The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing: A Novel

The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing brings us a cast of sometimes looney, but always loveable characters whose quirks are laid out for all to see, and whose struggles to become integrated into their society while holding onto their unique cultural identity are easily understood by anyone who has

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ever felt "different" for whatever reason.

The publisher's notes about the premise "Brain surgeon Thomas Eapen's decision to shorten his visit to his mother's home in India has consequences that reverberate two decades later as he starts conversing with the dead and daughter Amina must sort through the family's past to help him."  give us just a hint of the magic and mayhem the reader deals with in this story of three generations of family coming to grips with illness, emmigration, and different cultural norms - especially for young women.

The main character, Amina Eapen is a 20 something budding photographer living in Seattle who is called home to Albuquerque by her mother to help with her father Thomas' strange behavior.  (He's talking to dead people for one thing.)  Not only does Amina have to decide if this call for help is just a ploy on her mother's part to get her home again, but she has to sort out whether or not her father truly needs help and what she is responsible for doing.    All during her visit, various relatives appear, (among them her cousin "Dimple" the all-American girl who has fully adopted to not only the American way of life, but to the full feminist agenda) telling stories about the family back in India, and pulling Amina further along into the family past, not to mention trying to convince her to abandon her job in Seattle, and find a nice Indian boy to marry to settle down near her parents.

Mira does a fantastic job of weaving back and forth from past to present, of painting word pictures that have us seeing, hearing and smelling all the elements of the cultures this family is dealing with.  It's an emotional roller-coaster; it's a long read that takes a while to settle into; but in the end it's a story of love, forgiveness, acceptance, and hope.  It's perfect to settle into as the nights lengthen this autumn.  I just wish we had a good Indian take-away close by!

I had so much fun with this I checked out the audio also.  It's exceptionally well done - read by the author - and really gives the listener an added emotional dimension. Her ability to give different voices and accents to the characters is exceptional.

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Thanks to LibraryThing for broadening my reading horizons by giving me a copy of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacobs. I thoroughly enjoyed this saga of an Indian family living in the US. Even though it was told through the eyes of an Indian-American daughter growing up in America, the

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family issues and crazy relatives are basically universal in many ways. It was witty, sad, funny and true to life.

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Delightfully Wonderful! This debut novel was full of quirky, fun, loveable characters. Characters full of color and depth. The characters were brought to life and I felt as if I knew them. Very memorable characters that will be very hard for me to forget. It was never boring. I enjoyed reading

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every page from beginning to end. I absolutely adored this story!

Humor, Self-discovery, love, family, heartbreak, loss, adventure, culture, what didn't this book have? The story was beautifully woven!

This novel makes you stop and reflect on your own life. Where we are in life, where we want to be, what's really important in life? This story shows us how precious yet short life truly is! Live each day as if it's your last! Make each moment count!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BEAUTIFUL STORY!

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A debut novel of daring maturity. I don't usually read the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, but this time I did - to find some answers about the characters prototypes - and that's where I saw that it had taken the author 10 years to write this novel. Wow. It was time well spent for sure -

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because I read the hefty volume in a week's time, which goes to show how much I loved her effort and her talent. Very appealing writing style - draws you in with sharp and clever pinpointing of every detail in dialogue and description. Never lets you want to miss a single word.... It might help to have some intimate knowledge of Indian American community in this country (I am lucky that way), but even without that this book is sure to touch a discerning reader.

Without disclosing the plot, let me just say that it's as poignant a story as it can get. The plight and the triumphant resilience of the early Indian immigrants in this country, the story of a family that faced an unequal share of sorrow, the haunting past, the struggle between generations, the seeming burden and yet the bliss of family ties. Very tangible characters, nothing false there. Humor alongside tragedy. Still, in the end, the book doesn't depress but inspires... and it made me think: how would I have dealt with such circumstances?... A very rewarding read.

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Good relatable read, though just another domestic drama really

I just couldn't get into "The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing" by Mira Jacob. Maybe it was when I was trying to read it or something but it's length was a problem for me. It's a long book but feels long too. Read if you are into a generational story about Indian-Americans.

I'm sorry, I don't believe a debut novel should ever be 500 pages long. Why would an editor allow it? Mira Jacobs knows how to write, that's for sure. Her descriptions are fabulous, decadent, and almost tangible. Her plotting, however, is not tight, and it took me ages to get through this book.

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More careful editing was needed to trim this tome down into something more manageable. I did receive this book as part of the Early Reviewers program.

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My feelings on this one are a bit mixed. I think that may be because it functions (or, tries to function) on so many different levels. It's part coming of age novel, part immigration novel, part contemporary romance, part the story of a family in crisis, part chick lit. The main character, Amina

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Eapen, is a would-be art photographer/now wedding photographer who lives in Seatlle with her prettier, livelier cousin, Dimple. Her mother calls to tell her that something is wrong with her father, a brain surgeon, and she needs to come home. Thomas, it seems, has started conversing with his deceased mother.

At this point, the novel starts jumping back and forth in time. There is a long section about a family trip to visit family in India, where we learn that Thomas's mother never approved of his marriage and blames his wife, Kamala, for the fact that they did not move back to India after he completed medical school. All kinds of family dysfunction starts to come out of the walls, both in India and, when the Eapens return to the US, at home, and a number of tragedies occur. A second trip down memory lane focuses on Amina's teenage years: her relationship with her now deceased brother, their teenage romances, quarrels with and between her parents, etc. And then we return to the present day crisis and how the family deals with it.

While I can't say that I loved this book, it did keep me interested, and I thought some of the characters, particularly Amina's parents, were very well drawn, and it's more the story of a loving family in distress than the typical immigration story.

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I seem to enjoy books whose setting is India. This one was no exception with its frequent mention of Indian foods, customs, and country. I also loved the observations of Americans by Indian characters. "Americans get into this idea that you do one thing to make money and then live like royalty when

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you are away from it." The author uses lots off interesting similies: "takeout food boxes slumped together like old men in bad weather." Each character had been fully fleshed out.The story is poignant and realistic, and I came away satisfied with the tale.

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I received this book through the Librarything Early Reviewers program.
I was intrigued by the title, since my favorite thing to do is sleep, and my favorite tv show is Dancing With The Stars. So after reading the description, and realizing it had nothing to with the above, and seeing the length of

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the novel (500 pages) I decided I owed the author at least a peek into the book, maybe a couple of chapters to get a feel for it. I have to admit that presently I am only on page 202, less than halfway through, and I wish I had this author's command of the English language, but the words that come to my mind are, mesmerizing, enchanting, captivating, and at least so far, one of the best books I have ever read, and I have read a lot.
I will come back to this review and edit it when I have finished the book, but I anticipate that this is going to be one of my top 5 books I have ever read, and I have a prediction that this book will become a best seller. A debut novel? Are you kidding me? After I finished the first 50 or so pages, I went back and put a little post-it flag on the pages that contained magical sentences or paragraphs that I might want to reread, but I had to table that idea when the book was so full of colorful markers that I could hardly read it, and went to a better solution of writing down the page numbers. It has everything a reader could want in a book, but so far the quality I am enjoying the most is the underlying humor and the excellent character development. Sorry to babble on and on, I do need to get back to the book, but I wanted the author to have my humble input as soon as I could.

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I laughed & cried as Mira Jacob's novel, "The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing" took me on a 'virtual literary journey'' from India to the Unites States of America! This debut is a delightful multigenerational family saga that will provide book review clubs with plenty of themes for discussion....I

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savored each and every page. Brava!

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Now that's a satisfying novel. And a debut one, at that.

Mira Jacob carries her readers into the life and world of Amina Eapen and her family, over twenty or so years, from early days in India to the US in the 1980's and 90's. Amina heads home to New Mexico, from her world as a photographer in

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Seattle, when her mother calls, concerned about the erratic behavior of her father, a prominent neurosurgeon. What those two sentences don't capture is the lush richness of character that Jacobs presents her readers, to tease the palate, and satisfy the appetite. As the story progresses, both retrospectively and in the modern day, each scene, each character, is laced with with depth and detail that make these seem like situations and people you might encounter in your own world: stubborn, idiosyncratic, loving, funny, quirky -- real (but real people you wouldn't mind knowing, and definitely wouldn't mind having a meal with, if Kamala, Raj, or Jamie were doing the cooking. One of the things I enjoyed most was the role food and flavors played in this novel.

This is a novel of mind and memory, and how the two can interact at different times of our lives. It also is a novel of heart, hope, and ultimately, healing, as we move forward with the bumps and upheavals of life. This book supposedly took Ms Jacob 10 years to complete. I hope we don't have to wait that long for another chance to dip into the rich vibrancy of her world.

Thank you to LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program and Random House for this book. It is available for sale 1 July, 2014.

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This was a wonderful read. The story follows as Indian family, the Eapens, as they navigate through loss and life. I found the characters to be well developed, each with their own story, their own flaws but all endearing. Although this a long book, it never felt like a chore, I finished it in less

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than one week. and I found this to be the most enjoyable Early Reveiwers book I have received, by far. The plot seamlessly moves between India to America and from the early '80s to the late '90s. There were several typos throughout the book, but hopefully these are already being corrected for final print. The one thing I did not like about this book was the casual use of the word "rape" on page 386. The character uses the phrase "you just raped me" to describe the main character, Amina, quickly having sex with him. Although probably a reflection of the liberal, casual use of the word "rape" in everyday life, it was disconcerting to see it used in such a way and I wish people, including the author, would realize the potency of the word and stop using it to describe situations clearly far divorced from the true, horrendous meaning of the word. Overall, however, I found the author's prose beautiful, full of description without the overwrought use of adjectives and trying-to-hard similes. The story felt real and I was able to connect with the characters, and perhaps more importantly, with their stories.

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What a beautiful story ! I loved this book from beginning to end. I particularly enjoyed the author's sense of humor. While part of this book takes place in India, most of the story is set in New Mexico where the family of this tale's main character's have settled after leaving their home country.

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In another review, it was mentioned that it was hard to believe that this is a first novel. I will second that ! The mixture of humor, angst, joy and sorrow in and around this story is done with such a wonderful touch that it is hard to believe that Ms. Jacob has not written novels prior to this one.
I am giving this a five star rating for a couple of reasons.....I can and will recommend this to most any reader, the writing style is not difficult to read yet the subjects touched on in this book are important and profound. The immigration experience, a unsettled marriage, the harsh realities of growing up and away from one's roots and various ways we as human's deal with extreme loss are all wrapped up in one outstanding story and would make for a wonderful book group discussion.
Mira Jacob will be on my radar screen as one of those author's I will not hesitate to read again. Her name on the jacket of her next book will be enough of a selling point for me to buy the book. Finding a new an exciting author never loses it's thrill.......so glad to have come into contact with Ms. Jacob's novel. Reading "The Sleepwalker's Guide To Dancing" was time well spent.

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Mira Jacob's debut novel is a sure winner. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing follows the lives of an Indian immigrant family in America over the span of some thirty years. It is written in a way that allows us to bond with and develop and understanding for the complexity of her characters. Jacob

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does not shy away from issues that are difficult, but handles them with both compassion and humor. I didn't want to put this one down, and I didn't want it to end. Her characters are common people with flaws, but Jacob manages to reveal them as characters with beauty and humanity. This is a story of family ties, of loss, heartache, loyalty, love and redemption. This one is definitely worth a read!

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Mira Jacob offers us a family saga that spans years and continents, setting the first scene in India and most of the rest of the book in New Mexico. We follow Amina, the narrator and daughter of the family, along with her parents and brother, as they distance themselves from their Indian roots and

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the traditional family demands, structures and strictures that the life in India represent and requires. Thomas, the dad, a neurosurgeon, refuses to return to India where there is no call for his skills. So the family lives out its life in the US, and suffers other heartaches and limitations there.
The author is a skilled storyteller. The characters are engaging, the dialogue presents a clear, true voice, and the plot moves along well. Some descriptions are overly long, whether descriptions of places or of emotional states, but overall the story is compelling.
The greatest weakness in my view is that the novel seems to have a hard time with the line between realism and magical realism. Is the grandmother really in the photo? Does Amina really see her brother? The explanation of her father's visions fall into the realm of acceptable medical phenomena, but not some of the other sightings.
I would definitely read another book by this author. My guess is that her best work is yet to come.

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This was a beautifully moving story about an Indian family trying to come to terms with its past and their present life.

Thomas is a brain surgeon that has started to sit outside on his porch and talk to his dead relatives. Concerned, his wife, Kamala phones their daughter Amina, who currently lives

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in Seattle. Amina takes time off from her job as a wedding photographer.

I really like that the book also took us back in time to a very pivotal incident in India twenty years earlier. The descriptions of Indian life, food and culture were a joy to read.

This family saga has a painful past to overcome, but their strong family bonds help them come to a satisfying conclusion. The author's writing style is extremely addictive. She is a wonderful storyteller and I did not want to put this one down.

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The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is an absorbing book about complex family relationships spanning some thirty years and two continents. I was a little puzzled by the title until I realized that it was referring to one minor family member who is featured in an early chapter. I was also a little

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confused by the sudden shifts in time but I quickly learned to pay attention to the dates in the subtitles of each of the eleven books. It was very satisfying as I got to really know the main characters. It is really a remarkable first book and I hope that we will be able to revisit some of the characters in subsequent books.

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The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is an epic family saga centered on an Indian immigrant family. Thomas, a brain surgeon, immigrated from India to New Mexico to start a new life with his family and to escape the demands of his overbearing mother and familial responsibilities in India. The story

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opens with Kamala, Thomas' wife, urging her grown daughter Amina to come home from Seattle because Thomas was talking to "people" who were not really there. When Amina arrives at home to help, she discovers more secrets about her family's past and her father's condition.

I really enjoyed this book. When I first read the synopsis and looked at the 500 page length, I wasn't sure that it would hold my attention. But it truly did, from start to finish, I was hooked. It reminded me at times of Cutting for Stone, another book I enjoyed. The characters were a lot of fun, the dialogue was very realistic, it was funny at times, it was sad at times. I thought it was just a great novel in so many ways

Mira Jacob expertly writes this story alternately using flashbacks and the present story to weave this novel together. I thought the pacing was just perfect. For such a lengthy novel, there was not really a "slow" part. Each section ended with enough of a cliffhanger to keep me turning pages, eager to see what the next section would hold.

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I was totally engaged in this story. I felt that I knew all the characters and wanted to be part of the close knit relationship that they had even during the painful time when the story takes place. I am recommending this book to all of my friends.

THE SLEEPWALKER’S GUIDE TO DANCING deliciously details the immigrant experience of a first generation Indian family in the United States . From the opening chapter in which Thomas, now a brain surgeon, his wife Kamina ,their daughter and son return to Thomas’ family home in India to visit his

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mother and brother, to the final pages, the taste and smells of Indian food and the musical inflexion of English as spoken by natives of India suffuse the pages. It is Amina , their daughter, who records events, and it is in the number of tiny details she relates that the reader gets to know and understand each and every one of the characters. The book’s title refers to an incident during that visit, but the meaning doesn’t become clear until the novel’s final moments. Told in chapters which move effortlessly between endings and beginnings and back again, , each character comes to life with the virtues and warts that truly describe them. How the many “aunties” look and smell, how Kamina uses her cooking to entice , comfort or punish so that the food itself becomes part of the story, and how the death of a child does not end his existence in the family--all are a part of this terrific reading experience. Living and dying and love in many variations are at the center of every family story, and Mira Jacob captures this family’s inner life with clarity and sympathy-- just as Amina does in the secret pictures she shoots at the weddings that she is paid to photograph. This is a fine novel.

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Mira Jacob's debut, "The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing", is a heart-felt examination of a second generation Indian immigrant, Amina Eapen, and her quirky family. When her mother suddenly demands Mina take a leave of absence from her Seattle-based photography job to return to her New Mexico

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family-home because of an emergency, Mina finds herself forced into an examination of her life so far.

There is so much going on in this book, I find I'm having a hard time summarizing it. Needless to say, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read, both funny and poignant. It's also very accessible; this isn't a story about immigration and culture shock. It's about love, friendship, family, sleep, ghosts, food, photography, and grief. In fact, the latter may be what this book is primarily about: loss. The Eapens have experienced a great deal of it; loss has formed each of them. Mina may in fact be more a descendent of grief than of Indian heritage.

I really recommend this book. There is an underlying wonder to this story; a thread of magic that just peeks through. I enjoyed it thoroughly and though it's title and cover aren't terribly grabbing, for those who enjoy family stories this one hits the mark.

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An engaging and powerful novel about an Indian immigrant family. The novel takes place during three pivotal times in the family's history: a visit home to Salem India; a year when high school brings enormous change and tragedy to the family's children; and the late 90s, as many threads in the story

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come together. The story is told from the point of view of Amina, the daughter, whose life work is observing as a professional photographer.
The novel explores themes of family, how they are formed, and how they fall apart. I especially love the family formed by the Indian immigrant families in Albuquerque. It examines the big questions: what is a good life? a good death?
I loved this novel. I already miss the colorful, eccentric characters. I hope that the 1998 setting means that Mira Jacob might consider following Amina into the present.

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I don't remember what I was thinking when I requested an advanced reader's copy of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing. I know when it showed up in the mail, however, I was wondering why I had wanted this book in the first place. The premise and the cover no longer enticed me. I set it aside and put

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off reading it until the last minute. I believe the fates must have been looking out for me when I originally requested this book because it was great.

One of my concerns was that this was going to be yet another story of the Indian diaspora in America. That's a great story and all, but it's been played out. There are certainly elements of that story here, but they're minor and it's not the focus. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is a delightfully-written story of career, family, and destiny—all those things that make people love Star Wars. Seriously, people should be standing in line to read this book. The prose is fantastic. The story remains interesting and poignant through all its 500 pages. It's wonderful, and it does so much. Mira Jacob goes back and forth between places and time, and she does so without a hiccup. There are so many subplots going on, yet they all fit together and are not only terrific in their own right, but relevant to the larger story. It flows so seamlessly that you have to applaud the author and her editors. The characters are detailed. The dialogue is witty. The story itself has moments of humor and heartbreak. I really enjoyed this book.

The biggest problem I foresee this novel facing is that it is being published in a year with so many great novels. If it doesn't get the right publicity, doesn't hit the target audience, doesn't attract enough prepub attention, this debut may be ignored on the lists of the year's best. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen. Take note, this is one of the most compelling, breathtaking, and lyrical books to be published this year. It's full of life. Put it on your to-read list now and if you want to thank me, you can do so later.

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