Gifted: A Novel

By Nikita Lalwani

Rumi Vasi is 10 years, 2 months, 13 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes, and 6 seconds old. She’s figured that the likelihood of her walking home from school with the boy she likes, John Kemble, is 0.2142, a probability severely reduced by the lacy dress and thick woolen tights her father, and Indian émigré, forces her to wear. Rumi is a gifted child, and her father, Mahesh, believes that strict discipline is the key to nurturing her genius if the family has any hope of making its mark on its adoptive country.

Four years later, a teenage Rumi is at the center of an intense campaign by her parents to make her the youngest student ever to attend Oxford University, an effort that requires an unrelenting routine of study. Yet Rumi is growing up like any other normal teen: her mind often drifts to potent distractions . . . from music to love.

Rumi’s parents want nothing other than to give Rumi an exceptional life. As her father outlines ever more regimented study schedules, her mother longs for India and forcefully reminds Rumi of her roots. In the end, the intense expectations of a family with everything to prove will be a combustible ingredient as an intelligent but naive girl is thrust into the adult world before she has time to grow up.

In her stunningly eloquent debut novel, Nikita Lalwani pits a parent’s dream against a child’s. Deftly pondering the complexities and consequences that accompany the best intentions, Gifted explores just how far one person will push another, and how much can be endured, in the name of love.

Advance praise for Gifted
“A triumph . . . fluid, original, clever, glitteringly vivid, funny . . . All the conventional pieties and forms of Indian immigrant identity and trauma are so wittily preempted, and yet there’s a sure grasp, at the serious core of the novel, of the deep reverberations of politics and history. I couldn’t bear it when it ended.”
–Tessa Hadley, author of The Master Bedroom

“This is an outstanding piece of writing–rich, vivid, fluent, and well paced–with a wonderful cast of well-developed, engaging characters and a constantly surprising story line.”
–Gerard Woodward, author of A Curious Earth

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 19, 2008
• ISBN: 9781588368096

Reviews for Gifted

[mooingzelda · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gifted tells the story of Rumi, the daughter of Indian immigrants to Britain and a young maths prodigy who ends up going to Oxford at the age of 15, towards the end of the 1980s. The novel is a coming of age tale that also looks at the experience of being first and second generation immigrants, with some sections told from the POV of Rumi's parents.I really enjoyed the novel at first, especially as I found Rumi to be very relatable. I was never any kind of prodigy, but I have Indian immigrant parents who came over in the early 80s and so I could identify with a lot of the parts examining the immigrant experience. I also found myself nodding at the parts detailing the extra awkwardness of going through the emotional turmoil of puberty while dealing with the trauma of trying to fit into a culture that your family isn't fully assimilated into.However, I became slightly less enamoured with the novel in later sections. I'm not sure how much the reader is really allowed to get inside the heads of the Vasi family, which means it's difficult to get a sense of any real character development. I was also slightly frustrated with the ending and the epilogue - it's all a bit abrupt and I think more could have been made of it. As an aside, I've read that this novel seems to echo the real life story of a young maths prodigy whose early entry to university follows a similar path to Rumi's (some of the finer details are very similar!).

[johnwbeha · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I fail to understand how this book appeared on the Man Booker longlist. I can only assume that the publisher, Viking, pushed it very hard. I just don't think that this book is well enough written to deserve such an accolade. In my opinion, it lacks character delineation and development and the plot has quite a lot of holes. For example, there is a total lack of interaction between the family and Rumi's secondary school; surely someone, somewhere would have raised concerns about the lack of any breadth in her studies. Why was she allowed not to attend school in the run-up to her A-Level? How did his work colleagues find out about her and the boy?
There are some interesting parts, mainly about her wanting to be part of school and teenage life, but I certainly did not find it "A Compelling Read"!
Others have commented on their disappointment with the ending; it was sad but inevitable, but not particularly well written.
I would not have chosen to read this book and I think I will find it difficult to discuss in depth at our book group because of my antipathy towards it. I would certainly not recommend it to anyone else.

[kbuxton_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read Nikita Lalwani's Gifted a few weeks ago and was a bit at a loss right away for the right description of it. The main character is a gifted girl in Wales, the daughter of Indian immigrants. It reminded me a bit of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake (given the whole Indian-immigrants-trying-to-adjust-to-a-new-society thing) though I didn't like it as well. Not bad, just not as compelling a read.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rumika Vasi is a bright child and seems especially gifted at math--her father's academic specialty. But in the course of reading Gifted, I began to question whether Rumi was truly gifted or just pushed to extremes by her ambitious parents. Her father, Mahesh, determined that she would be the youngest child ever (at 15) to pass her A and O levels and enter university, schedules her every waking moment around studying for the exams. Rumi makes the grade, but neither she nor her family lives happily ever after.While Gifted had its moments of originality, I think perhaps I have read one too many novels about the generational and cultural conflicts of Indian-born parents and their "modern" children, born after their immigration to the UK, the US, and Canada. Inevitably, the parents come off as rigid, isolated, overly ambitious, and judgmental, while the kids just want to be like the kids next door. After awhile, it becomes formulaic. That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend Gifted to someone who hasn't overloaded on this type of story or who has a special interest in coming-of-age or immigrant stories. Lalwani's characters--particularly Shreene, the mother--are well drawn, and the novel takes some unexpected turns towards the end.

[frisbeesage · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gifted is an interesting look at the immigrant experience through the eyes of a young math prodigy. Rumika is the daughter of two Indian emigres, her highly disciplined father and her very religious and traditional mother. Both see Rumi as their prodigy, their one real chance to succeed beyond measure. But Rumi is just a young girl, never allowed to let loose and be normal. As she nears accomplishments even her parents never thought she could reach the tension within her builds. In the end Rumi has to decide for herself how much she is willing to sacrifice for her parents ambitions.This is a complicated book with many layers. While most of the book is about the highly competitive world of child prodigies it also touches on the immigrant experience, arranged marriages, racism, and coming of age in America. Gifted is well-written with an easy flow that made it a quick read despite the heavy content and often dark tone. This is a book that made me think long and hard about the ethics of how we choose to raise our children.I listened to the audio version of Gifted. It was beautifully read by Sneha Mathan. She captured the quickly shifting moods of a teenager perfectly. I'm a sucker for a lovely accent and Sneha's is obviously perfect for this book.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn’t get inside the head of the main character as much as I might have wished. The author did better getting inside the head of the parents of the main character, especially the mother. The main character is prodded and pushed, scheduled and organized, from the time she enters school by her parents. As one might expect, the prodding and pushing has deleterious results.

[bookslifenmore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Rumika Vasani a 9 year kid living in Cardiff. Her family comprises of a professor father (Mahesh), a working Mom (Shreene) and a 9 year younger brother (Nimbu). Rumi’s lives the life of an average child till the day,

her teacher Mrs. Gold comes to her home and tells her parents that their child is Gifted, A gifted Mathematician to be precise. Thereon starts the struggle of this kid, a struggle to fulfill her father’s dream. He wants Rumi to finish her A Levels at the age of 15 years (would like somebody to clarify the education system). Her father wants to prove that despite being an Asian he can get his daughter admitted to Oxford on her own merit and without any help from anybody. The story is about

• Rumi’s struggle to prove her father that she is focused enough.
• About Rumi’s life being centered around studies & Math’s per se.
• It is about the kid having normal fantasies for her age but them being curbed.
• About Rum’s mother who thinks that she should instill the cultural values which should be there in an Indian girl.
• About Rumi’s kid brother who wants to play with her sister but is not allowed to, so how he snatches moments with her is quite endearing.

Few disturbing excerpts from the book “The absence of Mahesh left her off centre, nervous and hungry for the rush of feelings that crept into her unmonitored heart with each new stimulus. She was freed from the guiding signals of his face, the expressions of affirmation, suspicion & disapproval that had been her barometer for so long.”These are the thoughts of Rumi and sadly show how dependent on her father she is and a clear lack of confidence. ‘I’ll do it’, she said, standing behind Mahesh, viewing his back with venom. You, disgust me, not just the other way round, she thought. You didn’t even have the guts to close the deal, tighten your grip when you put your hands round my neck….Is anything in this world worthy enough if it generates this much hatred from your own kid? The book is quite slow in parts but there is an undercurrent of sadness in the whole story which affects you. Things which I carried back with me

** Is putting pressure on a kid the right way to make her perform? ** How fair is it to isolate your kid from a normal life just to attain an academic goal? ** We are always creating a hue and cry on racism but, sometimes it is not in the minds of people whom we think are being racist but its in our minds & imagination that it is being practiced on us.** Being frank with your kids and creating a balance between education and other activities is a must. ** Her mother’s character is also very disturbing. I carried it back with me for a long time. Her frustrations of not being able to do anything for daughter are captured very well. He rsadness on her daughter drifting away from her is heart wrenching. I’ll recommend this book specially to people who have kids and to everyone in general . The debutant author has very beautifully captured the mind of a 15 year old kid. Who is not being allowed to behave like a teenager. It somehow is very close to reality, the reality of ever increasing competion in education and a strive to leave everyone behind to reach the top. But when you reach at the top you realise you are not only alone but bitter too.....

[plenilune · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i loved this book. except the epilogue. i found it completely unnecessary and it deflated what i thought was an excellent open ending. it's a four-star book pulled down by what feels to be a tacked-on close.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting story about the gifted daughter of Indian parents who push her to excel, and her struggle with being different intellectually and culturally from her peers. Her parents' abuse of her was difficult to read about, as was her addiction to cumin seeds of all things. The book felt autobiographical, in that it was almost too real, and the ending seemed an almost forced attempt to add perspective to the story. But, all in all, I really enjoyed it.

[donna828 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The lovably weird Rumi has a propensity for lying and finds solace in numbers. This is one character that is going to be stuck in my head for a long while. She will probably always feel like an outsider due to her label as Gifted and her bizarre upbringing. She is socially awkward, has some COD tendencies, and a strange addiction to cumin, but I couldn't help rooting for her in her struggle for normalcy with her harsh and judgmental parents. This must be good writing, as I am thinking of Rumi as a real person.Much has been written on LT both pro and con. What can I add except that even smart kids just want to be kids. Reminiscent of Goldberg's Bee Season, without the mystical slant.

[bibliobibuli_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lalwani’s novel raises the question of how much can you push your kids academically?Rumika is 10 years old 2 months 13 days 48 minutes and 4 seconds old when the novel opens. When she was just 5, her teacher came to the house to tell her parents that she was a gifted child, and that this gift should be nurtured.Rumika's father, Mahesh, is a maths professor at Cardiff university, and knows that hard work is the immigrant's path to respect and recognition. He takes the idea of coaching his daughter on board and runs with it, imposing a strict regime on her that borders at times on abuse.Rumika longs for normalcy, but as she is forced to study ever harder, her relationship with her cold and scornful father deteriorates even further and she also finds her isolation from her friends increasing. As she enters adolescence she has to carve some freedom for herself, but ends up doing things which are risky and stupid - shop lifting, calling emergency services just because she wants to speak to someone, and harming herself. She also, quite comically, becomes addicted to cumin and munches her way through vast quantities of it. The only period of respite is a trip to India with her mother, Shreene.Lalwani does a very good job of depicting the sense of loneliness and dislocation in the family, and gets right inside her characters and exposes them. No matter how unlikable Mahesh is, we can understand his motivations and fears. Shreene is caught up in traditional notions of propriety and finds it difficult to navigate the compromises that must be made, not only to adapt to British society, but also to be able to understand and reach out to her daughter.This might make for painful reading but there are also some wonderfully comic moments in the novel, my favourite - Shreene trying out a bikini wax after reading about it in a woman's magazine.Rumika wins a place to Oxford, one of the youngest students ever allowed to do a degree course and the move gives her some of the freedom she has been waiting for. Lalwani builds up the sequence of events convincingly and Rumi’s actions come as no surprise. In fact we’re cheering for her as she asserts her independence in the final scenes of the book.This is a novel that young adult readers, particularly those experiencing examination pressure themselves will enjoy very much indeed. It is also an excellent cautionary tale for overly ambitious parents who should be treated to a copy of it by their kids immediately!

[rosecityreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Appropriately enough for a book about math, Gifted is more than the sum of its parts. It is the story of a math prodigy, a coming-of-age novel, and a look at immigrant life. But it all comes together in a way that is so interesting, so satisfying, that it is a truly great novel of general appeal.The heroine, Rumi Vasi, is the “gifted” young daughter of Indian parents living in Wales. Driven by her parents to excel in mathematics, Rumi achieves their highest hope for her – acceptance at Oxford University when she is 15. Lalwani masterfully captures the awkwardness and inner turmoil of this out-of-place adolescent.Lawani’s writing is remarkably polished for a first novel. Her language does not get in the way of the story, either by being distractingly beautiful or stumblingly clunky. The words flow so naturally you do not notice them, allowing the story to unfold with natural grace, right up to the suitably dramatic ending with its hope of positive resolution.

[cindyfrag · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the premise and was excited to read it. Unfortuately I just could bear it. Maybe my expectations were misguided, but I was disappointed. I normally decide by page 100 if I'm going to continue reading, but I made an exception with this book and persevered. I made it to page 150 and before I decided I just couldn't continue. I found the story very slow moving and uninteresting. Perhaps other readers will enjoy it more, but this one was just not for me.

[rawlski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Gifted” is the coming of age story of Rumi Vasi, a “gifted” math student, who is admitted to Oxford at 15. Rumi’s father works to ensure that Rumi’s “gift” is fully realized often pushing/pressuring her. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, however, found it difficult to read as Rumi’s story was often depressing. The author does a great job of developing the character and making the reader sympathize with her throughout her many ordeals.

[amysisson_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first, this book reminded me quite a bit of The Bee Season by Myla Goldberg, because both are about a young female prodigy pushed on by an ambitious father who gets caught up in the child's success. However, I'm afraid I was unable to relate to the characters in Gifted. While I enjoy details and complex thought processes, the little episodes and vignettes related in this book not only moved slowly, but also ultimately told me little about the characters' actual motivations. I also was unable to feel the joy in Rumi's mathematical exercises and accomplishments, unlike Bee Season in which I did feel the intellectual delight that the little girl experienced in her spelling. I'm afraid this book just didn't work for me.

[gocam_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

On an intellectual level, this is an interesting narrative set around a family those experience highlights both the pros and cons of the cultural melting pot approach to immigration so common in Europe and Canada ( less so in the US ) - where the immigrant experience is one of only partial integration (commonly within less than cosmopolitan environments), with great importance placed on cultural and religious survival within the host country.Rumi's parents struggle with being caught in a strange limbo - on the one hand proud and hard working, but socially excluded, and excluding themselves from a greater integration with society, while clinging to a past they worked hard to escape and to which they remain only lightly connected. They lack cohesive contact with either those that share their background, or others in the population. In the midst of this, their daughter suffers the brunt of the tension - unable to grow culturally as fast as those around there, and not benefitting from her parents historical context, Rumi is driven, literally, to excel academically almost to the exclusion of all else. Thus the pivotal visits back to India take on an even greater importance as they provide some sort of social contact that goes at least some way to explain why her parents are the way they are, and why they are raising Rumi in the manner they do.This is all interesting, and of course high drama ensues as Rumi grows and her parents are less able to control her feelings, while still trying to impose their stern will.But ultimately we don't learn enough about what drives the parents to be the way they are - they act harshly with their daughter, are insistent that her she follow a pre-ordained arranged marriage path, that her interactions with other be limited, and that she excel academically. But we don't get a good picture for what ideal they are holding on to so passionately, nor why they go through certain motions - why does Rumi's dad play chess so regularly with a character who would surely not do so after so many repeatedly boring and humourless interactions? What does her mum wish for ? Why did they move to Wales at all ? Rumi's second visit to India is full of interesting observation, but, again, the events that eventually transpire seem contrived.There are some grand passages, good ideas, wonderful observations and engaging enough writing within this book, but at the end I felt rather relieved to be leaving the characters' world, to be honest. This is a great first effort, but I look forward to seeing what Lalwani does next.

[bookwoman84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As one of those "for whom a family's love and high expectations have proven to be less than a perfect blessing," as the Editorial Director's note at the front of my copy of Gifted states, I started reading this book expecting to find some form of gifted-kid kinship (if you want to call it that) with Rumi.In a way, I suppose I did, though not the one I expected. My connection came not from Rumi's bridling against her father's near-sadistic rules for studying and blind quest to see her do well at any and all costs, but from the general quiet disappointments of growing up at large. Gifted or not, teenagerhood is a painful and destructive age, and one Lalwani captures with the practiced eye of one who has survived its battles.

[msbaba · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nikita Lalwani's celebrated debut novel Gifted tells the tragic story of the slow nine-year implosion and disintegration of an immigrant Indian family trying to raise their mathematically gifted daughter in Cardiff, Wales—a culture that the parents poorly understand and privately loathe. The book delves deeply into how even the most well-intended educational objectives can have deeply harmful—and even tragic results—particularly when they are played out upon a stage of cultural bias and emotional blindness. This is the tale of Rumi Vasi, a sweet child who finds immense satisfaction, beauty, and mystery in numbers. As a very young child, Rumi learns to interpret the world through numbers—numbers are fascinating, harmonious, and enticing. In particular, she loves the number 512. It is friendly because it can be created through a process of repeated doubling and this reminds her of her father's two open hands lovingly cradling her face between his palms. But all this natural joy for numbers comes crashing down around her when, at age five, her parents are told by Rumi's teacher that she is a mathematical genius—that they need to intervene in her education to make sure she makes the best of her talents. The teacher suggests she be introduced to Mensa, a society for highly gifted children and adults. Instead, Mahesh, Rumi's controlling and emotionally blind father decides to take the task entirely on himself. There is a great deal of cultural mistrust and misunderstanding behind this fateful decision. Mahesh develops a rigorous study routine that leaves Rumi almost no chance for play, self-development, or self-discovery. Mahesh knows all too well how difficult it is for an immigrant to become successful in Great Britain—doubly so when this person is a member of a culture, like India, that Mahesh strongly feels is misunderstood and undervalued. To succeed in this unyielding and unforgiving new environment, he fiercely believes that Rumi must not only be outstanding, she must be the very best—a nationally recognized child prodigy capable of gaining admittance to Oxford when she is only 14 years old. That is the lofty goal that Mahesh sets for his daughter. By the end of the novel, Rumi is deeply harmed but on a possible path toward recovery. Her father, on the other hand, is publicly humiliated in the national media and abandoned by his daughter. He becomes a fully tragic figure despite the fact that we have little reason to identify with or like this controlling, highly judgmental, and emotionally-damaged character. The author leaves us to ponder what it could be that has made Mahesh the unpleasant, emotionally crippled person he has become. Rumi's mother, Shreene, is also a tragic character. The author develops her carefully and lovingly, and by the end of the work, we care a great deal about this highly intelligent, fragile, and self-sacrificing human being. There is tragedy at the center of Shreene's life before the book begins—and it only gets worse as the story unfolds. In the end, we are left with the hint that Sheene's life could (perhaps in time) be redirected successfully toward a happier and more self-fulfilling course. One can't help asking: what would have happened to this family if they had remained in India—had they not immigrated to Great Britain? Unquestionably, they would have been less well-off financially—materialistically—but as a family, there is no doubt that in India, each member would have flourished emotionally—in India there would have been no tragedy at the core of their lives. So who is the villain here? Surely, the villain and the book's core message is one of failed multiculturalism. Is this not an extremely valid message for our times?Now, let me ask an even tougher question: what would have happened to this family if they had immigrated to a fictional Great Britain where cross-cultural understanding and valuation were actively encouraged, honored, and rewarded? Again, I think it unlikely that the tragedies at the core of this novel would have occurred. But (and this is a big "but") Mahesh brings with him great cultural animosity and outright hatred for Pakistanis and, by transference, all Muslim cultures, so this family would have had great trouble adopting a positive multicultural attitude in their new home. This proves that the villain in this novel is not the father, but the rampant lack of understanding and acceptance for other cultures that festers at the foundation of virtually all our societies worldwide. Gifted is being marketed both as an adult and a young adult novel. It has been longlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize, so there should be little question that the novel has strong literary merit and is worthy of being included in the young adult curriculum. This book has much to teach the young about the importance of cross-cultural understanding and valuation. As a society, we must learn how to diminish cross-cultural failure—we must learn to improve assimilation, cross-cultural understanding and valuation. This book could help in a small, but significant, way to achieve these goals. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It touched my heart and it left me with a great deal to ponder. I recommend it highly.

[theblindhog · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nikita Lalwani's debut novel is a coming-of-age story, an immigrant's tale, and a compelling cautionary tale all rolled into one. Set in Cardiff, Wales, the story centers on Rumi, a child maths prodigal of Indian descent whose family emigrated to Britain the year she was born. Her domineering father is a professor at a local university and her mother is a well-educated housewife suffering from severe melancholy and homesickness. For different reasons, neither parent is equipped to deal with the news that their ten-year-old is a math prodigy. The driven father, seizing on her childish desire to become one of the youngest ever to attend Oxford, establishes a regimen of study so ambitious that it consumes virtually every waking moment she has, to the exclusion of all other activities. The mother, who already bears a dark grudge against the man whose ambition forever separated her from her beloved homeland, now finds even more to resent as father and daughter form a closeness she feels unable to affect. But all between father and daughter is not well, and as the crucial exams draw near, greater still grows Rumi's sense of alienation and disaffection. Tellingly, Rumi's stress manifests itself in secret vices and very open outbursts of anger that threaten to destroy more than her dreams. "Gifted" is at heart a story about the caustic effect of parents who objectify their offspring, but it is also provides a fascinating glimpse at the immigrant experience and the corrosive effect Western cutlure can have on Eastern sensibilities.

[library_kate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gifted delves into the rarely exposed territory of a female, cultural minority, who has a mathematical gift. It does so without pretense, ponderous prose, or extraneous chatter. Rather, it shows the reader the personality traits of this young woman in a sparse, exquisitly detailed, clean, and very honest language. The writing magnifies the impact of the story by mimicing the mathematical themes. The reader can easily be so swept into the characters that the cultural overlay is absorbed only peripherally and finally only realized after contemplation of the novel in greater depth. One is so immersed in the characters that it is easy to forget they are part of a larger world.The story flows with exquisite descriptions that provide a deeper understanding of the conflicts and characters. It was a rare treat to read, I look forward to more from Lalwani!

[writestuff_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nikita Lalwani's debut novel Gifted is filled with vivid characterization and decidedly readable. Rumi, a second generation Indian with a gift for mathematics, is growing up with her family in Cardiff, Wales. Her father, Mahesh, drives her to achieve what only a few others have accomplished: acceptance at Oxford University at the age of fourteen. He is unrelenting and rigid in setting up Rumi's schedule of studies - which last for hours after school beginning when she is only five years old. It becomes apparent early on, that Mahesh's motivation is less about Rumi's future, and more about his own feelings of inferiority.Nikita Lalwani was born in India and raised in Cardiff, Wales - a predominantly white, Christian city - and I believe she must surely identify with Rumi who loves India from afar and wishes she were like the other children in her school. Rumi wants to be accepted in her adopted country - and is like any young girl moving from childhood to adolescence. But, Rumi's family clings to their Indian culture, isolating Rumi from her peers and demanding she surpass them academically. It is heartbreaking when Rumi asks her mother about sexual intercourse only to be told: "Forget science. That is their science, for white people. We do not do that."Rumi's mother, Shreen, is vividly drawn - a woman who gave up her dreams of becoming a doctor to marry a controlling man who moved her away from her family and the country she loves. Shreen is a tragic character, and someone the reader pulls for throughout the novel. She is the person we hope will rescue Rumi with her love. The relationship between Rumi and Shreen is painful, but realistic - and it tugs at the reader's heartstrings.As the novel unfolds, the divide between cultures seems to grow wider. There is a sense of doom that pulls the reader through the story, a feeling of voyeurism as we yearn to see how it will all end. Gifted is a novel about love and boundaries, about defining success, about the fine line between protecting one's children and smothering them. I found myself staying up long past my bedtime to finish this book - and it is one that I will be thinking about for a long time.Recently nominated for the Booker Prize long list, this is a book which is highly recommended.

[cms519 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this book about a young math genius, Lalwani tackles issues including adolescence, gifted children, parental pressure, and the difficulty of raising a family in a society with values different from one's own. Lalwani's success with character development is a bit uneven. Rumika, the girl to whom the title refers, is likable, sympathetic, and has just enough quirks to seem real (the passages about her secret cumin habit are almost too vivid- my mouth felt raw when I read them). Rumi's parents are also fairly full characters. I wish that some of the other characters had been better developed. Whitefoot, Nibu, and the girls from Rumi's school all serve a purpose but seem a bit flat. Overall, this is an interesting portrait of an Indian family in Wales, supporting (and often pushing) their academically inclined daughter and the difficulties she encounters as a gifted child.

[jennyo_587543 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gifted is the story of Rumi Vasi, a young Indian girl living in the UK. She's labeled as 'gifted' in math as a five year old, and her father, a math professor himself, spends the next ten years making sure she's a prodigy.I thought the book was brilliant. I found myself wanting to scream at Rumi's father, wanting to make him see what he was doing to her. Yet, I was also torn by the fact that he and her mother thought they were doing the best possible thing they could for Rumi. By how hard it is for parents to let their children grow up without forcing them into the molds we set for them, trying to make them better, smarter, stronger than we are ourselves. The story just ripped me up emotionally and will, I think, stay with me for days and days. It may be hard for me to start another book as these characters have really invaded my thoughts.I'll definitely be recommending this book to my reading friends. I hope it gets a wide audience.

[meerka_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lalwani’s descriptions of Indian food, traditions, clothing and streetlife are the bright spots in this story of an Indian family culturally lost in Wales. In the family’s effort to make their daughter a math superstar, they stunt her growth as an individual and force her into self-destructive behaviors to achieve a semblance of peace. Lalwani gives us no doubt of the young girl’s passion for math with lyric descriptions of the calculations ever present in her thoughts. Covering many years in the course of the book, Lalwani describes the violence of Partition in a concise yet brutally unforgettable account. On a minor scale, there is a similar schism between female adolescence/expectations of Indian women in Western culture, and traditional male-dominated roles.I forced my way through the first few pages of my ARC, wondering if I wasn't giving the book a chance since my subconscious knew this was a first novel. Eventually I came to see the beauty of the numbers Rumi felt inside her, rejoiced that she so adored her younger brother, and delighted in the descriptions of Rumi's landlady. Was Rumi's beating from her father necessary? Did Rumi need to be the focus of her mother's anger? I've read no fiction that better depicted the horror of Partition, but as a Desi coming of age story there are others far more insightful and educational to this white American reader. I also question this as a book to be classified as YA as the marketing campaign suggests.As an artist, the paisley design on the cover is brilliant!

[mindfulone_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book quickly but found myself thinly satisfied at the end. Rumi's character and internal life were flat and undeveloped; the author attempted but fell short of her target. I felt a detachment from all the characters. I felt I was reading descriptions instead of internal experiences of consciousness. In fact, it reminded me of a psychological case study rather than a story.For a woman as sheltered as Rumi, the scenario with the Muslim college student rang false. She was entirely too confident for someone as socially unskilled as her character is.I did enjoy that she made an escape from her straightjacketed life in the end. The potential reconciliation suggested by her agreement to meet with her mother seemed gratuitous, though. The mother was the least sympathetic character in the story. (And I think the relationship dynamic between the husband and wife had such potential for the story but was neglected.)Still, the novel had enough power to keep me reading until the end. Lalwani has potential but needs to more fully develop her characters. I would not read this book again, nor would I keep it, but I did pass it along to a friend to read.

[brewergirl · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Rumi, a mathematically gifted child, at ages 10, 14, and 15. Her parents emigrated from India to Wales, and Rumi has lived in Wales her whole life with a couple of trips back to India. Her whole life revolves around her father's efforts to get her admitted to Oxford early (strict study schedules, practice exams, etc.). Her mother meanwhile tries to uphold traditional cultural values and roles within the home and is resentful of having to leave India. I never really connected with any of the characters, and I found myself not really caring what happened to them. Outwardly Rumi seemed to struggle both with her parents' expectations and with normal adolescent nightmares, but I never got a clear sense of what she was feeling or thinking ... just how she reacted to a series of somewhat disjointed situations. I got much more of a picture of the mother's feelings and frustrations throughout the book than Rumi's. It took me forever to finish the book because I kept putting it down ... and I'm not sure I would have picked it up again if it weren't an Early Reviewer copy. The last section of the book flowed much easier, though, and had me reading right along until the end.

[stringcat3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

When I read the back cover blurb of Nikita Lalwani’s “Gifted”, I groaned. Another memoir of a tortured childhood thinly disguised as a first novel. Nikita Lalwani is an Indian woman raised in Cardiff, as is her heroine, Rumi. There was a further groan when I saw that Lalwani has an MA in creative writing.Rumi turns out to be a math prodigy, and her father, a rather disappointed academic, begins a grueling regimen of study intended to make Rumi the youngest person ever admitted to Oxford. This flawed first novel reeks of disappointments. Rumi is denied a “normal” childhood and adolescence. Rumi’s mother seethes at having to spend her married life in Wales, not as a perpetual little sister in her beloved India, under the eyes of her adored father. Rumi’s father Mahesh is a black hole of resentment against whites, academia, life in general. He is Lalwani’s most accomplished character, albeit a depressing one. Mahesh manages to suck all the joy out of life. He is as niggardly with his affection as he is with his money. One of the most telling moments is his inability for celebration. He simply doesn’t know what to do with an occasion for happiness.And yet, while Mahesh is so fully realized, Rumi is two-dimensional. She is a bundle of neuroses without a real person at the core. I find it tough to care about most child characters, as children are by definition not fully formed personalities and so more difficult to portray believably. It would take a defter pen (keyboard?) than Lalwani’s to make me really care about Rumi. Mahesh permeates the narrative even when he’s offstage. Frankly, the book would have been more interesting written from his point of view.The first third or so of the book was tough to get through, especially as I kept marking instances of particularly awkward writing: "the huge blue eyes ... that seemed to yell out of their sockets" and "as well as a basic diet that was nutritionally balanced" are two of the most unfortunate. Where was the editor? The back cover notes that Lalwani directed documentaries - you can just hear a narrator droning on about nutritionally-balanced, basic diets. There was also the documentarian (I made that up) approach in the extraneous visual details, such as the descriptions of houses passed on a walk, or in lists that I'm guessing were meant to add color, such as the contents of Shreene's snack bag. Lists don’t take the place of characterization. Rookie mistake. I kept feeling I was reading a rather junior journalist's "color" piece. There was also the strange shift in tense from the present in the opening paragraphs to the past. Was it carelessness, or intentional and I just am not getting the nuance?Fortunately, things improved as the novel progressed. I remember an excellent NY Times Book Review essay about how many of today's first novels fall apart after the first third of the book. The first third is what is endlessly polished in various classes, retreats, seminars, etc., and so wins the publishing contract, and then the rest of the novel is flung together to meet a deadline. In this case, the opposite seems true. Lalwani’s writing becomes more assured, with less “creative” intrusion. When she isn’t unconsciously writing set directions or prop lists, she can become quite lyrical.I agree with the cliché of the Muslim boyfriend mentioned by other LT reviewers; the episode did indeed feel contrived. And one of the things that kept nagging at me was the relative dearth of scenes set at school. Smart kids go through hell in public schools. That's where they spend most of their day, but we almost never see Rumi there, or hear of any (non-chess club) student interactions beyond the one with the Mean Girls. Surely she wasn't kept in a cocoon during the school day. Surely her math teacher would have been more involved, but instead seemed to be merely the catalyst for discovering the math abilities that set the plot up. This point is the weakest aspect of the novel. And yet Lalwani kept me reading to the end. It seems quite telling that Mahesh's "come-uppance" is delivered via journalism, Lalwani's comfort zone, which gets him dead-on as controlling and mentally abusive. Lalwani seems ambivalent, though: there are racist overtones to the "vicious" criticism. Hey, having brown skin doesn't exempt you from criticism.The low-down: did I struggle through it? A bit. Would I recommend it? Maybe; for fans of this type of fiction, it's a book worth reading but not buying. Does it win a place on the shelf so I can read it again? No. It's not going to end up next to Interpreter of Maladies. But I'd like to see what Lalwani does with more original material and less "creative" writing of the kind that marred the opening chapters.

[stephaniesmithrn · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book, really I did. This being the first book I've received to review. But the truth is, it wouldn't have passed my 100 page rule under normal circumstances. It is utterly lacking in warmth, and the first half of the book is excrutiatingly repetitious. There are secondary characters that we explore in detail, yet add nothing to the story. And the ending leaves us hanging over a precipice with nothing close to resolution or epiphany. I had to force myself to finish it, and was angry that I wasted the time. I feel like such a jerk for writing this, but I promised to be truthful, so there it is.

[bccjillster · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Exquisitely painful: remembering the searing agonies of being on the brink of growing up yet at the mercy of needing your parents love. Rumi crawled right into my heart though she is no constructed cutie--she's painfully human and vulnerable. She's sympathetic on one page, shocking and embarrassing on another. Quite real.Gifted reminded me of Colin Wilson's early outsider books--trapped in the effort of living in two worlds at once and being 'odd' in both.Highly readable and, I suspect, memorable. Rumika is worth knowing, to the point that I wanted to talk to her at the end of the book.

[dchaikin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I fell in love with the world here in about 50 pages. It had something to do with the three major characters and all their faults; and wondering what makes them tick and what will make the crack. It had something to do with 10-year-old Rumi’s world of isolation, abandoned at the library everyday for hours on end to study math. And it had a lot to do with all the characters love of India, which, although only shown in a few brief glimpses, comes alive as its own character. The story seemed secondary, there just to provide the suspense and direction that keeps us reading. Once I bought in to Rumi’s world, I just sort of followed the story wherever it decided to go. The story itself is about Rumi Vasi, a young math wizz whose parents drive her too hard to succeed, and about her ever present potential to mentally breakdown. It’s broadly predictable; what makes the story is the detail. Rumi’s parents are Indian immigrants uncomfortably settled in Cardiff, Wales. Britain is a means to end, but it’s not clear what that end was before Rumi’s gift for math showed up. Now Rumi seems to be the justification of her parent’s lives, their unstated proof that India is superior to Britain. It’s a huge weight for Rumi to carry, and she is so young she can’t understand the meaning behind it. She does see that while in Britain she is sheltered from almost everything British, including what she needs to learn to grow up. She is shown only math. And while in India, on very rare visits, she is shown everything and learns all sort of things. There is much to love about this book. It’s a very powerful Indian cross-culture story. Now that I'm done, I miss reading it.