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Book Review…Novel raises specter of culture wars
By Dr Glenville Ashby
glenvilleashby@gmail.com
Daughter of Empire takes you on a cultural ride that proves anything but smooth. An East Indian family, from Trinidad, steeped in culture and tradition collide with the perceived pedestrianism of Western culture. Yet, to succeed in the UK, their new home, they acknowledge the need to adapt, to bend, if even a trifle.
Daughters of Empire is clothed in relevance, deftly exploring multiculturalism with all its ramifications. In many ways, it is prophetic, raising issues that bedevil the US and Europe today. Are such societies better off with an open door policy? This is the $64,000 question that serves as the thematic underbelly of the book’s salvo.
Here, the clash of disparate cultures is centerfold, played out to the tilt.
“There is much that we should copy from them and from America too, but much of our own we should hold on to, tightly,” reads an interesting missive sent to the new immigrants from a Trinidad relative. A classical example of resentment, mixed with admiration for the coloniser.
“Daughters” challenges immigrants to reflect on the impact of a new environment on their traditions. Regrettably, conservative rigidity has raised an ominous, even a lethal tone to this debate. The rise of honour killings by Asian families in the UK, and the targeting of immigrants, reflect the tremors of social change, and personal transformation. This is the quintessential strength of Persaud’s work.
Lakshmi’s “Daughters” centers on the three children of Amira and Santosh Vidhur, and the meddling aunt, Inshani.
Persaud’s brilliance as a novelist is indisputable. There are moments of pure literary magic – classically instructive, even for the seasoned scribe. In one scene, describing a rainstorm in Trinidad, she offers: “The mist crept down the mountain’s slopes, flooding the valleys as the sky disappeared. In the forest, drooping leaves became fast-running channels, little waterfalls tumbling down. Water gushed along the trace as if a dam had broken. A crooked light rent the sky; again and again thunder rolled.”But time and time again, Persaud’s unique talent is smothered by the characters’ extraneous chatter. Her characters are sharply distinct, and hardly endearing, save Lily and Palli.
Inshani’s sophistry and doyenne- like act are unflattering. Santosh’s mode of self-absolution after an extramarital affair is troubling.
Amira’s need for validation from the very culture from which she must protect her daughters is exasperating. Living vicariously through her daughters, she views education and social mobility as her raison d’être. She contemplates the horror “to have children who were strangers to you.” Her thoughts running maddeningly wild, she is anxiety stricken: “It would be death by a thousand cutting eyes, death by the scurrying downcast looks of the community, death by the voices closed to you. The silence would be overwhelming.”
Persaud ably tackles the perennial challenges of interracial marriage without travelling the dreadful road of cultural rigidity and resistance. 
Yes, “Daughters” sidesteps this lugubrious path (that leads to the unthinkable), preferring that of cultural accommodation, gender equality, and empowerment. Amira eventually adapts to her new environment. Her daughters follow suit, convincingly,
Recalling the tale of the owl and the panther, Vidya declares: “How can I be a panther? I would love to have a substantial growl.” The “girls” blossom succeeding handsomely, frequently visiting “home,” ultimately inculcating the best of both worlds.
But the author is bent on something far more edgy – barreling through unsettling waters of sexual harassment – and worse – the rape of Anjali by a renowned academician.
The predatory male complex, the struggle for female empowerment and the existential turmoil of Anjali – the book’s most sympathetic character, more than rescues this work from its periodic tedium. In fact, Anjali’s crisis creates that grayish tone of uncertainty, a mesmeric urgency, of sorts, that make for compelling reading going forward.
Overall, the author’s work proves poignant and meaningful. It showcases the best of Indian culture, replete with axiomatic lessons on tradition and the restoration of fraying inter-generational values. Unquestionably, Persaud has made her point.
Daughters of Empire by Lakshmi Persaud
Peepal Tree Press Ltd, 2012
Leeds, England
www.peepaltreepress.com
ISBN13: 9781845231873
Available: Amazon.com
Ratings: ***: Recommended
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