorite author of mine, and The Museum of Failures is a five star read for me. Remy was born in India but lives now in Ohio with his American wife. They are having infertility issues, and friends in India suggest a solution, a young relative is pregnant and wants to give up her baby for adoption. He goes back to India, to adopt the baby, and to visit his mother who is getting older and having some issues. Remy grew up feeling very close to his father who dies a few years back, but his relationship with his mother has always been rocky. On this trip, he learns the truth about his parents’ relationship and a family secret, and this upends what he has always believed to be true. A recurring theme is his struggle with feeling at home in India and in America, he wants to be in both places. This is tough to read in some parts (although nowhere near as touch as her last book Honor), but well worth it. Great read, highly recommend. #netgalley #thrityumrigar #themuseumoffailures #bookstagram #booklover #reader #bookblog #lovetoread #fictionreader #bookreview #bookrecommendation #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallthebooks #booksbooksbooks #booksofinstagram #bookwormproblems #bookaholic #booknerd #whattoread #readingtime #bookaddict #ilovetoread #ilovebooks #needtoread #readallday

Such a beautiful, poignant tale of secrets, truth, and redemption. Revelations can rewite the history you *thought* you knew. This book reminded me of that saying "Be kinder than necessary, because everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about". The gamut of emotions I felt reading this: anger, annoyance, love, fear, sympathy, horror, joy, laughter, tension, devastation. Read when you have time to get through this in a weekend, you won't want to put it down!