*The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny*, now finished

This novel took me a long time to read, mostly because it was so good (and pretty long at about 660 pp.).  It keeps on getting better and more closely knit together, requiring additional levels of attention.  Apart from being an entrancing story and beautifully written, it is the best fiction I know on:

The near-metaphysical difficulties of immigrant assimilation

The strength and pull of Indian culture

The difficulties of escaping one’s own romantic past, most of all for women

The growing attitude gap between men and women in matters of romance

What Indians bring to America from “the old country,” whether they wish to or not

Loneliness in cosmopolitan modern life, and why it is so difficult to escape

The novel has multiple layers, and by the time you finish you realize the earlier story has a somewhat different meaning than you were thinking all along.  Desai pulls this off very well.  So this one is still recommended.  Here is a very good Adam Mars-Jones LRB review, really a masterful piece, noting it is full of spoilers.