If life gets you down, spice it up with the unexpected. . .
Between the pressures to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and the humiliation of losing her job in Silicon Valley, Devi is on the edge—where the only way out seems to jump. . . .
Yet Devi’s plans to “end it all” fall short when she is saved by the last person she wants to see: her mother. Forced to move in with her parents until she recovers, Devi refuses to speak. Instead, she cooks . . . nonstop. And not the usual fare, but off the wall twists on Indian classics that her mother considers a culinary sin. Now family meals are no longer obligations. Devi’s know-it-all executive sister and her professor husband make it to dinner every night; her father can’t get enough; even her mother has to admit the cooking is irresistible.
Suddenly their lives become as surprising as the impromptu creations Devi whips up in the kitchen each night. Then a stranger appears out of the blue. Devi, it appears, had a secret—one that touches many a nerve in her tightly wound family. Though exposing some shattering truths, the secret will also gather them back together in ways they never dreamed possible.
As satisfying as Devi’s homemade blueberry curry—and interspersed with delicious recipes—this story mixes food, humor, warmth, and leap-off-the-page characters into a rich stew of a novel that reveals a woman’s struggle for acceptance in her family and herself.
“An honest look at how a young Hindu woman, torn between two cultures, reconnects with her family and, more important, with herself. The twist at the end is a bonus. Malladi’s third novel will definitely appeal to many readers. Highly recommended.”
“A portrait of expatriate nostalgia, shaded heavily with immigrant identity angst and generational conflict, by a leading multicultural voice.”
“Tantalizing…Malladi serves up a heart-warming story about family, love and acceptance.”
“The characters are drawn so clearly and strongly that readers will immediately be taken by the triumphs and tribulations of the Veturi family…A reading-group guide is bound into this heartfelt novel, which also provides a candid snapshot of fractious mother-daughter relationships.”
“Malladi blends her own ingredients – lifelong passions and unrequited love, secrets, accidents of fate, parallels, pain and reconciliation – into a rich but surprisingly subtle masala.”
“A wonderful book and probably Malladi’s best so far, Serving Crazy with Curry is a very inventive way of using recipes to help tell a story. While some books are noted for either a great story line or a great set of characters, this book can boast both.”