Finding Heart and Laughter in the Immigrant Experience
a revieW: Blessings of Jupiter and Venus
Author Varun Gauri
We’re living in an increasingly chaotic political climate, in which anti-immigrant rhetoric dehumanizes people who came to this country looking for a better life. That othering language is intentional and dangerous. Now, more than ever, it’s important to read and uplift the voices of immigrants. It’s also important to hold onto things like joy and laughter. For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus, a debut novel by Indian-born author Varun Gauri, does both.
Gauri was born in India, raised in the Midwest, and now lives in Bethesda, Maryland. His novel won the Washington Writers' Publishing House’s 2024 Carol Trawick Fiction Prize. The book follows an Indian-American couple who are in the middle of their marriage ceremony as the book opens. The marriage was arranged, but neither character was forced into this union. They’ve chosen to follow a more traditional path. Meena, an economist and aspiring counselor who has lived all over the world, hails from a wealthy, secular family. Avi is a lawyer who moved back home to small-town Ohio to help his immigrant parents and is now running for local political office. While Avi’s family, who are more provincial and religious, are delighted at the arranged or traditional marriage, Meena’s family is dismayed. And soon their union becomes a topic of gossip and controversy in their Ohio town, as Avi’s opponent for township trustee runs a xenophobic campaign.
“Meena pushed aside her veil. The gold bangles, heavy on her wrists, slid and clinked. She feared the audience would find the gesture graceless, clumsy, but she had to see his eyes. She would in moments be the wife of this man in the groom’s headdress. Maybe she already was his wife. The Vedic ceremony, hours of venerable ritual, had no vows, no exchange of rings, no single moment when choice her will, exercised its prerogatives.”
For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus is a thoughtful and complex book that explores individual identity within the context of culture, traditions, and community. This first-time novelist has serious bonafides when it comes to his knowledge of global affairs. Varun Gauri is an economist who studies global poverty and human rights and teaches at Princeton. Though this is by no means an academic book, it does deal in weighty themes like tradition, modernity, religion, globalism, colonialism, and gender roles, to name a few. And yet, this novel is incredibly funny. Laugh out loud funny. Reminding us that laughter and whimsy are also found in the immigrant experience, Gauri has written his novel as a romantic comedy of manners and miscommunication, in the tradition of Jane Austen.
From the beginning, the young couple has to navigate drama within their families and the larger community. But their most significant obstacles are actually internal. Meena and Avi did meet a few times before the wedding, but they barely know each other, and as the book progresses they are surprised, over and over, at how difficult it is to communicate and get to know each other. Neither is particularly straightforward in their communication or understanding, and so we are privy to a comedy of errors and manners as they try to read between the lines of what is said out loud.
This is a book of contrasts and contradictions. Tradition versus modernity. Religion versus secularism. Globalism versus provincialism. But ultimately Gauri’s debut is a story of self-exploration, as the characters search for identity and a meaningful life. The book embraces the contradictions, the ambiguity, the shades of gray. It’s a book about individuals fighting through the muck to find their own way.
“He caught himself anxiously considering whether he was now Indian enough, or still between paths. He ought to be in it now, with the quasi-arranged marriage, having returned home to take care of his parents, embracing and soon-to-be leading the local Indian community. Still, he felt the same unease, in the pit of his stomach, as he’d felt in Chicago.”
The novel excels in scene, with its sparkling wit, dialogue, and attention to detail. In this specificity, the characters and setting come alive. It also shines when capturing the small moments—Avi’s awkward, cringey wedding toast or Meena’s observations of their new house. There are echoes of Anne Tyler in Gauri’s attention to detail and deep understanding of complicated, layered relationships. But the second half of the book suffers when extended inner narration slows down the narrative, as Meena and Avi muse about their hopes, regrets, and plans. Some of these inner thoughts do need to be spelled out, but I think the author could have trusted the reader more to understand the characters’ perspectives through their perceptions and actions. Towards the end of the book, the events of the story become more exciting, intense, and dramatic. While I was still wrapped up in the story and eager to keep reading, I did feel like the novel had lost focus by straying from the examination of ordinary, mundane life. However, the strengths and delights of this novel outweigh any flaws.
At its heart, For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus is a story about attempting to find love, intimacy, and companionship. Avi and Meena are each struggling to understand another human being. And for all their missteps, they are really, really trying to connect. To make a whole out of parts. Isn’t that what we are trying to do all the time?
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Varun Gauri was born in India and raised in the American Midwest. After studying philosophy in college and public policy in graduate school, he worked for more than two decades on global poverty and human rights, publishing academic articles and books on development economics and behavioral economics. He now teaches at Princeton University and lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland.
Norah Vawter is the Local Authors Editor for DCTRENDING. She’s a freelance writer, editor, and novelist, represented by Victress Literary. Norah lives in Northern Virginia with her family. Follow her @norahvawter on Instagram, Threads, and Substack.