Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Shape of Family: A Novel
    The Shape of Family: A Novel
    The Shape of Family: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Shape of Family: A Novel

    Written by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

    Narrated by Shiromi Arserio and Vikas Adam

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    "Deeply involving....Rings so true." -- Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room

    From the international bestselling author of Secret Daughter and The Golden Son comes a poignant, unforgettable novel about a family's growing apart and coming back together in the wake of tragedy.

    “The Shape of Family is a novel about race and culture, parents and siblings, marriage and love, but most of all, it's about finding hope after darkness. Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a compassionate and wise storyteller who keeps us riveted from beginning to end.” -- Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation

    The Olander family embodies the modern American Dream in a globalized world. Jaya, the cultured daughter of an Indian diplomat and Keith, an ambitious banker from middle-class Philadelphia, meet in a London pub in 1988 and make a life together in suburban California. Their strong marriage is built on shared beliefs and love for their two children: headstrong teenager Karina and young son Prem, the light of their home.

    But love and prosperity cannot protect them from sudden, unspeakable tragedy, and the family’s foundation cracks as each member struggles to seek a way forward. Jaya finds solace in spirituality. Keith wagers on his high-powered career. Karina focuses relentlessly on her future and independence. And Prem watches helplessly as his once close-knit family drifts apart.

    When Karina heads off to college for a fresh start, her search for identity and belonging leads her down a dark path, forcing her and her family to reckon with the past, the secrets they’ve held and the weight of their choices.

    The Shape of Family is an intimate portrayal of four individuals as they grapple with what it means to be a family and how to move from a painful past into a hopeful future. It is a profoundly moving exploration of the ways we all seek belonging—in our families, our communities and ultimately, within ourselves.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 17, 2020
    ISBN9780062933256
    Author

    Shilpi Somaya Gowda

    Shilpi Somaya Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her previous novels, Secret Daughter, The Golden Son, and The Shape of Family became international bestsellers, selling over two million copies worldwide, in over 30 languages. She holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She lives in California with her husband and children.

    More audiobooks from Shilpi Somaya Gowda

    Related to The Shape of Family

    Related audiobooks

    Cultural Heritage Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Cherie Jones

      Jan 7, 2021

      Cherie Jones
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Steph Opitz

      Dec 17, 2018

      I put down a lot of books that didn’t do it for me, and shuffled and reshuffled my to-be-read pile to my heart’s content. It’s been liberating. The post A Year in Reading: Steph Opitz appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

      Mar 4, 2017

      The Nigerian author of the best seller Americanah is out with a new book, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

      2 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jul 1, 2023

      I The teenaged girl is searching for a placethat goes through, the holeto put the tampon inside. When she finds itshe asks her mother, Is this where the penis would go?Yes, her mother explains.Then I will never have sex. II Sweltering New York City.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Scapegoat Child

      Mar 15, 2018

      In the crucible of our family my sister burned like molten steel. Once I saw her arms outspread her legs hanging limp and useless wet saliva dripping from her tongue. I screamed they surrounded her lifted her onto the sheets where she convulsed for h

      7 min read

    • Article

      This Back Is a Familiar Back

      May 1, 2023

      This Back Is a Familiar Back
      8 min read

    • Article

      Cornwall CALLING

      May 4, 2022

      Cornwall CALLING
      9 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      Echos

      Jan 10, 2019

      Before Corrine’s husband abandoned her in Berlin, he liked to say that her name reminded him of the word “corrupt.” But ending in a twist rather than a split. Her last name was the French word for “swimsuit” but he never mentioned that. This seemed s

      17 min read

    • Article

      Lost Children

      Aug 4, 2022

      Lost Children
      5 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Summer Rain

      May 19, 2022

      Yellow Summer Rain
      23 min read

    • Article

      Happy

      Jan 1, 2023

      Happy
      4 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Feb 26, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      10 min read

    • Article

      Rabbits

      Sep 15, 2018

      The place where you came from ain’t there anymore, and where you had in mind to go is canceled out. —Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” A guy’s looking at you.” Lexy knew better than to turn around. The swings were twisted

      27 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Library

      Nov 4, 2021

      The Library
      2 min read

    • Article

      What’s In A Name?

      Dec 22, 2021

      What’s In A Name?
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hauntings

      Jul 5, 2023

      Hauntings
      11 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      Last Love

      Dec 8, 2023

      Last Love
      13 min read

    • Article

      Starting OVER

      May 24, 2023

      Starting OVER
      6 min read

    • Article

      On Making Friends With Raina Telgemeier

      Aug 26, 2019

      Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles says the cartoonist Raina Telgemeier is almost like a personal friend to her own children, who fight over tattered copies of Telgemeier's graphic novels.

      4 min read

    • Article

      The DIRT LADIES lunch

      Sep 22, 2021

      The DIRT LADIES lunch
      2 min read

    • Article

      My Friend Juniper

      Apr 5, 2023

      My Friend Juniper
      24 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      The CLASS REUNION

      May 13, 2020

      The CLASS REUNION
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Shape of Family

    4/5

    52 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Story of a family that falls apart after the drowning of the youngest child. The author manged to describe the families emotions and grieving journey quite succinctly. Their situations were different but they all came together in the end.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable but somewhat predictable novel - 25 pages in and I was like "haven't I read this before?". Begins with a tragedy and its impact of the remaining three family members and especially on the teenage daughter. She cuts herself and joins a commune, her mom immerses herself in a guru's teachings, and the father makes an ego-driven illegal move at his job. All the characters are sympathetic, if not a bit on the shallow side. But it's an easy, comfortable read, and the motivations and ultimate denouement are all clear and satisfying.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It examines grief and how we all experience it differently. A tragedy happens to the Olander family and as time moves on it eventually tears them apart and the three survivors left drift away from each other under their mantles of guilt and sadness. They all have to hit rock bottom in order to begin to heal as a family. This really is a beautiful story of emotional healing and what some people have to through to get there. This book delivers hope for all families who experience tragedy. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      The Shape of Family is the story of the Olander family’s experiences with grief after tragedy.I have had loss in the not-too-distant past, and that was the main reason that I picked up this book. I’ve moved far enough along in my own process of grief that I felt like I could handle seeing what the experiences of other people may be like. Grief crippled me for a long time and I was curious to see if my own experience comes anywhere close to that of the Olander family.In some ways, I really felt what they were going through. Grief and the sadness comes in waves. It is not linear. So it is entirely possible to be extremely sad but have little spots of smiles or happy things sprinkled here and there. It is possible to feel two conflicting things at once. With this family, there were a few little glimpses of lighter times and maybe even some happiness for this family here and there, but they mostly experienced devastation for a while, and I could really feel that from them. I could also relate to the main character Karina in that we both experienced major feelings of guilt, although we took different paths to a positive outcome. I went to extensive grief counseling; Karina made decisions that made things much worse for her, and she held all of her feelings on the inside while her life came apart.Where this story did not match my experience is this: everyone in this family chose different paths to take. They did not turn to one another in the aftermath. And every choice, at least for a while, seemed like it was bad, like the characters just weren’t themselves. Everyone completely changed their lives in the wake of the tragedy. They lived parallel lives but they did not talk about what they had experienced, what they were feeling, how they were doing. All throughout the story, I felt myself reacting outwardly to so much of what was going on in the lives of these characters, especially Karina.I just wanted to reach into the story and move around things a bit so they would turn back to one another as a family. Ultimately the characters did make some positive progress by the end of the story, but it felt really stressful watching them get to that point. Mind you, this was not because of the writing, because the story flowed well and brought forth emotions and was easy to read. What I felt was because I wanted these characters to be okay and to be healthy in their lives and in their choices, and it just wasn’t something that I could help them with because I wasn’t IN the story with them.I think that readers that love reading emotional stories and stories about multicultural families will enjoy this one. This is a good one to show how difficult it can be for people to experience grief and it shows that the process really is very personal for every person.
    • 5/5
      I lost track how many times I started crying while reading this book. There were just certain things that really resonated with me. I think books sometimes find their way into your life at the right moment and I think that is the case here. Had I read this book six months ago or a year from now maybe I wouldn't have felt such an emotional impact.I normally write a synopsis in my reviews but in my opinion the publisher's synopsis is perfect as it gives you an idea of what the book is about but it doesn't reveal too much. I honestly think the best way to read this book is without knowing any major plot points ahead of time. Kudos to the person who wrote the synopsis as it allowed me to have a much more meaningful reading experience.The book follows all four family members but I think it's fair to say Karina is the lead character as she is featured the most in the story. It's amazing how there's hardly anything I have in common with her but yet she had certain feelings I could easily relate to. And that right there is the reason why this was a special read for me. There were a few passages in the book that were powerful in that the author was able to convey a thought or feeling I've struggled to articulate in the past.This was a five star read for me but I wouldn't say it was a perfect read. Karina's storyline in the second half was hard to get thru however, I do believe it was necessary for her journey. It's okay to read something you don't particular enjoy at the time if it leads to a deeper appreciation in the end. There is something regarding Karina that was subtle but wasn't addressed until much later in the story and I admire the author for showing some restraint. Not everything has to be spelled out for a reader especially when the character herself might not have fully wrapped her head around it. (Trying to choose my words wisely so I don't give anything away.)I do recommend this book especially if you enjoy family dramas.
    • 4/5
      Everyone handles grief differently. Some people want to bury it, some to shout it from the rooftops. Some people need to talk it through with others while some look for solace in a higher being. Holding onto grief and internalizing it without embracing or accepting it can tear apart the closest families, severing bonds once thought unbreakable. This is the case with the Olander family in Shilpi Somaya Gowda's newest novel, The Shape of Family, about a family disintegrating in the wake of a terrible tragedy, one that each member carries forward, shaping their futures in ways so unlike their pasts.Keith, a successful investment banker from a financially insecure background, meets and marries Jaya, who works in international relations and grew up living all over the world as the cultured daughter of an Indian diplomat. The two of them settle in California and start to raise their family, daughter Karina, in eighth grade when the novel opens, fully cognizant that her mixed race heritage keeps her from feeling like she fits in anywhere, and mischievous, sweet eight year old son Prem. Their lives are not perfect but they are mostly happy with the balance they've struck. And then a terrible tragedy hits this small, self-contained family, and everything spirals out of control. They are cracked wide open in the wake of the devastation wrought by this sudden, unexpected, and unimaginable catastrophe, each character retreating away from the others, facing their guilt and the grief on their own, connections to each other stretching and tearing. In their individual, isolated spirals, they each try to move forward and forge a new life, without fully coming to terms with their loss and Prem, once an integral piece that held them together, is now helpless to stop the familial disintegration.The novel's narration moves among the four Olander family members, with Karina being the biggest focus. The story is heartbreaking and the characters' grief is palpable as each withdraws into themselves and away from their once strong connections to each other. There are a lot of issues explored here beyond grief and what the shape of a family is: divorce, cutting, cults, the obsessive pursuit of money, complete immersion in religion, self-worth as defined by a job, love and relationship, and morality, as well as the suggestion of both rape and suicide. Perhaps there are a few too many topics. The first third of the book is quite grief heavy but it has a stronger focus than the last two thirds, mirroring the weaker bonds between the family members the further they get from the tragedy but also loaded with more and more issues. The ending here is hopeful, which is welcome after such an intensely sad story but it moves quite heavily into explanatory writing rather than allowing the hope to be revealed organically. There's so much pain in this novel but, in the end, what matters is that love remains and it will always be included in the forever changed shape of the family. Readers who enjoy novels of families facing adversity and sorrow and seeing the characters' subsequent responses to tragedy will enjoy immersing themselves in this novel.
    • 4/5
      The Olanders are a typical family, and of course, doing life as a family has its complications. Together, they navigated those complications as best they can—until a tragedy breaks them apart. To come back together, they will need to understand one another—and themselves—in new, more honest ways.Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s The Shape of Family is heartbreaking, as each Olander reacts to and finds solace after the tragedy in different ways. My heart ached to see the family lose touch with the very people that could help the most, making it a hard story to keep reading sometimes. Of course, Gowda does not leave her characters without a bit of hope, healing, and encouraging growth, and I enjoyed that progression.The Shape of Family is a perfect read for anyone looking for a moving, family-oriented story.I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.
    • 4/5
      I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.When tragedy befalls a family, blame and grief widen the cracks and isolate the remaining members. A mother who misses her culture, a father who is a workaholic, and a daughter who is searching for an outlet for the pain. The Shape of Family is an intimate portrayal of how lost someone can get when a loved one is taken away and how families can grieve together and separately, trying to find their way back to one another.Everyone in her family had their secrets, and Karina became practiced at keeping them.Utilizing first person povs, The Shape of Family, jumps povs and time periods (mostly linearly) between Jaya (mother), Keith (father), Karina (daughter/sister), and Prem (son/brother). The story starts introducing the family through Karina's eyes and we learn that she sees it as Prem and her against the world. With an Indian mother and American father, kids at school constantly remark on her skin tone. Her mother is proud of her culture, while Karina sees any hallmark of it as another way to make her different. She's a bit closer to her father because of this issue and while she has a bestfriend Izzy, Karina ultimately sees Prem as the only one who can feel like her and understand.This sets-up the emotional foundation for when a couple chapters later, Prem drowns in the family pool. Karina is thirteen at the time and watching him while her parents are at work, she performs CPR but is unable to save him. The guilt she feels from this is obvious and as readers follow her throughout her life, this tragedy and guilt is apparent in every decision she makes. We get povs from her parents, Jaya's guilt sends her searching for answers, which she looks for in religion, and Keith's guilt at his inability to keep his wife from depression and daughter from pushing him away has him throwing himself more into his work. The story though, mainly follows Karina.“Mr. and Mrs. Olander,” the officer says as they reach the top landing, her hand on the door handle. “I'm not sure what's happening with your daughter. All I know is she needs your love and support right now.”Karina tries to handle her grief through cutting but when she goes off to college, she finds relief in becoming a new person, no one knowing about Prem. This pushing away and ignoring those emotions works for awhile, until her first love ends up being her first heartbreak and she once again is lost as to how to deal with her pain. Her vulnerability is taken advantage of and Karina finds, what she thinks of as love and family, in a commune with increasingly cult like actions.This was a poignant dip into how grief can affect a family individually and as a whole. While we get pov looks into how Jaya and Keith are handling their son's death, I thought there could have been more between the two; they divorce and I thought we missed reading/feeling some of that emotional upheaval. Readers also get Prem's pov after he dies and I'm not sure this worked for me. Except for a crossroads moment towards the end, his pov didn't add anything for me and I think having him completely absent would have made the characters stark cut-off even more felt to the reader.They are flawed, all three of them, but they belong to each other.Whims of fate, Keith ended up surviving 9/11 because of a delayed meeting but their son drowns in the family pool, and the fact that there is no set time on how long grief can keep a hold of you, were achingly apparent in this story. The way the characters tried to fill their lives with things that turned out to be empty for them and beginning to see that acknowledging, addressing, and processing their emotions through therapy was helpful to them, was deep and thoughtful. The Shape of Family will have you shedding a tear or two as the Olander family rides the waves of grief.
    • 4/5
      If the story of the Olander's does not tug at your heart strings; I don't know what to tell you. I felt every emotion that Jaya, Keith, and Karina experienced. There is grief, anger, guilt, loneliness, forgiveness, and happiness. This book is told from each family member's point of view. Alternating between each family member; draws me the reader into the story more. Therefore, I form a strong emotional connection to everyone. The actions that each family member did, I did not judge them but understood the "why". To quote Prem "I've been with my family ever since that day, and if they could really let go of all those feelings of guilt and sadness, they would feel me there." The Shape of Family is not to be missed! The Olander family will stay with you long after you have finishing reading this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a beautifully written story about a family and how grief affected them as a family and as individuals. The story is told by each of the family members but Karina's story is the central part of the novel. The novel begins with them as a cohesive family but grief makes them take their own paths and follow their own plans for the future.The family is made up of-Keith, a banker from Philadelphia-Jaya, the daughter of an Indian diplomat-Karina - their 11 year old daughter who is a headstrong and often difficult child-Prem- their 5 year old son who is the joy of the familyThe novel begins in 2007 and is about the struggles and changes in this family for the next nine years. As it begins, they are a happy family enjoying their lives together. Keith spends too much time at work and Jaya also works but their family is still the most important part of their lives. Despite the 6 year age difference, the two children are very close and enjoy spending time with each other. When a terrible tragedy happens, the foundation of the family starts to crack as each member tries to find a way to deal with their grief. Jaya becomes more spiritual and relies on the gods and goddesses in Indian history, Keith works more and longer hours, Karina focuses on her future and independence. And Prem watches helplessly as his once close-knit family drifts apart.When Karina leaves for college, her goal is to get as far away from her family as possible and to work to find her own identity. This quest leads her down a dark path as she becomes involved with people she thinks will help her find herself but are only interested in their personal goals with no thought for Karina. Once she gets in so deep, her parents come to her rescue and the family cracks start to heal.I enjoyed this book so much that I just ordered earlier books by this author. This is one of my most favorite books of the year.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 3/5
      I really liked the first half of this book even though it was very sad. A beautiful close-knit family suffers a terrible tragedy which tests their strengths and emotions. As the family gradually falls apart their lives change as seen through the eyes of an “angel” from above. I felt the second half of the book was too wordy and the cult aspect too lengthy. I found myself skimming. Families, communication, post traumatic stress, cutting, and forgiveness all topics in this painful story.
    • 5/5
      It is so true that major events, be it wonderful or devastating, shape our lives and our family. This was a very good read. I enjoyed the characters, especially Prem's. I felt it was a bit hurried at the end but all in all I truly enjoyed it!
    • 4/5
      A moving, poignant portrait of what grief can do to a family. This is a very realistic story, even though there are chapters written by a ghost (those are some of the most heart rending chapters). Each member of the family take turns telling their story and some of the chapters I liked much more than others. At one point, I did begin to lose interest in the parents' tales. Karina's story is the most touching. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      As a big fan of Gowda's previous books, I was delighted to get the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest book. The book was beautifully written, but the subject matter was very sad. I couldn't relate to how the various characters dealt with the tragedy in their lives. The daughter's actions were particularly disturbing and difficult to read about.Despite my discomfort while reading the book, I still found it absolutely worth reading and I flew through the book, anxious to see how things would be resolved.I think this book would be a great selection for book discussion groups, particularly for parents of adolescents and young adults.
    • 4/5
      A special thank you to Edelweiss and HarperCollins Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.The Shape of Family is an intimate look at a family fractured by an unspeakable tragedy. Jaya and Keith meet in 1988 at a pub in London—she is the cultured daughter of an Indian diplomat and he is a middle-class banker from Philadelphia. Their union results in a house in the suburbs of California complete with two children; Karina is the oldest, a typical strong-willed teenager, and Prem, their treasured youngest.When an unspeakable tragedy happens, the Olanders are not immune and the family splits. Jaya turns to religion taking and takes comfort in her spirituality. Keith puts all his energy and attention into his career and women. Karina exercises her independence, trying to regain control of her life, and Prem watches it all unravel.Karina's self-destruction is exacerbated when she goes away to college—this should have been her new beginning. Desperate for the love of a family, she makes a choice that ultimately forces her immediate family to deal with their painful past and the roles they've played.A solid 3.5 stars.This novel was incredibly captivating from the onset. It is a brilliant character study about a family that is torn apart by tragedy, unspoken grief, and regrets. It is a quiet study on a tender topic in that grief is deeply personal—everyone mourns differently.However, the different between 3.5 and 4 stars was Karina's disintegration. Without giving too much away, the narrative veers into a storyline that I not only detached from, but grew incredibly frustrated with. And then the novel ends rather abruptly.There is no denying that Gowda is a beautiful and riveting writer, and I would definitely recommend this book.