Sequels are never a good idea and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's 'The Vine of Desire' is the perfect example of why. In this story we catch up with Sudha and her young daughter Dayita, Sudha's cousin Anju and Anju's husband Sunil. Divakaruni's novel 'Sister of My Heart' created the classic love triangle between Sudha, Anju and Sunil and this sequel sees it being taken to the West.

The book starts with Anju's miscarriage, exactly where 'Sister of My Heart' left off, but then rapidly descends into a miasma of disjointed writing styles. Personal letters, essays that Anju prepares for her Professor, third party observations - Divakaruni has used every weapon in her considerable literary arsenal to keep the story moving along. Alas to no avail.

The characters have lost all of their charm. Sudha, the iridescent beauty has become an irresolute sop, she has the guts to escape a threatened abortion and divorce, but then spends all her time pining to get back to India to the ever-hopeful beau-in-waiting Ashok. Sudha's escape to America, to stay with her cousin and "sister of her heart", Anju, rekindles in Sunil the suppressed love he feels for Sudha.

Anju, meanwhile functions like an automaton, trying hard to overcome her grief at a miscarriage by throwing herself into her studies, only to find herself in solitary self-exile. Indeed the most interesting aspect of this novel is how each character deals with their increasing westernisation. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has beautifully observed the creeping onset of this cultural change. From the emotional division that closed doors in their apartment bring, to the reticence of each of the three to discuss their thoughts or feelings. In their apartment, they seem to more flat mates, rather than good mates. Much has to be inferred from the sub text of their daily lives, almost as if one if watching the television with the sound turned off.

This emotional detachment of each is noted in the detail. Sudha receives an important letter from India and yet spends hours cleaning and tidying the apartment before sitting down to read the missive. This emotional coldness is in direct contrast to the lives of Sudha and Anju's mothers in India who lead an "open" lifestyle, discussing their daughters' lives, offering advice and speculating on how the situation can be improved.

Anju for her part has turned from a bright, optimistic, courageous young girl into a dark, morose, resentful woman who hugs her grief too closely. She feels betrayed by her husband and sister and wallows in bucketfuls of self-pity. Oblivious to everything other than her own woe, she seems surprised at Sunil's reaction to Sudha, even though the seeds of her suspicion of an attraction between them were sown in the first book. Although the grief of losing her unborn son must be acute, it is hard to pity or even like the new bitter Anju.

Sunil is more gently drawn. His instinctive love for the young child Dayita and his angst at being torn between a rapidly deteriorating marriage and a rekindled love for Sudha lend him a more human touch. In the previous book he seemed a wooden, almost robotic character and Divakaruni should be applauded for not demonising his character in this follow-up. Typically he seeks solace in his work, accepting a promotion and relocation to Houston where he proceeds to lead a bachelor lifestyle.

To effects of the love triangle - a facet that is not new in either Indian or Western literature- Divakaruni has added a dash of cultural clash and the growing maturity of each of the characters. Sudha's character appears to change the most. Largely due to force of circumstance, she grows from being timid and pliable to being more forceful and steely. At one point in the novel, there seems to be almost a role reversal between Anju and Sudha, but just as the outcome appears to become predictable, Divakaruni twists the plot again.

The visual style in this book has none of the colour, vigour and warmth of 'Sister of My Heart'. There are no fragrant jasmine trees, lush hibiscus plants or tart neem scents to beguile the reader. 'The Vine of Desire' is set in a much bleaker landscape. The coldness and solitary existence of each character make them seek out strangers. Sudha is charmed by Sara's Indian dress in the local park and by Lalit, an Indian immigrant doctor who wants to become her new love interest. The interaction of the three principal characters with other Indian immigrants gives Divakaruni new story lines to follow, but creates in me a distinct apathy.

The appetite is really only there for the love triangle - can it survive? Can the two cousin's sibling love for each other survive? On the one hand it seems an ideal solution for the transplanted trio but will it destroy everything or help them to get closer together? In the end, the book deals with the core material fairly swiftly, leaving a great many pages of vast literary wasteland. I am not interested in the author's ruminations about bombings in Bosnia or the war between the Hutus and Tutsis - they have very little effect on the protagonists.

This really is not a book about the Indian experience in America; it should have focussed entirely on the love triangle but did not, leaving me to conclude that sequels are never a good idea! Indeed the opening sentence "In the beginning was pain" echoes this torture throughout.

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