Review: A New Mantra

A New Mantra by Sapna Srinivasan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mira Sood has always been a dutiful Indian daughter, including an arranged marriage and moving to the US with her new husband. Now three years later, her husband Jay announces he wants a divorce, he's met someone else. No friends, no job, no money, no home, Mira is forced to move in with her rebellious cousin Laila and suffer the collective guilt trips of her mother and aunt - both of whom think she should move heaven and earth to get Jay to come back.

In a fit of madness Mira signs up to do a half-marathon, despite never having run a day in her life, and strikes up a friendship with Andy Fitzgerald, a seasoned runner who helps her train. Slowly Mira's life starts to come together, but is she willing to defy her family to achieve her own happiness?

I am always looking to broaden my reading so when I saw this book I thought this would be interesting, a novel about an Indian woman living in the US, written by an Indian woman living in the US. Unfortunately, I didn't really engage with the characters, maybe because it was written in the third person so it all felt a bit remote? Also, it all felt a bit repetitive, description of Mira's running three times a week, descriptions of the food Mira cooks, descriptions of Mira's guilt-laden conversations with her family, rinse-and-repeat. To me this sounded like the author had herself learned to run and was a bit evangelical about the process, wanting to share every milestone with the reader.

Overall, pleasant enough but I won't be requesting the second book.

I received a free copy of the book from the publisher Tule in return for an honest review.

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