1st Post: Unaccustomed Earth

Q: Is there a puzzle in your story that you are trying to solve?

A: Yes, I am trying to solve a puzzle to figure out how exactly these stories fit together. I am a little over halfway through the book at this point. On a basic level, these individual stories are all about Indian families who have moved to the United States. What hasn't been addressed, however, is whether these families know each other. I have been trying to fit these stories together and compare and contrast them to each other. I am also wondering if these families all know each other and will come together for a reunion or a party in the end of the story. My other wonder is if this reunion doesn't happen, will the reader find out the relationship that connects all of the individual stories. My third wonder is if any of the characters will have a second chapter.
What I have noticed is that there seems to be conflict or struggle in each story. I don't know anything about the author, so I'm wondering if she was an immigrant from India who moved to the United States and struggled here. She might be trying to show that there will always be conflict for the immigrants who move here because it's such a different world.
I noticed conflict immediately in the first chapter, "Unaccustomed Earth". I noticed the struggle between Ruma and her father. It almost seemed like her father was favoring the son, Akash. He seemed to enjoy the time spent with the son more than the time spent with Ruma. I believe that this is because he was upset with Ruma for not raising the son with Indian culture. Though the book never directly states that, I believe that is true because the Akash's grandpa spends time with Akash and even teaches him Bengali words.
The next chapter, about Pranab Chakraborty switches to first person point of view, while the last chapter was in third person point of view. This is another puzzle that I'm trying to solve, to figure out why it switched. I do believe that the second chapter is more effective because of its first person point of view. The reader receives a direct entrance to the story, told by the daughter who sees her mother fall in love with another man.
Most of the other chapters have family conflict and struggles, culture conflict and struggles, and fitting in conflict and struggles. The struggle I found most interesting was the one Rahul and his family. Rahul becomes an alcoholic and it seems to just take over his life. I wondered if this is common for immigrant families. I would believe that it could be because the immigrants could be so caught up in this "American culture" and they get sucked in and end up making bad choices.
So far, I am really enjoying this book and I think every story is interesting in its own, unique way.