One Amazing Thing

One Amazing Thing is a 2009 novel by award-winning novelist and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It was first published in the United States in Voice by Hyperion in 2009, and later in Hamish Hamilton by Penguin Books India in 2010.

The novel presents a group of people from various backgrounds trapped inside a visa office after a massive earthquake, and tells their story of survival and revelations in hopeless situation with no easy way out.

A group of nine is trapped in the visa office at an Indian consulate after a massive earthquake in an American city. Two visa officers on the verge of an adulterous affair; Jiang, a Chinese–Indian woman in her last years; her gifted teenage granddaughter Lily; an ex-soldier haunted by guilt; Uma, an Indian–American girl bewildered by her parents’ decision to return to Kolkata after twenty years; Tariq, a young Muslim man angry with the new America; and an enraged and bitter elderly white couple. As they wait to be rescued—or to die—they begin to tell each other stories, each recalling ‘one amazing thing’ in their life, sharing things they have never spoken of before. Their tales are tragic and life-affirming, revealing what it means to be human and the incredible power of storytelling. Inspiring and deeply moving, One Amazing Thing is riveting from start to finish.

The book is commended for very well-written characters and captivating stories, but it is also noted that some of the presented situations are too culture-specific or otherwise have been widely explored.