One part woman by Perumal Murugan

Set in Tiruchengode, India. Reviewed on 2018/12: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrS5H8mHhGM/

This book is sheer reading pleasure! I’m an absolute fan of storytellers and #perumalmurugan is without a doubt a prodigious writer. You don’t need to know much about #tamilculture or #southernindia or the factual details embedded in the story (although I’m sure if you do, it makes for a richer reading experience). Trust me on this one. #murugan is going to captivate, absorb and immerse you from the first pages into this exhilarating and marvelous ride. The magic works perfectly because of two things mostly: his writing and our uncontrollable need for other people’s acceptance. Again if you are about to read this book or any other written by this superb writer, I can’t emphasize enough how sublime his writing is. This book is the perfect example of a skillful writer who has created a simple yet mysterious enough story to make you want to read more and more. As you can guess by now, I’m a new fan of his and I can’t wait to read his other books hopefully soon. I think what intrigued and fascinated me the most in #onepartwoman is the message of how slaves we are, regardless of whatever we say or do, how unconsciously addicted we are to the wishes and expectations of others. It also made me think of this IG world and how much unconsciously or not we all contribute to box and categorize people into one thing or another and how much we allow that to happen because it’s so much easier and we ultimately crave other people’s approvals. I think Murugan perfectly highlighted the struggle between claiming to remain truth to your choices and who you think you are, and how to balance and sometimes succumb to other people’s expectations of us, expectations which subsequently we also tag on other people. We all complain from it and we all do it at the same time… #highlyrecommended #tamiliterature#indianliterature #penguin #childless#tiruchengode #tamilnadu #socialstigma#whatotherswouldsay #Madhorubagan#noending #thebest#Sahityaakademiaward #controversial#penguinbooks