Thrity Umrigar visits ‘The Museum of Failures’ | Book Talk

A “weird combination of pity and guilt” is the essence of “The Museum of Failures,” a powerful family drama by former Beacon Journal writer Thrity Umrigar.

Remy Wadia grew up in Bombay but came without hesitation to attend college in Columbus, encouraged by his adoring father. Having grown up in a wealthy family and now the owner of a successful advertising agency, Remy is returning to Bombay ostensibly to visit his mother, Shirin, but his real reason is to meet a friend’s niece, a pregnant college student who has agreed to let Remy and his wife adopt her baby.

He does visit his mother, however, and is shocked to learn that she has been hospitalized; the cousins who had agreed to care for her in exchange for free rent have been neglecting her and her apartment is in disrepair. Remy learns that Shirin has stopped speaking and has a bad cough and fever. He’s torn between his duty to her and his resentment for the way she always treated him, harsh and abusive and once telling him she wished he’d never been born.

Remy’s father had died three years earlier and Remy remembers him as generous and benevolent. His parents’ marriage had been unhappy and when Remy meets an old family friend who had once dated his father, he wishes that she had been his mother instead.

Not until halfway through the story does Remy discover a devastating family secret, one that forces him to reevaluate relationships and sentiments he’s held all his life. His Parsi heritage, a disappearing culture and declining population, plays a significant role in his outlook.

“The Museum of Failures” (368 pages, hardcover) costs $28 from Algonquin. Umrigar also is the author of “Honor” and is the distinguished professor of English at Case Western Reserve University.

Events

Emerald Event Center (33040 Just Imagine Drive, Avon): The second annual North Coast Indie Author Book Expo features about 60 authors, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. See the list at northcoastindies.weebly.com/#/.

Marvin Memorial Library (29 W. Whitney Ave., Shelby): Terry Pluto talks about his many sports books, including “Vintage Cavs” and “Vintage Browns,” 6 p.m. Monday.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (60 S. High St.): Victoria Christopher Murray, co-author (with Marie Benedict) of “The First Ladies,” kicks off the annual Main Event: Many Voices series to talk about “The First Ladies,” a novel based on the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (North Royalton branch, 5071 Wallings Road): Laura DeMarco talks about “Lost Civil War Battlefields,” 7 to 8 p.m. Monday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Cleveland Public Library: Comic book writer Ryan Drost talks about his sci-fi supernatural comic “Stealth Hammer” in a YouTube and Facebook event at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at cpl.org.

Barberton Public Library (602 W. Park Ave.): Cardington author Mindy McGinnis talks about her young adult horror duology “The Initial Insult” and “The Last Laugh,” 6 p.m. Tuesday. Register at barbertonlibrary.org.

Karamu House Theatre (2355 E. 89th St., Cleveland): Saeed Jones, winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Prize for poetry, reads from “Alive at the End of the World,” 7 p.m. Tuesday. Free, but tickets are required; go to anisfield-wolf.org/bookweek.

Dunham Tavern & Gardens (6709 Euclid Ave., Cleveland): Geraldine Brooks talks about “Horse,” 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Award winner for fiction, 4 p.m. Wednesday. Free, but tickets are required; go to anisfield-wolf.org/bookweek.

Hudson Library & Historical Society: Florida physician Dawn Sherling talks about “Eat Everything: How to Ditch Additives and Emulsifiers, Heal Your Body, and Reclaim the Joy of Food” in a virtual event at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.

Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library (Willoughby Hills branch, 35400 Chardon Road): James Renner talks about his true-crime book “Little, Crazy Children: The Murder of Lisa Pruett,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at we247.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow branch, 2121 Snow Road): John Patrick Green signs his children’s graphic novel “InvestiGators: All Tide Up,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma Heights branch, 6206 Pearl Road): Case Western Reserve University professor Sharona Hoffman talks about “Aging with a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Maltz Performing Arts Center (1855 Ansel Road, Cleveland Heights): Ann Patchett (“Tom Lake”) and Kevin Wilson (“Now is Not the Time to Panic”) join the William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage Series, 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. Single tickets are $35; go to case.edu/maltzcenter.

Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library: Novelist Amor Towles, author of the Kirkus Prize-nominated “A Gentleman in Moscow” and “The Lincoln Highway,” joins the Online Author Talk Series from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. Register at smfpl.org.

Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County (Poland branch, 311 S. Main St.): Author Vince Guerrieri (“Weird Moments in Cleveland Sports: Bottlegate, Bedbugs, and Burying the Pennant and More!” follows the Friends of Public Library general membership meeting, 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Quaker Steak & Lube (6073 Dressler Road NW, Jackson Township): Don Ake launches “Deep Heavy Stuff: Thoughts and Essays for Enriching Your Life,” 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Ohio Statehouse (1 Capitol Square, Columbus): The 82nd Annual Ohioana Awards will be presented at a reception at 6 p.m. Thursday, including a cocktail reception and buffet. Among the 2023 winners are Cleveland Heights native Celeste Ng for fiction with “Our Missing Hearts” and Wooster author Marcy Campbell for juvenile with “The More You Give.” Tickets are $85; go to ohioana.org.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (North Hill branch, 183 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave.): David Lee Morgan Jr. signs “Breaking Through the Lines: The Marion Motley Story,” 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday. Register at akronlibrary.org.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Fairlawn-Bath branch, 3101 Smith Road): Crime fiction writer Les Roberts signs “The C.I.” and his Milan Jacovich detective series, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Dover Public Library (525 N. Walnut St.): Travel writer Brandy Gleason signs “100 Things to Do in Amish Country Before You Die” and talks about “Explore Ohio and Beyond,” 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at doverlibrary.org.

Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Burt Griffin, former assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, talks about “JFK, Oswald, Ruby: Politics, Prejudice and Truth,” 7 p.m. Thursday.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Strongsville branch, 18700 Westwood Drive): J.A. Jance talks about “Blessing of the Lost Girls,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Kent State University (Stark campus conference center, 6000 Frank Ave. NW, Jackson Township): Thi Bui, author of the graphic novel “The Best We Could Do,” appears from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at starklibrary.org.

Bowling Green State University (Jerome Library, 1001 E. Wooster St.): The Spider-Man in Popular Culture Conference features an amazing array of writers, cartoonists and academic experts in a free event beginning at 8 a.m. Friday and running through 8 p.m. Saturday, with a reception each evening. See the schedule at bgsu.edu/library/spidey/con.html.

City Club of Cleveland (1317 Euclid Ave.): Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of “My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives” and winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award, speaks at a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Nonmembers pay $45; go to cityclub.org.

Asia Plaza (2999 Payne Ave., Cleveland): Samantha Chang, winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for fiction, reads from and signs “The Family Chao,” 6:30 p.m. Friday. Free, but tickets are required; go to anisfield-wolf.org/bookweek.

Visible Voice Books (2258 Professor Ave., Cleveland): Sandusky native John Kropf signs “Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company,” 7 p.m. Friday.

East Tech High School (2439 E. 55th Street, Cleveland): Matthew F. Delmont talks about “Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad,” winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Award for fiction, noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Free, but tickets are required; go to anisfield-wolf.org/bookweek.

Massillon Library (208 Lincoln Way E.): HerBrina S. Shepherd signs her storybook “HerBrina THE Amazing!”, noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Angelo Velotta signs “Stories from the Bean Table,” 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Thrity Umrigar visits ‘The Museum of Failures’