smrti talks

I realized that I have not posted any review on any of the Malayalam books I read. Well, let me correct myself.

Last week, I read these two novellas in one book by K R Meera: Malakhayude Marukukal (Moles of the Angel) and Karineela (Dark Blue).

Malakhayude Marukukal is very tragic. Failed love, infidelity, murder, separated childhoods. The story line is too familiar, but Meera does breath fresh life into it. You do not get a chance to feel judgemental about Angela’s repeated infidelities. It is portrayed rather as a defense mechanism of a pretty woman against the world of masculine lust. But fortunately, she is not victimhood personified; she does enjoy moments of it. It struck me now, the English translation of the title gets a double edge. Moles of Angela: The spots she has on her or her childrens’ body. The double roles she wears in each relation.

Karineela is again the story of love and infidelity, but it is not tragic in the usual sense of the word. She, a married and settled woman, suddenly finds out her true love in an ascetic and until she conquers him and get stung by him. The story is new and told in a very powerful diction.

(more…)

A very gothic, unsettling nightmarish story – reminds you each moment of Frankenstein, one of my favourite stories.

Monstrous child, gothic sentiments, questions of value, responsibility and guilt, nature X culture, conformation X animal energy.
(more…)

The hype preceded the book and I was, as usual, slightly resistant in taking it up. The Western talk about the book showcasing the ethnic culture and all that added to the resistance. But well, the book caught me unawares.

I liked the very touching moments it had for me. But overall my response is mixed.
(more…)

The Grass is Singingby Doris Lessing

I finished reading a very powerful novel. The Grass is Singing, the first novel, published in 1950, by Nobel Laurete, Doris Lessing. The book is said to be an immediate success and must have been quite popular. I came across it only now.

I read a library copy. The book is small and doesn’t threaten you with size. However it is power-packed with emotions, psychological analysis and bleak racial truths.
(more…)