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Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones: A Memoir
From a wry, insightful, and very funny new voice, here is one woman's peripatetic search for home, from Kashmir to England to Saudi Arabia to Michigan to Rome and, finally, to Los Angeles.
Priyanka Mattoo was born into a wooden house in the Himalayas, as were most of her ancestors. In 1989, however, mounting violence in the region forced Mattoo's community to flee. The home into which her family poured their dreams was reduced to a pile of rubble.
Mattoo never moved back to her beloved Kashmir—because it no longer existed. She and her family just kept packing and unpacking and moving on. In forty years, Mattoo accumulated thirty-two different addresses, and she chronicles her nomadic existence with wit, wisdom, and an inimitable eye for light within the darkest moments. She takes us from her grandparents' sprawling home in Srinagar, where her boisterous aunties raced through the halls; to Saudi Arabia, where friendships were gained and lost behind the sandstone walls of a foreigners' compound. We witness her courtship with a nice Jewish boy, now her husband, and her efforts to replicate her mother's Rogan Josh recipe via Zoom. And we are with her as she settles into her unlikely new homeland, Los Angeles, where she sets off on what is perhaps her most meaningful journey, that of becoming a writer.
Through these astonishingly poignant and often laugh-out-loud stories, Mattoo has given us an open-hearted, frank, revealing glimpse into a journey of almost constant motion, as well as a journey of self-discovery.
Priyanka Mattoo was born into a wooden house in the Himalayas, as were most of her ancestors. In 1989, however, mounting violence in the region forced Mattoo's community to flee. The home into which her family poured their dreams was reduced to a pile of rubble.
Mattoo never moved back to her beloved Kashmir—because it no longer existed. She and her family just kept packing and unpacking and moving on. In forty years, Mattoo accumulated thirty-two different addresses, and she chronicles her nomadic existence with wit, wisdom, and an inimitable eye for light within the darkest moments. She takes us from her grandparents' sprawling home in Srinagar, where her boisterous aunties raced through the halls; to Saudi Arabia, where friendships were gained and lost behind the sandstone walls of a foreigners' compound. We witness her courtship with a nice Jewish boy, now her husband, and her efforts to replicate her mother's Rogan Josh recipe via Zoom. And we are with her as she settles into her unlikely new homeland, Los Angeles, where she sets off on what is perhaps her most meaningful journey, that of becoming a writer.
Through these astonishingly poignant and often laugh-out-loud stories, Mattoo has given us an open-hearted, frank, revealing glimpse into a journey of almost constant motion, as well as a journey of self-discovery.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2024
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Shelved as 'dnf'
June 17, 2024DNF @ 65 pages.
This reads more like a bunch of personal essays / creative non-fiction than a traditional memoir. I enjoyed the 5 or 6 chapters I read well enough but ultimately it wasn't necessarily reeling me in the way I want to with something so personal. I'd still recommend giving it a try, especially if you are curious about reading from the perspective of someone who moved a lot during their life and is reckoning with their identity as tied to a nation/place.
This reads more like a bunch of personal essays / creative non-fiction than a traditional memoir. I enjoyed the 5 or 6 chapters I read well enough but ultimately it wasn't necessarily reeling me in the way I want to with something so personal. I'd still recommend giving it a try, especially if you are curious about reading from the perspective of someone who moved a lot during their life and is reckoning with their identity as tied to a nation/place.
February 17, 2024
I love memoirs! I love essays! I love independent women imbued with a sense of curiosity & wanderlust!
That being said, I thought I’d love this more than I did. Perhaps I had my expectations too high, but I felt like this was missing a wow factor that I couldn’t really put my finger on. I definitely still enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t put down or something that’s going to stick in my mind forever.
I think this book has an incredible title (obviously). Considering the front cover says “memoir,” I was expecting to read a more traditional memoir with a narrative arc, but this reads more like a memoir of essays. I really wish it was marketed as such, because I think I would’ve enjoyed my read more if I didn’t spend the first several chapters wondering why the story felt so choppy. I thing the final chapter (essay?) was particularly strong, and it tied together race, colonialism, “bird milk and mosquito bones,” and the concept of home really well. Excited to see what she does next!
(3.5 stars because of the aforementioned memoir/essay issue & lack of wow factor)
That being said, I thought I’d love this more than I did. Perhaps I had my expectations too high, but I felt like this was missing a wow factor that I couldn’t really put my finger on. I definitely still enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t put down or something that’s going to stick in my mind forever.
I think this book has an incredible title (obviously). Considering the front cover says “memoir,” I was expecting to read a more traditional memoir with a narrative arc, but this reads more like a memoir of essays. I really wish it was marketed as such, because I think I would’ve enjoyed my read more if I didn’t spend the first several chapters wondering why the story felt so choppy. I thing the final chapter (essay?) was particularly strong, and it tied together race, colonialism, “bird milk and mosquito bones,” and the concept of home really well. Excited to see what she does next!
(3.5 stars because of the aforementioned memoir/essay issue & lack of wow factor)
February 12, 2024
Priyanka Mattoo has written a sweet book about her life and her beloved Kashmir. Lucky for Priyanka she was born and raised partly in Kashmir along with a large extended family. With opportunity knocking, her father left for England with a job in hand as a doctor. Her mother joins later after she finishes her Phd, leaving behind her secure nest of relatives and childcare. At first London seems so strange but slowly her mother ventures out more, cooks more interesting foods, and Priyanka goes to school. Trouble strikes in Kashmir and the family scatters around the world, never really able to return and slowly this Kashmiri connection is hanging by a thread.
Her family are travelers and our author lives in many places around the world such as Saudi Arabia, Michigan, Rome and finally settles in Los Angeles. She writes lovingly of her family’s quirks, how they handle life and her lack of being able to speak her mother tongue. As she now has children, she wonders how she can keep her culture alive in America as Kashmir is more than just rituals and food.
The book is a lovefest for her life, her luck and her family. Mattoo is successful in so many areas, from talent agent to podcaster to effortless Indian cook. Now she is a writer, and we look forward to more.
Her family are travelers and our author lives in many places around the world such as Saudi Arabia, Michigan, Rome and finally settles in Los Angeles. She writes lovingly of her family’s quirks, how they handle life and her lack of being able to speak her mother tongue. As she now has children, she wonders how she can keep her culture alive in America as Kashmir is more than just rituals and food.
The book is a lovefest for her life, her luck and her family. Mattoo is successful in so many areas, from talent agent to podcaster to effortless Indian cook. Now she is a writer, and we look forward to more.
February 19, 2024
A really lovely memoir-in-essays from a writer who has lived all over the globe, and as a result has developed toughness, tenderness, and humor to create a sense of self and sense of home wherever she is.
My immediate desire was to look up Kashmir, this idyllic place that her family was forced to leave forever when she was a child. Kashmir is a region at the base of the Himalayas, with parts controlled/influenced by India, Pakistan, China, and even Afghanistan. Knowing this, we can understand it to be high conflict and highly militarized, but Mattoo let us in on a much richer history.
It piqued my interest that a place like this once existed, now doesn’t, and feels nearly unknown to the average American. I wanted to learn more. Later, she made me want to move to Rome. Or perhaps London. No so much Riyadh. I loved her family history - the story of her grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents, and little brother.
Despite the variety of global residences, Mattoo’s other stories were highly relatable: 1990s teen angst, learning to live with roommates, falling in love, and becoming a mother. The first and last essays were my favorite though, where Mattoo dug into the forces that led to her family’s around-the-world migration.
People with the most resilience are often able to make everyone in their presence feel comfortable and welcome, which is just what Mattoo accomplishes in this book.
Thank you Knopf for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
My immediate desire was to look up Kashmir, this idyllic place that her family was forced to leave forever when she was a child. Kashmir is a region at the base of the Himalayas, with parts controlled/influenced by India, Pakistan, China, and even Afghanistan. Knowing this, we can understand it to be high conflict and highly militarized, but Mattoo let us in on a much richer history.
It piqued my interest that a place like this once existed, now doesn’t, and feels nearly unknown to the average American. I wanted to learn more. Later, she made me want to move to Rome. Or perhaps London. No so much Riyadh. I loved her family history - the story of her grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents, and little brother.
Despite the variety of global residences, Mattoo’s other stories were highly relatable: 1990s teen angst, learning to live with roommates, falling in love, and becoming a mother. The first and last essays were my favorite though, where Mattoo dug into the forces that led to her family’s around-the-world migration.
People with the most resilience are often able to make everyone in their presence feel comfortable and welcome, which is just what Mattoo accomplishes in this book.
Thank you Knopf for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
June 15, 2024
What a wonderful thing to finish a book knowing you’d be best friends with the writer should you ever meet.
January 3, 2024
such a strong voice! and what a impactful journey. Mattoo did a beautiful job bringing the reader along as she learned to live life by her terms
July 5, 2024
Perfect, perfect book! This is so bold but I want Priyanka to be my mentor. Our lives feel awfully similar (dad’s careers moving us everywhere, leaning into creative careers timidly feeling like we have to live up to the expectations of our brainiac immigrant parents, tough exteriors even tough we’re mushy)! It’s a refreshing format for a memoir and I hope we can see more from Priyanka!
January 31, 2024
I received a copy of "Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones." By Priyanka Matoo. the author writes of the many countries she has lived during her life. Because of living in countries like India, Saudi Arabia, England, Rome and several states in the USA. She has learned to speak several languages. Had to live amongst different cultures. She also writes of her relatives including a beloved grandmother, Her little brother and her parents. And also many friends she has made over the years. She has lived around the world when her parents would move and when she studied in Rome and the USA such as Michigan.
She writes of her different careers over the years the good and the bad. I liked the author's book. I found it a bit frustrating thought when her chapters went all over the place in time. Like going from her childhood then skip to recent years then go back years ago. but is just my frustrations. I would give this book a 3.5.
She writes of her different careers over the years the good and the bad. I liked the author's book. I found it a bit frustrating thought when her chapters went all over the place in time. Like going from her childhood then skip to recent years then go back years ago. but is just my frustrations. I would give this book a 3.5.
June 17, 2024
The tap water in my current, grown-up family home is also hard, reminiscent of that summer. I use a built-in water filter most of the time, but if I ever make the lazy mistake of not wanting to walk downstairs, one sip from the wrong faucet takes me right back to the half-finished bathroom in Delhi, its tiny window, a spindly ray of sunlight worming its way through chemical clouds to illuminate one corner of that cursed space. (loc. 2255*)
There's a book that I've been meaning to read for a while, titled Home Keeps Moving—it's about growing up as a third-culture kid. The title seems apt for Mattoo as well: growing up in Kashmir and London and Saudi Arabia and the US, home kept moving. Home was meant to be Kashmir, where her parents were working from a distance to build a home and a life to move back to—but conflict devastated the region and devastated their chances of calling Kashmir home again. So home kept moving.
Mattoo writes early on about thinking that she could not be a writer because that conflict in Kashmir was not the story she wanted to tell: ...I didn't write at all, about anything, for a long time. I didn't know I was allowed. Brown pain, I learned as a small child in Western libraries, was interesting. Brown joy, brown ennui, spunky brown girl detectives—nowhere to be found. So, even though I worshipped books, I thought writing them was for other people. (loc. 234) So this is not a book about that conflict, but rather an exploration, in essays, of a childhood in and between places and an adulthood figuring out how to settle into her skin.
It took me a while to get into this, largely because it's marketed as a memoir and so I was expecting a more...oh, not a more linear narrative necessarily, but I didn't realize until well into the book that I was actually reading a collection of (mostly but not entirely chronological) essays. Still memoir, sure, but memoir-in-essays just requires a slightly different brain space. But with expectations adjusted, it's a beautiful work—Mattoo is so simultaneously unapologetic and wry about herself as a child in particular, describing herself as smart and stubborn and uncompromising in ways that did not always make her life easy. Some of the essays are better fits for me than others (I do tend to prefer those ones about childhood, though the way Mattoo talks about her family pressing her now-husband-then-boyfriend about marriage makes me laugh, because my Indian boyfriend's parents do the same thing on the regular), but they're exacting and with a wonderful sense for story. Well worth the read.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
There's a book that I've been meaning to read for a while, titled Home Keeps Moving—it's about growing up as a third-culture kid. The title seems apt for Mattoo as well: growing up in Kashmir and London and Saudi Arabia and the US, home kept moving. Home was meant to be Kashmir, where her parents were working from a distance to build a home and a life to move back to—but conflict devastated the region and devastated their chances of calling Kashmir home again. So home kept moving.
Mattoo writes early on about thinking that she could not be a writer because that conflict in Kashmir was not the story she wanted to tell: ...I didn't write at all, about anything, for a long time. I didn't know I was allowed. Brown pain, I learned as a small child in Western libraries, was interesting. Brown joy, brown ennui, spunky brown girl detectives—nowhere to be found. So, even though I worshipped books, I thought writing them was for other people. (loc. 234) So this is not a book about that conflict, but rather an exploration, in essays, of a childhood in and between places and an adulthood figuring out how to settle into her skin.
It took me a while to get into this, largely because it's marketed as a memoir and so I was expecting a more...oh, not a more linear narrative necessarily, but I didn't realize until well into the book that I was actually reading a collection of (mostly but not entirely chronological) essays. Still memoir, sure, but memoir-in-essays just requires a slightly different brain space. But with expectations adjusted, it's a beautiful work—Mattoo is so simultaneously unapologetic and wry about herself as a child in particular, describing herself as smart and stubborn and uncompromising in ways that did not always make her life easy. Some of the essays are better fits for me than others (I do tend to prefer those ones about childhood, though the way Mattoo talks about her family pressing her now-husband-then-boyfriend about marriage makes me laugh, because my Indian boyfriend's parents do the same thing on the regular), but they're exacting and with a wonderful sense for story. Well worth the read.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
July 4, 2024
By the time she was forty, Priyanka Mattoo accumulated thirty-two different addresses. In her memoir Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, she tries to explain the tragic, the trivial and the triumphs of her globetrotting.
Mattoo succeeds. She lets us into her life. If it were just about her home shifting every few years from one side of the globe to the other, it would make for a fascinating travelogue. But Priyanka Mattoo isn’t trying to tell us about places. She wants to reveal her life journey.
The conflicts that uprooted her from Kashmir. The culture shock of London and then Riyadh. Her adaptation to the U.S., first in suburban New York and then at the University of Michigan. Her choice of Italy for her study abroad year. Finally, Los Angeles.
Mattoo’s ability to adapt is well-served by her well-educated parents – her mother has a PhD, her father is a medical doctor. They helped her become a smart, world-wise woman and a good storyteller with volumes of amusing anecdotes from every corner of the planet and from a fascinating array of cultural perspectives.
The family stories she shares are my favorite. She describes Raksha Bandhan, the end-of-year celebration of the special relationship between brothers and sisters. She has always loved her brother Punit and in constant upheaval of their lives, they’ve only fought ounce. “Raksha Bandhan was our yearly reminder that we’d never be along as long as we had each other.”
I’ve been working on a memoir for the last couple years. Memoirs are tough. Every sentence begs the question – why am I writing this? Working in Hollywood, Priyanka Mattoo is no stranger to writing and she works hard at being open-hearted.
I could have done without the detailed recipe for her mother’s Rogan Josh, but I love her honesty.
Mattoo succeeds. She lets us into her life. If it were just about her home shifting every few years from one side of the globe to the other, it would make for a fascinating travelogue. But Priyanka Mattoo isn’t trying to tell us about places. She wants to reveal her life journey.
The conflicts that uprooted her from Kashmir. The culture shock of London and then Riyadh. Her adaptation to the U.S., first in suburban New York and then at the University of Michigan. Her choice of Italy for her study abroad year. Finally, Los Angeles.
Mattoo’s ability to adapt is well-served by her well-educated parents – her mother has a PhD, her father is a medical doctor. They helped her become a smart, world-wise woman and a good storyteller with volumes of amusing anecdotes from every corner of the planet and from a fascinating array of cultural perspectives.
The family stories she shares are my favorite. She describes Raksha Bandhan, the end-of-year celebration of the special relationship between brothers and sisters. She has always loved her brother Punit and in constant upheaval of their lives, they’ve only fought ounce. “Raksha Bandhan was our yearly reminder that we’d never be along as long as we had each other.”
I’ve been working on a memoir for the last couple years. Memoirs are tough. Every sentence begs the question – why am I writing this? Working in Hollywood, Priyanka Mattoo is no stranger to writing and she works hard at being open-hearted.
I could have done without the detailed recipe for her mother’s Rogan Josh, but I love her honesty.
June 19, 2024
3.5⭐️
This memoir in essays provides a glimpse into Mattoo’s life, which was constantly in motion as she and her family were forced to flee their beloved home in Kashmir amidst sociopolitical turmoil and navigate multiple global environments over time.
As a second generation South Asian American, many of Mattoo’s experiences resonated with me like her parents’ hypervigilance, family discussions around partnership/marriage, emphasis on academic success, and evolving friendships. This collection additionally provided an important and poignant reminder of the ways people of color often struggle under the weight of familial and cultural expectations yet are forced to be resilient and advance forward.
“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭���𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺…“
While I appreciated such honest, reflective writing interspersed with humor, hope, and relatable moments, the overall flow of the book felt a bit choppy. The essays are not chronologically structured (as I typically prefer) and overlap across time periods. However, I still recommend picking this up for a nuanced exploration of home and identity.
This memoir in essays provides a glimpse into Mattoo’s life, which was constantly in motion as she and her family were forced to flee their beloved home in Kashmir amidst sociopolitical turmoil and navigate multiple global environments over time.
As a second generation South Asian American, many of Mattoo’s experiences resonated with me like her parents’ hypervigilance, family discussions around partnership/marriage, emphasis on academic success, and evolving friendships. This collection additionally provided an important and poignant reminder of the ways people of color often struggle under the weight of familial and cultural expectations yet are forced to be resilient and advance forward.
“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭���𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺…“
While I appreciated such honest, reflective writing interspersed with humor, hope, and relatable moments, the overall flow of the book felt a bit choppy. The essays are not chronologically structured (as I typically prefer) and overlap across time periods. However, I still recommend picking this up for a nuanced exploration of home and identity.
July 11, 2024
Interesting memoir about Kasmiri girl that lived there with her large family and then met up with her physician father in England, Saudi Arabia, India with her extended family that had to leave Kashmir bc they are Hindu, NY, Michigan, Italy and finally LA. The women in her family are raised to be strong and educated by her grandfather that doesn’t believe they need to cook and clean. Her mother is a PhD. She is adored by her family for being smart and stubborn. Her nose is always in a book. It talks about her son, daughter and husband. Her interfaith marriage, college, life after law school. Her depression, her happiness, her parents.
Fun, interesting, quick read.
Fun, interesting, quick read.
July 24, 2024
This memoir is very well written and magical. Her stories cover big life issues (friendship, family, home) in a very relatable way. And her life is just fascinating! Like I follow her on Instagram now because she will definitely have more cool things to say. It did take me a few chapters to get into it tho. But then I couldn't put it down.
July 2, 2024
An interesting and charming collection of memoir essays by an intelligent and lovely writer.
Listening to Priyanka read them out loud while I was working in my gardens made me wish I could journey back to the Kashmir of her childhood.
Listening to Priyanka read them out loud while I was working in my gardens made me wish I could journey back to the Kashmir of her childhood.
July 11, 2024
4.5 stars
This was exactly the book I needed. The in-betweenness of being Indian-American. The nomadic lifestyle that leaves you feeling at home everywhere and never at home anywhere. The humor, the heart, the cultural dynamics. I loved it.
This was exactly the book I needed. The in-betweenness of being Indian-American. The nomadic lifestyle that leaves you feeling at home everywhere and never at home anywhere. The humor, the heart, the cultural dynamics. I loved it.
July 18, 2024
Phenomenally beautiful and, to me, relatable in expected and surprising ways. She takes both the quotidian and extraordinary details of her life and turns them into equally entrancing stories, and lovingly charts her family’s path across time and place. I was sad to finish it.
Want to read
November 11, 2023I found this book here!
July 4, 2024
the last essay was my absolute favorite & what a contradiction to end the memoir on
July 15, 2024
“Pain is passed down until someone has the bandwidth and resources to feel it.”
June 24, 2024
Everyone should read this book!!!
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