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SEVEN is the story of a woman who goes to visit family in India in order to research her family history and save her marriage while her husband takes a teaching job at an Indian university. While there, she not only learns her family's history but also uncovers information about the custom of khatna, a form of female genital mutilation that is common in her Bohra Muslim community.
There were many things I liked about this book-- a nuanced discussion of this custom, uncovering of family secrets, learning about the Bohra Muslim community and how openly it discussed the mechanics of female sexuality and orgasm (many readers may not like this, but I did). What I did not particularly like was the execution of the story. The way the family history and present day timelines converged seemed very convenient. This is also one of those books that could have ended several times and ended up being too long. Probably about a hundred pages could have been shaved off if the family history was not given so much time. This is a good story of how one Indian family is affected by a controversial custom. The book would have been stronger if it had just limited itself to that instead of trying to cover all the bases and being afraid to end.