Central Library launched the new LGBTQ Book club on June 26.with Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu. This debut novel follows Lakshmi, a lesbian Sri Lankan-American married to her gay Indian-American college friend but caught up with her childhood best friend and first love, Nisha. Just as her complicated relationship with Nisha rekindles, Lakshmi’s front of a marriage is crumbling. In fact, her whole life is quietly changing. She’s lost her full time desk job and is a freelance illustrator. She’s left the home she and Kris share and has moved back with her mother to care for her dying grandmother. Turns out Nisha has a wide circle of local lesbian friends from her college rugby days, who embrace Lakshmi (Lucky) and in whom she sees another way of living. Throughout, she must contend with the secrets and accusations of betrayal within her family.
We agreed that we all liked the book, especially it’s specific lens of the Boston Sri Lankan community. This specificity didn’t prevent the story from feeling universal, however, and each of us recognized part of ourselves in it. We noticed that Kris almost disappears from the story, but Lucky’s mother, who has been shunned and worries about the same fate for her daughters, is a driving force. The mother’s support is all one-way, with no adaptation. While we sympathized with her feeling stuck, we also wondered if her daughters would ever take her in the same way she did for her mother. Nisha’s support is also one-way, in her own direction. We wondered if she was a user because she was scared (the girls seemed in physical danger when first together as teens by Nisha’s parents) or because she was spoiled and didn’t have to think of anyone else.
Nisha does open up a new world to Lucky through her chosen rugby family. Through these women Lucky reconnects with the physical release of emotion she first discovered dancing with Nisha. We decided that in both dancing and rugby Lucky finds self-acceptance and an identity not controlled by her family. One of Lucky’s sisters conforms to parental pressure and the other one lives independently but with no familial contact. The women of the rugby house offer Lucky one blueprint for the next chapter of her life with her needs and wants at the forefront. Ultimately, we felt hopeful for Lucky.
More Information:
About the author
VA Festival of the Book Q&A
About the book:
- Lambda Literary review
- Paste review
Upcoming meetings:
- Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli* (July 31)
- Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride (August 28)
*Other formats are available.