Em and the Big Hoom

"It’s about a family, the mother and two children. The mother suffers from bipolar, and the two children are remembering growing up with her. When she is lucid, she has the most beautiful memories of her long courtship with their father. When she is not so lucid, she is very acerbic, sharp, with a temper, and then you see her completely in the throes of depression and the children having to deal with that. It’s deeply emotional while, at the same time, having that sharp, raw voice. The way he’s shown family life with such tremendous emotion, it just breaks your heart completely. Mingled with everyday mundane things that happen in families, suddenly it could be that the mother needs to be taken to hospital, or there’s blood on the floor. That mingling of the mundane and the heightened emotional experience of the mother just totally grips you. He’s also used dialogue very beautifully. What is Bombay English? This is a great example. The city is such an amazing character in the book because Jerry has lived in this city his whole life. He was born here. I’d also like to mention his other book, Murder in Mahim , which is a murder mystery. Em and the Big Hoom is set in this particular part of the city called Mahim, where a lot of Catholic people live and he is one. The seasons, the trees, the flowers, the urinals, everyday life is mixing with this very emotional experience of living with a mother who has bipolar—facing it every day, living with it, you almost being the adult sometimes but then the mother being the mother sometimes. It’s just beautiful and moving. That’s not about his family, it’s a murder mystery. In both the books the city and this area, Mahim, comes out as an amazing character. You see the trees, the seasonal flowers, the urinals, the trains, the smallest railway platforms, the Sunday lunches. He’s used the character of the city so beautifully in both these books."