Tragedy befalls an Indian girl whose elders preordain her marital destiny in this absorbing drama, based on a true story.
When Meenakshi’s mother dies during childbirth, her father relinquishes the newborn to his sister and brother-in-law, Shamanna. Seeing Meena as a threat to his daughter’s potential suitors, Shamanna mistreats his fragile, obedient niece. It’s the early 1900s, and Indian tradition obliges young teenagers to enter into prearranged marriages. The homely yet moneyed Kamakshi is betrothed to her cousin Chandru, while the beautiful orphan Meena is bound to Ramu, a sickly, impotent 42-year-old man. A Romeo and Juliet–type scenario ensues when Meena and Chandru fall in love but are forbidden to wed. Resigned to uphold tradition, duty and honor to their families, they are reduced to occasional amorous glances while trapped in miserable marriages. Chandru turns to booze and prostitutes to blunt his longing for Meena. He abuses Kamakshi with the fury of an untamed beast. Meena begs him to restore his dignity as a husband and father, but he tells her it’s impossible, that without her, drink is his “life’s partner.” Chandru fathers five children, but Meena remains barren, a curse she believes God ordained for her. But when Kamakshi falls ill, Meena offers to take care of Chandru and their children. Weeks after returning home to her feeble husband, she discovers she is pregnant. No longer shamed by infertility, everyone rejoices and prays for a male offspring. But when Kamakshi and Ramu learn of their spouses’ betrayals, jealousy, fury and guilt lead to unforeseen consequences Herculean in nature. In tightly knitted prose, Rajanna explores ancient customs of Southern India that hold religion and superstition, familial rank and obedience in the highest regard. He expertly reflects India’s strict adherence to loyalty, the importance of the dowry and the significance of one’s position within the family. With the furor of a Greek tragedy, their lives unfold with dire consequences. A vivid chronicle of calamity that yanks at the heartstrings.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2010
ISBN: 978-1449047795
Page Count: 231
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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