Em and the Big Hoom

Home.

That word is enough to lift your spirits and your frown, after a long, hard day. Families are full of characters but we all want to go back to familiar, smiling faces who will ask you how your day has been, to the boisterous, bickering bunch waiting at the dining table to laugh at you, cry with you. Whether your home is your haven or your zoo, whether your family is your sanity or drives you insane, they make living worthwhile, they are the reason we are.

How things unfold?

Jerry Pinto’s Em and the Big Hoom is about a family, living in a one-bedroom-hall-kitchen in Mumbai. The title’s Em is the narrator’s unconventional (eccentric even), guileless (bordering on heartbreaking) and manic (prone to suicidal tendencies) mother and the Big Hoom, the ever placid, the ever staunch patriarch. Their story is one of love and unconditional support, even in the face of mental illness, of Em’s hallucinations, the Big Hoom’s love letters, of a young boy obsessed with his mother’s life to find out what triggered her imbalance, what happened that made her who she is. It is the story of how an illness though fractures the family, it also somehow holds it together.

Why read it?

Compelling storytelling and the bold subject

You’d think that a book about depression has to be… well, depressing, but Jerry Pinto’s breezy narration and unconsciously funny character Em makes it anything but.

A reality check

That said, this is not a feel good book. It does not delude you into thinking that life is a fairy tale and a happy ending is waiting for you on the other side of testing times. It does assure you, though, that with every problem comes the strength to deal with it and it’s all going to be fine. You just have to hang in there.

A memorable character

But most importantly for Em, for her unapologetic, almost brutal candor and her unorthodox way of seeing the world, she is a memorable character.

To restore your faith in family

It is difficult to stick together today with crazy work schedules and messed up priorities and even more so in the face of sickness but it is always easier to cross the road holding someone’s hand, isn’t it?

And home

The bright light at the end of a long day.

Who is it for?

This is not a book for someone looking for an escape from reality, however that does not make it any less beautiful. Bookistaan recommends it for ages 16 and above.