Book review:  Secret Keeper

Author: Mitali Perkins

Delacorte Press, 2009

Main character: Asha Gupta

Usually, I’m drawn into a book in the first paragraph however, Secret Keeper did it with the cover. I wanted to like this book before I even began it. And I was not disappointed.

We meet Asha (nicknamed Osh) leaving Delhi on the train with her mother and sister. Her father has lost his job and until he can send for his wife and children to join him in America, they must live with his family in Calcutta. Asha does not want to go as she has always felt friction from her uncle and grandmother. Yet, when she arrives she is respectful and courteous as tradition requires. Asha, her sister Reet and her mother give the proper greeting to their in-laws in quite the appropriate manner and grandmother responds by criticizing Asha’s thin shape and complimenting Reet’s well developed figure.

The family’s stay with in-laws becomes a bit longer than expected. It becomes long enough for Asha to develop a secret relationship with the boy next door and for Uncle to arrange a marriage for Reet.  The girls develop many skills during this time such as learning new card games, telling stories to their little cousins, managing the household staff and learning the etiquette of courtship.

Through Perkin’s skillful techniques, we learn of the many traditions, foods, clothing and practices in a changing 1970s India as they unfold smoothly in the story. Issues such as education for women, filial duty and one’s place in society are just of the few aspects of India that we see beginning to change in this story. We learn what it means to be a woman in India, and the importance of beauty and duty in maintaining one’s proper place. Asha, her sister and cousin are coming of age on the cusp of change in India. In the background, we hear the political situation and what a change in leadership could mean to this embryonic democracy. We know that these young people do not seem to want the same life as their parent’s generation, yet we see them honor tradition as they struggle for a new type of freedom. As Americans, we may not realize how difficult it can be to change the way things have always been done, actions that are based on beliefs and traditions. I think Perkins gives us a reason to cherish the past as much as she gives us reason to move forward. What a fine balancing act!