Coming Home - Sue Gee

I found this book very unsettling. It is a family saga about a young couple with high hopes "coming home" to start a new life in England after Indian Independence, and contains plenty of sweet and funny period details, but I found the character of the mother very disturbing: her attempts to create an identity for herself by writing about her experiences are repeatedly unsuccessful, even leading her to a breakdown at one point.  I was also troubled by the description of the various ways that the children suffer because of well-intentioned or thoughtless actions (or in several cases, inaction!) by their parents. Perhaps I overreacted to these themes due to my current situation as a full-time mother who has just moved countries and is wondering to what extent choices we make for them now will have a long-term effect on our children's characters and happiness, but to me this book seemed essentially tragic. I was surprised to learn afterwards that the book is largely autobiographical, and seems to have been intended as a sort of affectionate tribute to her parents. I wonder whether, knowing that she was in part motivated by love and nostalgia, she worked hard to avoid writing something sentimental or saccharine, and perhaps went a little too far the other way.