Book review: The Mistress of Spices

Here is another first time book though quite some time back.This is one such book that has a effect on you when you first look at it, keeps up the effect after you have started reading it but fails to finish off properly.

In The Mistress of Spices, Chitra Divakaruni weaves an enchanting tale of mystery, human nature and risk punctuated by aromatic sorcery. Some may find it difficult reading at first. The unusual sentence structure requires us to slow down. Quickly the lyrical prose becomes a delight to savor like a meal so tasty we hope it never ends.
Tilo (short for Tilotamma), Mistress of Spices, at her fragrant shop in Oakland can see into your heart and determine just what spice is needed to fulfill your desires.She has taken a vow, given her life to the spices residing in a tired, old body hurtled into this modern world only to help others. By obeying the rules, the spices will speak to her. As the story unfolds, the rules need to be broken and we can understand. Or, at other times, Tilo finds herself struggling because she wants to break the rules and again we understand.
Each chapter in the book is the story of a spice --- turmeric, cinnamon, chili, fennel, peppercorn and so may more --- and of the people that consume it.Divakaruni introduces to some of the many people who come in distress or to share their happiness with the helpful old spice lady and delves a little into the backgrounds of the characters, so they come out as realistic and understandable.
For instance, the character of Ahuja's wife, Lalita. We are told of her feeling cheated when the man she weds turns out to be balding and pot-bellied. An unhappy married life follows. She does not want to hurt her parents and jeopardize her younger sisters' marriages by leaving him, so tries to legitimize his abuse and her suffering by blaming her initial unacceptance of him.
Then there is Jagjit, the shy frightened boy transformed to Jag by the endless hostility and abuse he has to bear for his accent and turban. He hits the road with a yearning for the power of the steel blade and gun. But the boy who dreamed of his grandmother's kheti has the desire to start a new life over as he promises Tilo. And Haroun, the cab-driver who fled Dal lake where generations of his family had rowed shikaras for tourists. He lands in America as a illegal immigrant, but he looks forward to riches and happiness in this land.
Not all of the characters are underdogs though. The three generations of the Banerjee family are in a war over their values, only to realise that their love and understanding for each other can overcome every barrier. Unfortunately the book went downhill thereafter. The dire portents all fizzled out -- what happened was far less grim than what one had been led to expect.How Tile copes with her wanning heart towards the sufferings her customers, her blossoming love and the wrath of the spices forms the remaining of the story.
After all this I would say that the book was a disappointment after the initial appeal it gave.An interesting read if you want something out of the ordinary with a hint of good poetic verses, but you might find it slowing you down at a few places owing to the complex sentences and back and forth movement of the story