Truman State writer-in-residence makes an Indian family’s strife universal in ‘Land Where I Flee’

When a family has been separated by thousands of miles and two decades, getting back together is uncomfortable.

How to greet each other? “Hugging was too Western, a handshake too forced. They’d just awkwardly stare at each other and smile.”

Prajwal Parajuly, who is the Clayton B. Ofstad endowed distinguished writer-in-residence at Truman State University, has released his first novel, “Land Where I Flee.” In it, he has succeeded beautifully in making a very specific story universally relatable.

Set in the sliver of India between Nepal and Bhutan, the novel follows four siblings in their 30s who have traveled home for the birthday of their mean and controlling grandmother. Their identities are complicated by place, time and familial relationships.

Bhagwati was disowned when she married outside her caste. “Formerly Nepali-speaking Indian. Now Nepali-speaking-refugee-who’s-almost-American-and-travels-on-Refugee-Travel-Document.” She lives in Boulder, Colo., with her ostracized family and is bankrupt.

Agastaya infuriates his grandmother by refusing to marry. He’s an oncologist living in New York and is secretly gay. “Insufferable green-card holder — poster boy of upper-middle-class South Asian aspirations.”

Ruthwa describes himself as an “Indian of Nepalese origin.” His family hates him because he wrote an international best-seller that went too far detailing and exaggerating his family’s personal life.

And Manasa did everything right but is the most miserable of the bunch. Her grandmother simply hates her, though she was educated at Oxford and Cambridge and agreed to an arranged marriage within her caste. She lives in London.

Also in the mix is a eunuch, Prasanti, whom most Westerners would think of as a transvestite. She cares for the grandmother and is treated as a sibling to the others.

Every reader can relate to this story about strained family relationships, good intentions and old grudges. But what’s great is that the story is set in a world those same readers probably know little about.

The characters put names and faces to a region the world has watched in the aftermath of earthquakes. As shown through the eyes of Westernized natives, this very foreign landscape and culture is easy to understand and digest.

Parajuly melds disparate ideas in a uniquely palatable way. For example, Prasanti has locked the grandmother’s bedroom door to keep the grandchildren out. Ruthwa notes, “The key, along with its family of jangling siblings, goes into the vicinity of the eunuch’s bosom — that sanctum sanctorum where all is safe.”

Each character wants safekeeping but ultimately only one can bear the accompanying burden.

Home proves to be that place we all flee to and flee from.

To reach Anne Kniggendorf, send email to akknigg@gmail.com.

This story was originally published June 13, 2015 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Truman State writer-in-residence makes an Indian family’s strife universal in ‘Land Where I Flee’."