Two Lives

Product Information

Her letter consists of two long, tumbling, chatty paragraphs cramming the writing-paper to the full; new sentences spring into existence before the previous ones are closed. She writes in the old German script, slanting strongly to the right. Her a’s and o’s are often left open to the elements, and she never crosses her t’s. (318) Something extraordinary... A thoughtful, engrossing narrative... This remarkable book offers rich rewards.

Vikram Seth is brilliant with his use of word visuals and descriptives.”>Two Lives” is a must read for everyone who is interested in World War II, The Holocaust, India, England, multi-cultural relationships, and a love that crosses all the cultural boundaries. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. She was dismissed from the theatre and in this way she lost all of her future. However, a life’s chance saved her this time, too: Stalin didn’t like the voice of the singer who had replaced her, so C. E. Antarova was returned to the Bolshoi theatre… Guidance from the Greatest: What the World War Two generation can teach us about how we live our lives During the course of his doctorate studies at Stanford, he did his field work in China and translated Hindi and Chinese poetry into English. He returned to Delhi via Xinjiang and Tibet which led to a travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983) which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.

Book Summary

In Two Lives, Trevor displays once again this ability to get at the core of people. The book is two novels, each one bearing a female protagonist who is going slightly mad. There is something to be said about the way we as a culture look at 'mad' women—the way we see women, and madness as their second nature; something that wouldn’t be there if it hasn’t always been; something to be anticipated, only a matter of time. It is always so that madness becomes the woman—seldom do we see her beyond the isolation of that opaque, unforgiving veil.

Neither Mary Louise nor Elmer Quarry are in love, but both desire to make the best of things. Complications ensue on their wedding night when it becomes obvious that Elmer will never be able to give Mary Louise the child that both he and she long to have, for Elmer is not only bald and paunchy, he is impotent as well. The story delves intricately into the ups and downs of the lives of his uncle and aunt. The text is frequently interspersed with photographs, letters, anecdotes based on Shanti’s interviews with the author, and other sources. Vikram Seth’s book Two Lives - a chronological documentary on the lives of his maternal grand uncle & aunt. It is based on his interaction with them, some interviews with his uncle & other relatives, and some letters and old documents which belonged to his aunt. But throughout the book I couldn’t figure out why he still wrote it. Could it be because: This is arguably a single superbly written novel. But it is composed of two different novellas that William Trevor wrote at different times and later chose to combine. His talents as a writer are displayed here at their finest. Today I am feeling that after thirty years of reading his works, this is his best. Two Lives: A Memoir (2005) by international bestselling author Vikram Seth tells the story of Seth’s aunt and uncle and their letters to each other, and how their relationship survived WWII. The book has been generally well received, particularly by critics. It was nominated for both the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography/Memoir, and the 2006 Crossword Book Award for Nonfiction. Seth wrote Two Lives after his mother suggested it would make a good story.

I discovered William Trevor through his short stories a couple of years ago, and am now working my way through his novels. His writing is so subtle and understated, and yet he manages to capture the fragility, the vulnerability and the randomality of the human experience. The book is written in a simple and direct language, but it is also rich in symbolism. The imagery of the two lives, Shanti and Shanti Behari Seth, serves as a powerful symbol of the book's themes of family, identity, and the human condition.