The Way Things Look to Me
A Novel
ISBN10: 0312577885
ISBN13: 9780312577889
Trade Paperback
352 Pages
$22.99
Longlisted for the Orange Prize
Longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The Murphy family has never tried to be different; they just are. When Yasmin, the youngest sibling, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, her older siblings learned to adapt to less attention and more responsibility, to a sister with "special abilities" that no one, not even they, could ever truly understand. Since the deaths of their parents, the three siblings have become adults in their unique, tragic ways. Asif, the responsible oldest brother, has been left to take care of Yasmin by their middle sister Lila, the stubbornly rebellious beauty who resents Yasmin for her emotional distance, and for stealing their mother's love and attention. As Yasmin's committed caretaker, Asif is worn down. A young professional, he feels his freedom slipping away as he tries hard to keep the remains of their family together.
When the unthinkable happens, threatening the Murphy siblings' delicate balance, will they stand together or fall apart? Roopa Farooki's The Way Things Look to Me is a deeply moving portrait of Brothers and Sisters, of three siblings caught between duty and love in a tangled relationship both bitter and bittersweet.
Reviews
Praise for The Way Things Look to Me
"Farooki never fails to produce a mesmerizing novel. The Murphys walk right off the page and into your heart. Farooki's grasp of her characters is honest and deep."—India Currents magazine
"Wonderful and convincing . . . Farooki is a great writer and this is a book well worth reading."—Psychology Today
"Three orphaned London siblings lean on each other as they move haltingly into adulthood."—People magazine
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
THE WAY THINGS LOOK TO ME (Chapter One) As If He Wasn't There
Asif Declan Kalil Murphy has a brooding resentment of his name, and by extension, of his deceased parents, although he resents them for many more things than his name, up to and including...