The Ever After Of Ashwin Rao Tracks The Emotional Toll Of Violence

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Viswanathan, who was born inNelson, B.C., maintains herfocus on the emotional costs ofthe bombing; ideas on homeand morality occupy thesepages as the narrative exploresthe narrow margin betweencare and burden, and the urgentneed to set experience withinsome grander design.The Tossof a Lemon, Viswanathan’swidely acclaimed 2008 debut,was the generation-spanningchronicle of a Brahmin familyin 20th-century India anddemonstrated her sterling abilityto create vivid characters andbackdrops. Narrowing herscope now to achieve furtherdepth, the author illuminatesthe skeptical Ashwin’s interiorworld—his pining for an oldflame, his affinity for theSethuratnams’ fretful eldestdaughter—and presents themoral dilemmas facing the familypatriarch, Seth, who continuesto help a distant relativewhose own family perished onFlight 182.More than a memorialto the victims and thebereaved, The Ever After ofAshwin Rao charts how peoplenavigate their anguish, whiletestifying that “any single truthis itself an act of violence.”Padma Viswanathan willappear at Black Bond Booksin Surrey’s Central CityShopping Centre at 2 p.m.this Saturday (March 29).