Indian Express Sunday 15 Jan 2007
Books & Literature
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Fresh print
Thursday January 11 2007 19:07 IST
Priya M Menon
By The River
Pampa I Stood
By Geeta Abraham Jose
Srishti Publishers & Distributors, Rs 100
The world got a peek into the life, caste politics and practices of the Syrian Christian community in Kerala with Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things. Geeta Abraham Jose’s work (a novel by yet another IITian, screams the cover) once again revolves around this very community.
Replace Ayemenem with Kuttanad and the prominent Ponnumpurackal family. Where caste politics still lurk within the folds of Christianity. Where the do’s and don’ts are still dictated by convention.
To the author, then a lonely young girl who has just lost her father, great aunt Annammachi offers solace, comfort and inspiration. But Annammachi is the woman who had dared defy all norms. Who had reversed the do’s and the don’ts with her love for childhood friend and pulaya, Thoma.
The novel, filled with local colour, paints an evocative picture of the typical Syrian Christian/ Nasrani family, its beliefs and time-honoured traditions. The fictional plot sketches characters that are refreshingly real, the author choosing to dwell on the grey areas of life where there are no heroes or heroic acts but just the ordinary human condition.
2 comments:
i dont think ppl should compare like this . every othr person seems 2 be comparing.
but geeta chechy i think your book s beyond comparison.
and the plots of both the books are really different though the place whr it is set might be similar.
Thanks, vidya, I know you really took time to analyse it. People normally do it superficially. Nice to hear from you after a long time.
Mahi said you are busy.
Can I post your review on my blog?
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