Book description
At 23, Asif is less than he wanted to be. His mother's sudden death
forced him back home to look after his youngest sister, Yasmin, and he
leads a frustrating life, ruled by her exacting need for routine.
Everyone tells Asif that he's a good boy, but he isn't so sure.
Lila has escaped from home, abandoning Asif to be the sole carer of
their difficult sister. Damaged by a childhood of uneven treatment, as
Yasmin's needs always came first, she leads a wayward existence,
drifting between jobs and men, obsessed with her looks and certain that
her value is only skin deep.
And then there is Yasmin, who has no idea of the resentment she has
caused. Who sees music in colour and remembers so much that sometimes
her head hurts. Who doesn't feel happy, but who knows that she is
special. Who has a devastating plan.
THE WAY THINGS LOOK TO ME is an affecting, comically tender portrayal
of a family in crisis, caught between duty and love in a tangled
relationship both bitter and bittersweet. Roopa Farooki was born in
Lahore in Pakistan and brought up in London. She graduated from New
Colleage, Oxford in 1995 and worked in advertising before turning to
write fiction. Roopa now divides her time between south-west France and
Kent with her husband and sons. Bitter Sweets, her first novel, was
shortlisted for the Orange New Writers Award 2007, and her second novel
Corner Shop was published in 2008.
