Late Bloomers: A Novel
Deepa VaradarajanBut not Suresh & Lata, who have divorced after 36 years of unhappy marriage. Lata gets her first-ever job at a local university's music library & enjoys living alone in her condo. Suresh turns to online dating, eternally optimistic despite the never-ending lies of "[a]ll these internet women." And while Nikesh finds his father's dating adventures somewhat romantic, his sister, Priya, describes her father's behavior as "post-midlife crisis; act your age; ridiculous; embarrassment."
Late Bloomers is a novel that celebrates love--and the quest for it--in all of its many varieties: familial, romantic, parental, dutiful, young, old, passionate, passionless. Through complex characters & the many ways they knock together, Varadarajan offers a novel shaped--but not defined--by the flaws of its characters, a story that peels back their layers as they find their way as individuals and as a family.
Late Bloomers, at times laugh-out-loud funny & at times quietly heartbreaking, is an intricate novel about people who rediscover themselves. Or perhaps, by being honest with themselves & with each other, discover themselves for the very first time. -- Kerry McHugh, freelance writer (Odyssey Books Shelf Awareness)