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Posts Tagged ‘Permual Muragan

One Part WomanOne Part Woman by Perumal Murugan [பெருமாள் முருகன்]

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book became famous thanks to the protests by various Hindu communities. See… for details.

The book is about a couple who fail to conceive a child even after 12 years of marriage. They have done everything to appease the various Gods that different people have recommended. They are the butt of the jokes in their social circle. There is pressure on the man to remarry, but he refuses to do so.

As a last ditch attempt the two mothers ask the girl to go to the festival at the Madhorubhagan (One Part Woman) temple. On the last day of the festival it is believed that all the men become Gods and any woman can sleep with any one they want to. (It is possible a custom designed by the men so that they get a chance to sleep with the women they want). The husband does not give his permission for her to do so. He is furious that the two women even came up with such an idea.

The lady’s brother who is a close friend of the man talks to the man and on the sly tells his sister that her husband has given the OK.

The story ends in suspense as the lady wanders near about the temple on the day of the festival and the man comes to his wife’s house to find that it is locked. He assumes that she has slept with someone else and goes off in a furious state back to his village.

The author has left it to the imagination of the reader to determine the ending.

The book as such meanders repeatedly around the theme of the two of them being poked at in various occasions, but it is not a bad read.

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