"For once, he wished he was the young boy he had once been - before responsibility had descended upon him, along with self-consciousness, restraint, and a sense of his own inadequacy.""At the moment of his triumph, he had escaped the world, the hundreds of little things we say and do to ourselves to bind us down, make us helpless little worms, who on their deathbeds only remember and lament what they always wanted to do, but never had the courage for.""He was exhilarated by the traveling . . . Aaron could now understand at least a part of it: the excitement of new places opening up his mind, the sense of freedom that anonymity provided . . . ""He had never thought that his brother's rejection of him would grieve him so much or linger so long, but it did, deep within him, rising up from time to time. At such times, he would stop whatever he was doing and immerse himself completely in his sense of loss. Long experience had taught him that this was the best way to treat wounds of the past. Experience them fully, and then set them aside to resume the daily business of living.""She loved the ways babies began to control the world even before they were born.""One day she had lavished her older daughter with more than her usual dose of endearments before rocking her to sleep. The next night, when she had put her to bed, Shanthi had grumpily refused to let her go. After being fussed over, she had finally told her mother the cause of her unhappiness - Lily had missed out twoof the endearments of the previous night - Precious Diamond Eyed Gift from the Sun, and Little Goddess Who Is Sweeter than a Chevathar Neelam. From then on, Lily had to remember the 52 names of love she had used for her daughter.""This was what made a big family such a wonderful thing, it could always surprise and enchant you."" . . . to much happiness wasn't good for you; it was bound to be followed by great sorrow, as the world tried to keep the balance.""If for every one of us there is an age that suits us better than any other, Daniel, in his mid-thirties, was in his prime.""You're like Barbara then. She's banned politics at the dinner table.""Kannan had a flash of insight. He saw the pretty nineteen year old two decades from now, a stout lady in a shapeless dress, with at least a dozen children but with a heart big enough to accomodate a thousand more. She would put up with a demanding husband, cantankerous neighbours, the myriad annoyances of a lower-middle class existence in a poor country, but she would be the backbone of her locality - a fund of wisdom and patience and tolerence. Cynthia didn't know it yet, but there was an unquenchable humanity within her that the world would crowd to.""n our community it isn't given too much importance, she thought, it is accepted that hte union of two families demands stronger bonds than those conferred by a fleeting euphoric link between two young people who lack in any real experience in life.""Kannan felt a sudden desire to know what his life would be devoted to, what his life's work would be. Would he make his mark on the world that he had been plunged into?""The Good Book was right: a man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife . . . for she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.""A new job, a new marriage, a fresh lick of paint on a peeling surface - in none of these does it take very long for fault lines to show.""She wondered whether she was as much in control of the relationship as she had thought. She shelved her unease. They made love, promised not to hurt each other. They meant it when they said it, but both knew that certain things had been said and could never be locked up again. To avoid a repeat of the ugliness that had left them both diminished, they took care around each other, trying their best not to give offense, to recapture the perfect unscarred love they'd had.""Joe could light up any room, bring people alive . . . well, you know, people who possess such great gifts that they seem to be able to do things without worrying about their own lives or fortunes, as weedy little people like us do?""Youth needed to think big, pour its considerable vigor and conviction into commitments that would never again seem as gripping or as essential.""Every man's struggle to make sense of his life was his own.""Wasn't it odd, he mused, that in the midst of death our thoughts turn so persistently to the future." "'The planter isn't expected to be a man of culture shall we say?; 'Yes, I know, Major Stevenson asked me whether I read a lot, when he interviewed me. I said no, and he said, good, very good, planters are expected to get their boots dirty, not lounge around reading books.""Watch how you speak to me, you young whippersnapper. Do you mean to tell me that you haven't spent your working life fitting into a straitjacket devised by someone else?""Forgiveness is for the birds. Forgive and forget is for the birds. You always need to seek revenge, it keeps you alive.""So you are capable of bitterness and rage! Life is not a tennis game. Nobody plays fair, and there's no winner or loser. Your enemies will be with you, your demons will haunt you as long as you live, and the only way you will be able to survive from one year to the next is if you take opportunities like this."
Tamil movie meets a rambling mega soap operaReviewed here http://thebookstoryblog.wordpress.com...Maybe it should have been three different books. A trilogy or something.Chevathar. Having watched endless Tamil movies with caste wars, this part of the book played in my head as a Thevar Magan-like movie with Kamal Hassan playing Solomon Dorai and Napolean as Muthu Vedhar. Detailed descriptions and lyrical prose bring the entire village to life, but somehow, the characters fail to linger in your mind. Solomon isn’t built on a solid foundation. His role in the book ends too quickly and though it is his legacy that is supposedly carried over in the next two sections, you don’t feel his presence anywhere. I expected a little more about Joshua, but he came and went in a flash. It is strange that the caste doesn’t get even a passing mention in the other two sections of the book.Doraipuram. The only character I really liked was Aaron. The accidental Freedom Fighter. Daniel wasn’t a well chalked out character. I couldn’t place what exactly he was or what he wanted to be. Did he want to be the thalaivar or not? Was Doraipuram his dream or his ego trip? It seemed very contrived, the way the settlement was built and populated. Characters just popped in and out without giving you the opportunity to actually know them. That gossiping woman who had an entire chapter dedicated to her, I read the book two days ago but seem to have forgotten her name already. Such forgettable pieces of characters.Pulimed. Was the tiger woven into the tale just to give the name of the place more impact? Or did the author just remember the Jim Corbett book he read long ago and decide to plug it in? If this had been a separate book, this would have had more weight. The brown man in a white man’s domain with an inbetween wife having an identity crisis. Life on a remote tea estate tucked in a corner of South India when Britain was at war and India was on the cusp of independence was very well described. But again, Kannan aka Thirumoolan isn’t someone you’d remember or quote long after you’ve finished the book.A lot of Tamil words and references have been peppered in. I wonder how non Tamil readers, leave alone non Indian readers can relate. Calling this book an epic or a saga or any other cliched term is an exaggeration, but it is worth a read if you have a lot of time and no expectations.
Do You like book The House Of Blue Mangoes (2003)?
The story spans around 3 generation of Dorai clan, starts with Solomon Dorai, then his sons Daniel and Aaron, finishes with Kannan the grandson. Using the backdrop of India’s start of struggle towards independence, the writer has portrayed a fascinating tale of family saga set in South India, which fights their own battle to keep the family together. It’s totally an absorbing read and I enjoy it very much. As far as I know, stories set in South India particularly from Tamilnadu are hard to come by, and David Davidar has capture the taste, colors and essence of south beautifully. Though not a masterpiece but definitely one of the best.
—Subashini
The only part of the book that inspired any emotion in me was the first section, specifically the treatment of women and interactions between castes. All of that emotion was negative. After Daniel decided to go back home, I lost interest and skimmed much of the rest of the book. Even though Kannan was much more likeable as a person, he seemed to have no real depth. What did he learn through his experiences that will help him run Doraipuram? I just can't see him sticking around once his mother an
—Sarah
ERC Book Club, June 2004 selection I liked it! Once I got used to the journalistic style (no wonder that was the author's career), the imagery began to seep into my conscious. The author tackled many issues: imperialism, castes, family obligations, wars, religion. It was slightly reminiscent of 100 Years of Solitude in the sense of setting up the community, obsessions and money making schemes. There was a slight hint of magic realism during the crying scene of Rachel's wedding: (p. 138) "She held her daughter and prayed that she would bear a dozen sons so that she would be spared some of the pain of being born a woman. The force of Charity's sorrow fed into Rachel's own and their grief grew immense. It blew out of that small room and wrapped itself around the remaining guests. Every woman present felt its power. They tried to hold back their tears, some not so successsfully, while the men shuffled uneasily, dimly sensing an enormous passion that, if unleashed, would consume them all." I even liked the Pulimed Tiger scene although some say it didn't belong to the story. I felt like I was in the jungle, wanting to scratch at the malarious mosquitos, but not wanting to move for fear of the man-eater!! Once I got closer to the halfway point, the book transported me to the exotic regions of India. -- eps, 06/18/04
—Eileen
