Mistress of Spices

Reading this book, to me, is like drinking after being sober for a year. Minus the alcholic side affects. But seriously. I haven't been to a library in a year, and then I went to a library the other day and found this book. It's awesome. It really is poetry woven into prose.

It starts with a girl called Nayan Tara. Her parents don't want her; she's a girl. So she wanders around her village and she somehow starts to know stuff. She knows which wealthy landlord is sleeping with her neighbor's maid. She predicts when there will be droughts and when there will be floods. She tells the village head exactly where to search for his ring. And everyone in the village bows down to Nayan Tara. The satisfaction and feeling of being special begin to ebb away, though, as Nayan Tara realizes that all she wanted was her family's love but got nothing but their fear.

One day, the pirates come, burning the village, raping the schoolgirls, stealing whatever they can find and destroying everything else. They see Nayan Tara and carry her away. For a few years, she lives as Bhagyavati, the pirate queen. Again, she is dissatisfied with her life and wishes for an end. A storm brews and just before she lands in the salty sea, life's sweetness comes back. Managing to survive, she meets the water snakes, the Nagas. They ask her if she's going to the island. "What island?" she asks. They tell her of the Island of the Spices, where the Old One lives. "But nevermind that" the Nagas say, "Come live with us as Naga Kanya."

Bhagyavati knows deep in her heart that she has to go the Island, and in the anger and slight that she has chosen the island over them, the snakes are never visible to her again. But she is taken in to the Island and the Old One examines her hands. They are not at all right. Too dry, too light, full of spots and blemishes. But she is taken, because the spices sing strongly in her hands. I think she changes her name again when she's taken, but I don't have the book with me.

So she's the strongest student on the island, full of arrogance and life. And on the final day on the island, it is time to choose a name and a place. Though the Old One names all of the other new Mistresses, this one chooses her own: Tilotamma, or Tilo for short. Tilo chooses her name after the spice "til" (sesame). And the Old One shows them places around the world, filled with people in need of the spices. Out of all of them, Tilo is adamant in choosing Oakland, California. She sets up an Indian Grocery and works her magic with the spices, helping those who come to her.

The abused wife, the bullied adolescent, the taxi driver, the feuding family, all immigrants who came left India behind for a better life come to Tilo's grocery and leave with spices to heal their hearts. But one day, another man comes in. He is not Indian. He is not in need. White and wealthy, the Lonely American asks Tilo for spice. She tells him no. But he appears in her visions, and suddenly, she wants. Tilo, the Mistress of Spices who swore to eschew desire, who took on the body of an old crone and vowed only to love her spices feels something in her heart rise for this man. His name is Raven and he tells Tilo her story. He loves her despite her outward age and buys her beautiful things.

Despite the knowledge that using the spices for her own purpose will take her powers away, she does. The spices sing to her and coax her to use them. To make her body young with turmeric, to ignite youthful passion with chili.

On the very last page, Tilo leaves the spices as Maya with Raven to find their life in Oakland. She has no powers, but the spices give her a new life with her true age.

It's beautiful. The whole book is beautiful. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a genius. The way the visions are conveyed and the thoughts that Tilo reads are just...OSM. And Raven's story kind of pulls at your heart too. It's the kind of book you can read over and over and over and never get bored with. And the subplots are amazing too. You really want to know what happens to each and every character, because the subplot characters are brought out so that each one has their own book within this one. The incorporation of each traditional spice is amazing as well.

Another thing I loved about it was the grip on the language. There's a lot of books in this genre, which is an Indian in American surroundings. They're usually written in very childish English and not beautiful. Not even pretty. Or, they're written with a teenage-concept full of FOBs and "omg India needs to get a life." This is THE best. It's an adult's point of view. And the control and the imagery is spectacular.

And it really is no surprise. The author teachers a Ph.D creative writing program at the University of Houston. It's supposed to be one of the best in the country. READ THIS BOOK.