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    One Amazing Thing
    One Amazing Thing
    One Amazing Thing
    Audiobook7 hours

    One Amazing Thing

    Written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

    Narrated by Purva Bedi, Soneela Nankani and Neil Shah

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Winner of a Pushcart Prize for poetry and an American Book Award for her short stories, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores themes of women, immigration, and her vibrant Indian culture to great effect. Divakaruni expands on these ideas in One Amazing Thing, a project long in the making and full of electric prose.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 2, 2010
    ISBN9781440779886
    One Amazing Thing
    Author

    Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

    Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the author of sixteen books, including Oleander Girl, The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Palace of Illusions, One Amazing Thing, and Before We Visit the Goddess. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Times, and has won, among other prizes, an American Book Award. Born in India, she currently lives in Texas and is the McDavid professor of Creative Writing at the University of Houston.

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    Reviews for One Amazing Thing

    3.5/5

    362 ratings96 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Very interesting and thoughtful... loved it .. thanks
    • 4/5
      This book was short and simple but strangely gripping. Organized like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and just as poignantly unfinished, this novel is not easy to put down or forget. The language is direct and cuts each character into sharp relief. It's not as uplifting as advertised on the back cover, but it's very real and human.
    • 3/5
      I like the book but I could not bear the narrator’s voice and so stopped to get it in print from the library
    • 5/5
      The story- or stories- takes place in the basement visa office of the Indian consulate in a city I assume to be San Francisco. As the people wait impatiently, a massive earthquake hits. The power goes out, the ceiling falls in, the phone lines are out, cel phones get no reception, there is water seeping in and the door is stuck shut. They are trapped, with no way to get out and no way of knowing if help will arrive before the building collapses or the water rises too far. As can be expected, the mixed bag of people react emotionally. To distract them from their fears, hunger and discomforts, Uma suggest that they all tell a story, a story of one amazing thing that has happened to them. When they protest that they have no stories to tell, she suggests that they tell of how they came to be in the visa office, preparing to go to India. Their stories are rich with emotion; love gained, love lost, love hoped for, love fled from and redemption or freedom sought. Divakaruni has a talent for writing of love in all it’s varied guises that draws the reader into the lives of the characters. And while she writes of love, she invokes all the senses, writing of scents, of foods, of textures, of colors, adding rich detail yet writing sparingly, never heavily. This is a book I carried around the house with me rather than put down; reading while waiting for the tea kettle to boil, while the bacon fried, while the iron heated.
    • 3/5
      An earthquake leaves nine people trapped in an Indian passport office in an unnamed American city (which I assumed to be San Francisco). To distract each other from their plight, they each tell a story of their life - one amazing thing. It didn't work for me. I couldn't buy into the premise that these strangers would tell such intimate stories while in such imminent danger. And I didn?t feel any suspense over their situation. A couple of the stories were interesting but they didn?t read like I was being told a story by the individual characters. An interesting premise, but overall, a disappointment
    • 4/5
      4-1/2 stars, if I could show that. Great sleeper of a novel since I haven't seen it hyped, but that could be my lack of attention. A group of people are waiting in the San Fran office of the Indian Consulate when an earthquake strikes, trapping them all in the dreary bureautic space. Naturally personality types play a role in interesting interaction, reminiscent of Bel Canto, but then one character suggests each person share a story from his or her life, like a modern-day Canterbury Tales. Beautifully written and unique approach....ending was a little unsatisfactory.
    • 3/5
      Interesting stories, but disappointing as a whole.
    • 3/5
      I loved getting to know all the characters that are trapped together during an earthquake. the stories each character told was very telling and touching. The ending, however, was a huge disappoint and a let down.
    • 3/5
      3.5***

      When an earthquake strikes, nine people are trapped in the basement of the Indian consulate: an upper-class Caucasian couple with a troubled marriage, a young Muslim-American man with a tendency to act rashly, a graduate student whose parents have returned to India, an African-American Vietnam veteran, a Chinese grandmother with a secret along with her punk-rock teenage granddaughter, and two visa office workers.

      I was immediately caught up in the “present day” story of these nine people trapped in a basement. I liked the way that the author revealed their strengths and weaknesses as they acted / reacted to the situation. Who was selfish, or brave, or took charge, or retreated. But when Uma suggests that they pass the time by each telling “one amazing thing” from his/her life, the story arc lost some momentum, and it became more of a collection of short stories.

      I don’t mind this too much, because I love short stories, and Divakaruni writes them well. However, this sort of hybrid between a short story collection and a novel seemed a little awkward. I was enthralled and interested in both the story of nine people trapped by the earthquake, and in the characters back stories. What each chose to reveal to these strangers, while fearing they would die together, told much about them as individuals. I have to admit it made me wonder what episode of my life I would tell in such circumstances.

      One final note: the city in the book is unnamed, but apparently San Francisco. There are references to cable cars and being “by the bay.” Additionally, there IS an Indian consulate (where one would go for a visa) in San Francisco. And, of course, it is a city with a history of earthquakes.
    • 3/5
      The first thought that popped into my head as I read the synopsis was 'The Decameron'. For those of you who haven't read it, 'The Decameron' is about a group of people in ancient Italy? who flee to the mountains in order to escape the black plague, they then tell each other stories. That just seemed like it was so similar to this book, not a bad thing at all, it take guts to write a book stringing stories well together.

      I liked this book for it's premise mostly. 'One Amazing Thing' started out a bit slow and then progressed a bit only to take a cliff dive off the deep end. Once the characters started to tell their stories, the whole book seemed to lose a bit of focus, and in turn as a reader, so did I. The characters were well thought of and the author did an excellent job putting these characters together in one place, and also with the choosing of the character's backgrounds. I just never felt that hook that draws you head first into a story. 'One Amazing Thing' was just ok, in my opinion. I still love the idea of the book though and it has an excellent theme; I'll let you figure it out for yourself.
    • 3/5
      I had a problem with reading about 9 characters' stories within a 200 page book, perhaps, it is that there are so many left out details. I did not "feel" the characters' voices as much as I would have liked.

    • 3/5
      A well-written book that was entertaining enough. While I appreciated the challenge that Divakaruni set for herself, the stories themselves lacked a certain depth which would have made it a really great book.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful read! I love the idea of throwing all these people together, unbeknownst to them, all at a crossroads. The storytelling was magical, as each person describes the single event in their life that completely changed their trajectory. Each story, filled with tragedy also held the joy that can come from adversity - like this opportunity to share and explore their own lives as they face the aftereffects of an earthquake that may mark their end.I am in love with this concept of the single event that can change a life, so it really took me. Great writing and wonderful stories.
    • 4/5
      I loved the background of the story, but I felt like Chitra could have built more onto this story to make it absolutley magical. Great plot, but would have liked to see more details and more in depth stories. But regardless, great book and power with words
    • 3/5
      I was disappointed in this book. After reading "Sister of myheart' i expected more from Divakaruni. A group of strangers are thrown together when the office for visas to India is part of an earthquake. These poeple must survive together and one way to keep people clam was to tell a story from your life of "one Amazing Thing". So this is a great premise for a book but I found it hard to keep the pople straight or feel for them even after hearing their stories. It was just all okay
    • 4/5
      Not bad, I enjoyed it. A plane crashes into a visa/immigration office and the people all tell their stories.
    • 4/5
      “One Amazing Thing” is an engaging book that reinforces the idea that all of us are unique and different, and that we all have a story to tell. We can all connect or see one another if we are willing to take the time to listen. When an earthquake traps nine very individual people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, the way that their lives intersect and become connected comes vividly to life. Prejudices, fears and bullying are all touched on in the situation where people who would not normally be involved in each others lives, come to depend upon one another. I was fascinated by the stories in this book. It would help each of us to remember that there are experiences and circumstances in the lives of the other people that we meet and know that can make our lives richer if we are open to understanding and experiencing their stories, and accept and embrace ideas and beliefs that may be beyond our current comfort levels. Everyone does have at least one amazing story, and when we tell it to ourselves and then a few others, it becomes more real in the telling. This is a great book club discussion book. I give it 4 plus stars.
    • 3/5
      By adopting Geoffrey Chaucer's structure in the Canterbury Tales, Divakaruni attempts to make a novel from a collection of short stories. This attempt is largely unsuccessful in my opinion in part because of the mismatch between the conception of her frame and the nature of her individual tales. The post-earthquake struggle for survival that constitutes the frame comes across as a kind of terrestrial Poseidon Adventure without the research, imagination, and sharp characterisations that made that novel so gripping. Some of the stories told by her trapped victims are successful and readable, but within the mediocre writing that surrounds them they fail to stand out as they should. Short story collections do not generally sell as easily as novels, but pasting together a story collection to form a novel does not in this case serve the stories well and creates a disappointing novel.
    • 3/5
      Interesting concept. Started out great, but kind'a fizzled out toward the end I thought.
    • 5/5
      One Amazing Thing is a lovely book. Nine people with no connection to eachother find themselves trapped in an office building after an earthquake. Nine separate people, with nine separate personalities must figure out how to live together while waiting for rescue. There are hurt feelings and power struggles. There are the best possible traits of humans and there are also the worst.To try and bring the group together, one of the nine suggest that each person tell an amazing story about themselves and their lives. After some initial resistance, each of the nine shares a story. While each story was not necessarily amazing taken by itself, each one did have a profound impact on the life of the one telling it. This helped the group (and us) to understand the others better and made it more possible to them to work together and care for eachother's welfare as they waited for their situation to resolve.I enjoyed the book very much - I was interested in the characters and, most of all, I came to care for them as they told their stories.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed reading the stories of the characters, though I did feel that some of the stories seemed unresolved, and the ending was very unsatisfying and abrupt for my taste.
    • 3/5
      This novel revolves around nine disparate people trapped together in a visa office after an earthquake, their work to survive until they are rescued, and the tension that comes out when people are worried for their lives.To break up the tension, Uma, a graduate student, suggests that they each tell an important story from their lives to give them all something to focus on.THIS is where the story gets interesting. Although a couple of the stories never get fully told as they are interrupted by shifting of debris, the stories that we DO read give the reader a greater insight into each character. Because they are so different from each other, each story is unique and some are rather heartbreaking.The beginning third of the book was almost ho-hum for me. I didn't feel much connection with the characters, and there was a lot of animosity between a few of the characters that I felt was not fully justified or explained very well.When the stories started coming, however, I was caught up. Many of them revolved around love and marriage: love lost, expectations thwarted, love found. These glimpses are what made me finally feel for the characters and somewhat redeemed the novel for me, especially those that gave me insight into different cultures.Worth a read, even if the first part does sort of drag along. I really would have liked to see more development of character closer to the beginning of the novel, but when I think about it, if you really WERE stuck in an office with a bunch of other people, how much would you know about them in the beginning/QUOTES"Please don't be afraid of me," he said. He wanted to tell them what he'd seen in Mexico, where he'd gone to help after an earthquake in one of his attempts at expiation. People who had been too impatient and had tried to dig themselves out of the rubble often died as more debris collapsed on them, while people who had stay put - sometimes without food and water for a week or more - were finally, miraculously rescued.The time and money he had spent planning this trip to India, the tickets he had booked. Just because here eyes had shone for a moment when she saw the cursed picture. The words were in his mouth: If it weren't for tying to take care of you, I wouldn't be stuck down here, bout to die. Everything I worked so hard for brought to zero."Everyone has a story," said Uma, relieved that one of them was considering the idea. "I don't believe anyone can go through life without encountering at least one amazing thing."Writing: 4 out of 5 starsPlot: 3 out of 5 starsCharacters: 3 out of 5 starsReading Immersion: 3 out 5 starsBOOK RATING: 3.25 out of 5 stars
    • 4/5
      Kept me interested from beginning to end. Some of the storylines did seem a bit farfetched, and when the author wrote the teenager's story, it didn't really sound the way a teenager would speak. Overall though, a quick, entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      Nine people are trapped in a building during an earthquake. Water is slowly seeping into the area, and they have very little food. A young graduate student (Uma) who is reading the Canterbury Tales, suggests that they each tell a story of one amazing thing that happened in thier life as a way to pass the time and prevent panic from taking over their minds.What I liked about this book was that the stories rang true. The "amazing thing" each person spoke about wasn't objectively amazing, yet it was something that profoundly touched their lives. In this way, I got to know these nine people very well.The stories are interspersed with what is happening in the aftermath of the earthquake. The author used these interludes to tie the stories together so that we have more than a collection of short stories -- we do have a novel. This book was interesting,,,,good,but not terrific.
    • 3/5
      When an earthquake traps a handful of unrelated strangers in a basement visa office, they pass the time by telling each other stories of one amazing thing that has happened to them. I enjoyed the audiobook okay, although I can't say I felt particularly connected to any of the characters.
    • 4/5
      Nine people are trapped in an Indian passport office somewhere in the U.S. after an earthquake and, to distract themselves while they await rescue or death, they each tell a story from their lives.I’m a big believer that “everybody has a story” and found the stories embedded in this short novel to be terrific, engaging explorations. I found the premise (earthquake/survival/strangers-confiding) weaker, and found that Divakaruni tends to leave her endings (of the stories and the novel) unfinished. Still, I would read more by her.
    • 4/5
      An earthquake hits and nine people are trapped together in a passport and visa office. Water begins to rise in the room, and food is running out. To ward off panic, one person suggests that each person tell a story about "one amazing thing" from his life. The stories that emerge are tragic and heartwrenching and powerful. All the while the people trapped in the office are telling stories, the waters continue to rise and food becomes scarce, the roof begins to fall in and no one knows if he will survive the day. Still, the trapped people prod each other to continue to relate these stories to each other, stories that provide hope and meaning for the storyteller as well as the listener. As well as the reader of this book.
    • 4/5
      Disaster book. A group of people are stuck in a basement during an earthquake. They each tell a story to pass the time. Interesting mix of characters.
    • 3/5
      - Seven people are sitting in the Indian embassy when an earthquake strikes and they are trapped within with the staff. Soon petty fights crop up. Someone proposes that each one tells a story which has occurred in their lives. A vast myriad of people tell their stories. A migrant Chinese woman and her grand- daughter, a Vietnam veteran, an American couple, an American Muslim boy, an American Indian girl and two staff members narrate stories.The simple stories told by these people are quite touching and mainly deal with human relationships and camaraderie. A nice soft touching novel.
    • 4/5
      A very readable story of a diverse group of strangers thrown together after an earthquake. Cameron, the former soldier, trained to survive in harsh environments assumes leadership ensuring everyone works together to share resources, comply with limits, and help each other. Moderately successful until flooding worsens and tempers flare, Uma suggests each member of the group tell a story describing one amazing thing in their lives. And when the stories end, the individuals become a real group, understanding and caring for each other. Very quick read. Describes the importance of stories to aid in understanding the human condition.