The book presents the conflict that a young man experiences while growing up with his Indian parents and sister in Cambridge Mass. The parents honor their culture, and traditions while living in America. They try desperately to pass on this heritage to their children. Gogol (the son) distances himself from his family and culture. He attempts to make a new identity for himself. Although he is a successful young man, well educated - he is unable to maintain lasting relationships.
The author does a wonderful job portraying inner conflict and the long journey to true self discovery.

The book begins slowly. The main character is an average rather uninteresting young woman. It actually took me quite a while to warm up to her. Once all the characters were fully developed and "finishing the list" became the focal point, the book became compelling. It generates interesting topics for book club discussion.

This is an easy book to read, a page turner. The story is told by Jacob Jankowski, an elderly man in a nursing home. He is lonely and feels some what abandoned by his family. When the circus comes to town and sets up across the street from the nursing home, it is the biggest excitement these seniors have seen in a while. For Jacob, it is what sparks his memories and is a diversion from his loneliness. He recounts his life history, a compelling story of great loss and love he finds from a collection of interesting characters. A life with many twists and turns right to the very end.
This book made me think about the way our society treats our aging population. It also sparked thoughts of risks that we all take to keep what we hold dear.