Written in scars

In America, a man could become what he dreamed; in India, dreaming could undo a man.

Thrity Umrigar, The Museum of Failures

In Thirty Umrigar's wonderful 2023 novel The Museum of Failures, Remy's loving father raised him to escape India, move to America and make his dreams come true there. To a great extent, that is exactly what happens. At Ohio State, Remy meets Kathy, an American beauty, and marries her. Then he becomes very successful in business. Yet he had actually wanted to write poetry, and his and Kathy's dream of having a baby proved impossible. Perhaps his dreams could come true in India after all.

Remy returns to India alone when he learns of a young woman with an inconvenient pregnancy. She has agreed to let Remy and Kathy adopt her baby.

In Bombay, however, Remy discovers his mother, Shirin, in a hospital bed, unable or unwilling to eat or speak. His relationship with his mother has always been difficult. His late father had been the loving one, while his mother had always been distant, critical and sometimes cruel.

Yet his presence in her hospital room seems to revive Shirin, and slowly she begins to recover, even as his adoption plans run into difficulties. Remy's feelings toward his mother gradually change, especially when he discovers a long hidden family secret that causes him to rethink his attitude toward both of his parents. His family turns out to be very different than what he had assumed.

Late in her novel, Umrigar, who like her main character is a transplant from India to Ohio, writes that "everybody's story was written in scars." That is certainly true in The Museum of Failures.