The Abundance is a poignant and bittersweet story about how cooking traditional foods becomes a way for one Indian immigrant family is able to  cross the generational divide and provide a legacy for the next generation to enjoy and remember their family and traditions.

Our narrator is Mala and Ronak’s mother who has just found out that she has terminal cancer. It is right before the holidays, and she is determined to not let her diagnosis overshadow their celebrations. But no matter how hard she tries to keep this terrible secret, it comes out and the family begins to rally around their mother, committing to spending as much time with her as they can.

Mala and her mother have always had a testy relationship, with Mala always feeling like she was not enough and had disappointed her mother, while her mother has always felt  judged and belittled for the choice she made to abandon a career in medicine and stay home with her children.  As Mala begins to realize that she can no longer take for granted the delicious Indian meals that her mother has always made, she asks her mother to teach her how to cook these family dishes that were such an integral part their family life. Mala begins to write the recipes down, take pictures of the results of their collaboration and even incorporates some of the family stories as well.

Ronak in the meantime tries to find his own way of coping with his mother’s illness.  Always secretive and more like a visitor in their home rather than a son they really knew, Ronak and his family begin spending more time at home with his parents.  He realizes that the garden which was always his mother’s pride is now unattended and he arranges to have it taken care of and even makes some additions that his mother had wanted but had never gotten around to doing.

Majmadur writes simply and lyrically about this family who faces such a great loss. His writing is unsentimental and  honest, but gentle and kind to each character, who each carries their own ways of seeing their family, their relationships and the love they hold for each other.

Having lost my own mother to cancer 6 years ago, this book was especially poignant for me. Lauren, our younger daughter, has taken up my mother’s love for cooking and now makes the potato salad that was one of her signature dishes, which my dad declares tastes “just like mom’s!” In this way families preserve their heritage and pass on to each generation a sense of who they are through the food they cook and eat together around the table. This is indeed an abundance!

Brenda’s Rating: *****( 5 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Lauren, Marian and Keith

Book Study Worthy: Yes

Read in ebook format.