Serendipitous,
it seemed, Sharon Edwards herself graced The Book Club on 5th
January 2014 to read from Pioneer Boulevard. The author referred to the
book to share her background, education and travel sojourn and the description
in the ten stories left the audience wanting to ask her more.
The ten
stories in Pioneer
Boulevard, named for the Artesia, CA street that is known as Little
India, are set in the Indian community of Los Angeles. Most of the protagonists
are, like the author, women who have migrated to LA from India, but the book is
populated with characters from other countries, including Mexico, El Salvador,
Vietnam, Pakistan, and England.
Set in the
context of the recent economic crisis, the sense of an overstretched,
underfinanced world pervades these narratives. One woman must clinch the job
that will sponsor her work permit; another has to sell her wedding necklace to
pay the bills. A third learns about an unplanned pregnancy days after her
husband has received notice of an impending layoff.
Farcical and
somber, wry and tender, these stories draw us into the chaotic, comic world of
the pioneer, where habits of consumption and ways of relating—and even of
speaking—are constantly in flux.
Post the
reading, she succinctly answered all the questions coming from the listeners
bringing forth the mentality of the immigrants, the perception of the
Americans, the undertones of a sense of belonging to a nation, patriotism via
experiences of Indians in America. A few comparisons made with writing by
Jhumpa Lahiri, Sharon Edwards spoke of her voice in the book as her take, yet
not making it seem autobiographical.
Reported by Seema Chinchore
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