Leave It to Me: A Novel

"A very fine writer, funny, intelligent, versatile and, on occasion, unexpectedly profound." --The Washington Post Book World "MUKHERJEE IS FEARLESS . . . DARING AND WITTY . . . Take the wild ride with Debby DiMartino from Albany to San Francisco, from lost child to masked avenger." --The Boston Globe "POWERFULLY WRITTEN . . . Debby has no memory of her birth parents. All she knows is that she was born in a remote Indian village, the daughter of a hippie back-packing mother and a mysterious Eurasian father, both of whom have disappeared almost without a trace. . . . Her quest for her biological parents turns into an obsession. . . . Leave It to Me . . . shows Mukherjee at the peak of her craft. . . . Mixing the Greek myth of Electra with the Indian myth of Devi, she sends Devi/Debby careening down on the Bay Area like an elemental force of vengeance." --San Francisco Chronicle "DEVI IS A BRILLIANT CREATION--hilarious, horribly knowing and even more horribly oblivious--through whom Bharati Mukherjee, with characteristic and shameless ingenuity, is laying claim to speak for an America that isn't 'other' at all." --The New York Times Book Review "STUNNING . . . An astute, ironic, and merciless insight into an aberrant version of the American dream." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Review :
Leave it to Me combines the journalist’s grasp of contemporary culture with the magic realist’s appetite for myth . . . "Leave it to Me is wittily billed as ‘the Electra story . . . re-imagined for our time,’ and it’s true that it’s a tale of murderous female jealously between generations. But that’s only the beginning. . . . Devi is a brilliant creation–hilarious, horribly knowing and even more horribly oblivious–through whom Bharati Mukherjee, with characteristic and shameless ingenuity, is laying claim to speak for an America that isn’t ‘other’ at all." –The New York Times Book Review "MUKHERJEE IS FEARLESS . . . DARING AND WITTY . . . Take the wild ride with Debby DiMartino from Albany to San Francisco, from lost child to masked avenger." –The Boston Globe "POWERFULLY WRITTEN . . . Debby has no memory of her birth parents. All she knows is that she was born in a remote Indian village, the daughter of a hippie back-packing mother and a mysterious Eurasian father, both of whom have disappeared almost without a trace. . . . Her quest for her biological parents turns into an obsession. . . . Leave It to Me . . . shows Mukherjee at the peak of her craft. . . . Mixing the Greek myth of Electra with the Indian myth of Devi, she sends Devi/Debby careening down on the Bay Area like an elemental force of vengeance." –San Francisco Chronicle "STUNNING . . . An astute, ironic, and merciless insight into an aberrant version of the American dream." –Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Dazzling . . . [A] sharp look at the 1960s’ legacy of eroded idealism and scarred kids . . . Mukherjee gives Devi a hip, snappy, ironic voice to describe a world in which nature–and destiny–transcend nurture and no one feels remorse or responsibility." –New York Daily News "A psychedelic journey through the meaner side of San Francisco’s free-loving past . . . Leave It to Me challenges us to sympathize with an angry young woman whose overwhelming sense of entitlement leads her to play judge and jury, devouring all in her quest for a new identity." –People "With poignancy and wit, Mukherjee makes present-day San Francisco the setting for the age-old story of the foundling in search of her parent and herself." –Booklist "Engaging." –Kirkus Reviews "A very fine writer, funny, intelligent, versatile and, on occasion, unexpectedly profound." –The Washington Post Book World