Books: The House Of Blue Mangoes

There’s a certain kind of novel, of the lush, densely detailed, sweeping-family-saga variety, in which you learn all about, say, how to plan an Indian wedding without ever really caring much about the happy couple. This is one of those novels. The year is 1899, and progress has come to tiny Chevathar in the form of its first road. It proves to be a long one for the Dorai family, and Davidar follows them down it for three generations in a tale of grand scope but not much real depth.

–By Lev Grossman