So Many Books, So Little Time : Book Review: Breathing Two Worlds by Ruchira Khanna

About the Book:

Neena Arya, a Delhi-born goes abroad for

further studies and decides to settle down there. Determined to be a 'somebody'

from a 'nobody' she blends with the Americans via the accent and their

mannerisms while having a live-in relationship with her European boyfriend,

Adan Somoza.

When illness hits home, Neena rushes to

meet her ailing dad. Tragedy strikes and amidst the mingling with relatives and

friends, she finds herself suffocated with the two different cultures that she

has been breathing since she moved to the United States. How will she strike a

balance between both the cultures as she continues to support her widowed

mother? Will she be able to do justice to her personal and professional life

after the loss?

Amidst the adjusting she bonds with an

ally and learns about ties beyond blood. On what grounds will she be able to

form an invisible thread that she has longed for since childhood?

Breathing Two Worlds ventures into

cultures and ethnicity allowing Neena to ponder upon her foundation and

priorities.

Available

Amazon

Book Trailer:

About the Author

Ruchira Khanna, a biochemist turned

writer, left her homeland of India to study in America, where she obtained her

Master’s degree in Biochemistry from SJSU and a degree in Technical Writing

from UC Berkeley.

After finishing her studies, Ruchira

worked as a biochemist at a Silicon Valley startup for five years. After the

birth of her son, Ruchira took a job as a technical writer, so that she could

work from home. Soon, she began doing freelance writing work as well.

Her love of writing grew and she started

working on her own books. After four years of freelancing, Ruchira published

her first book, a fiction novel for adults called Choices.

Then came the children’s book The

Adventures of Alex and Angelo: The Mystery of the Missing Iguana. She got a

thumb’s up review from Kirkus Reviews

In January 2016, she has published her

second fictional novel Voyagers into the Unknown. It talks about the quest for

happiness as the heavy hearted tourists travel miles from different parts of

the world to Raj Touristry in Agra, India. Return to their respective home with

a healed heart. This book talks about their journey!

In Breathing Two Worlds, Ruchira talks

about ethnicity and cultures, and helps to strike a balance via a fiction-drama

novel as her characters breathe two worlds.

In addition to writing books, she is a

holistic healer associated with Stanford Healing Partners and also maintains a

blog of daily mantras on Blogspot, called Abracabadra. Ruchira currently

resides in California with her family.

Find

her on:

Website Blog

My Review (3.5/5)

The book had me at its idea. The metaphoric title seems just apt, and someone who relocates to another continent/country can very well relate to the conundrum. The story follows the journey of Neena Arya as she adapts to the professional lifestyle and embraces the work culture of a new culture while still keeping herself grounded to her roots.
This dilemma is as old as time, or at least time since travel was invented. But the point is the story was simple, lucid and easy. It is a quick read too, and the occasional quirks of India and the clashes of the culture are an entertaining element.
The millennial generation will have these lives over and over again, in different forms, so the story makes a whole lot of sense. The interactions between the family members of the protagonist and her boyfriend were warm and cordial, which was a welcome departure from the cliche.

At some point I may have thought that this theme has now been beaten to death and something more crispy is worth exploration, but the story, due to its simplicity, made me finish it till the end. If for nothing else, for the metaphor!

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