Review by New York Times Review
PERUMAL MURUGAN'S intimate and affecting new novel, "One Part Woman," takes place in a small village in India during the colonial era, at a time of tremendous stigma against childlessness. For years, Kali and Ponna have been trying, unsuccessfully, to have a baby. As a result, Kali is regularly subjected to jokes about his supposed impotence while Ponna is ostracized from some of the village's social events. After consulting with astrologers and holy men, they are told there is a curse on Kali's lineage. They perform elaborate rituals in the temples of different deities, hoping for a miracle each time. Yet each time they are disappointed: "Their hearts swung between faith and resignation." The plot of "One Part Woman" doesn't move forward so much as circle around. Although readers learn from the outset that Kali and Ponna have been childless for 12 years, Murugan introduces numerous flashbacks that chronicle the couple's increasingly desperate efforts, a narrative technique that produces rising suspense. Hope arrives, as it often will, in an unlikely form. After conferring with each other, Kali's mother and mother-in-law suggest that Ponna visit the festival of Maadhorubaagan, a deity who has given the left part of his body to his female consort, thus becoming the "one part woman" of the title. What makes this particular festival unusual is that on its 18th night a carnival takes place in which consensual sex between men and women is permitted: "All rules were relaxed," Murugan writes. "The night bore witness to that." Tradition forbids unmarried women from attending, but older and childless women are allowed to enjoy sex with any consenting man, who is considered, for the duration of that night, a god. The transgressive nature of the sexual act, Kali's mother assures him, isn't a problem. "Who knows which god comes with what face? It is in the nature of gods not to reveal their faces." At the heart of "One Part Woman" is the dilemma that besets an otherwise loving and happily married couple. If Ponna goes to the festival of Maadhorubaagan and becomes pregnant, it will confirm to everyone in the village that Kali is sterile. If she goes and fails to become pregnant, the shame will belong to her instead. If Kali refuses to give Ponna his permission, he will deny them a chance, however remote, to have a baby. And if he allows Ponna to go, he will face the ridicule reserved for cuckolds. Throughout the novel, Murugan pits the individual against the group. How far are you willing to go, he asks, in order to belong? Most people in the village do what's expected of them: They marry, work the land and have children to whom they can leave it. But one character, Uncle Nallayyan, is unhesitant in his choice - he defies ancient customs when he cuts off his head-knot, refuses to marry and generally lives his life as he pleases. As the story unfolds, Kali and Ponna must choose between private satisfaction and public approval. "One Part Woman" is Murugan's fifth and best-known novel. Already a best seller in India, it is being published here in a smooth translation from the Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan. Murugan's descriptions of village life are evocative, but the true pleasure of this book lies in his adept explorations of male and female relationships, and in his unmistakable affection for people who find themselves pitted against the world. LAILA LALAMI'S next novel, "The Other Americans," will be published in March.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
Kali married Ponna for love, and it is evident in their every interaction. The lovers, living in India during British rule, are physically and emotionally attuned to each other, so much so that a single glance becomes a secret language, laden with meaning. But this ability to read the other's thoughts becomes as much a burden as a blessing, as year after year passes without them conceiving a child, and they plunge deeper into despair. Surrounded by rumors of family curses and openly mocked in their communities, Kali and Ponna's desperation leads them to try multiple remedies, prayers, and sacrifices until, finally, after a decade of barrenness, relatives suggest the unthinkable, that Ponna attend a festival where any man, at that moment considered a god, would be able to try to impregnate her. This novel, presented in translation from the original Tamil, is a heartrending portrait of the painful challenges faced by a couple struggling with infertility. A moving tale that transcends time and place.--Bridget Thoreson Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This beautiful novel from Murugan, winner of the Translation Prize from India's National Academy of Letters, plunges readers into Tamil culture through a story of love within a caste system undergoing British colonization in the early 19th century. Everything in Ponna and Kali's lives seems fruitful: they have a flourishing herd of cows and a stunning flower garden. But after 12 years of marriage, Ponna still has not conceived a child. Ponna has taken the strange, bitter herbs her mother-in-law gives her, has traveled to make countless offerings to the gods, and has tried many traditional rituals, but nothing works. A deep source of shame, their childlessness isolates Ponna and Kali from their community and becomes a subject of ridicule from their friends and neighbors. Their families scheme together in secret to push one last ritual on the couple-at the annual chariot festival celebrating the half-man half-woman god, where men and women are free to copulate with anyone. It's unthinkable to Kali, but Ponna may be willing to give it a try if it means they will be blessed with a child and their suffering will end. Murugan's touching, harrowing love story captures the toll that infertility has on a marriage in a world where having a child is the greatest measure of one's worth. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In many ways, Kali and Ponna's lives couldn't be more fertile. Their fields and their cows keep them well nourished. Their playfulness and passion feed their souls. But after 12 years of marriage, they remain childless, leaving the couple helpless against the disdain disguised as concern they receive from their judgmental South Indian Tamil community. Desperate for conception, Ponna's family pushes her to partake in an upcoming annual festival in which single men become gods ready to service infertile women. Tragedy proves inevitable. Although a cult phenomenon in India, this work's success had near-fatal consequences for -Murugan, who was viciously derided and sued, his books burnt for the revealing glimpse into his village culture. Only when he won "a landmark court decision defending the right of artists to critically depict their own communities" did he write again. Lauded translator Vasudevan has not been without controversy either, having even declined a major translation award. -VERDICT With a backstory as fascinating as the narrative, this intriguing work, long-listed for the National Book Award, will undoubtedly be appreciated by internationally savvy -Anglophone audiences.-Terry Hong, -Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A South Indian couple struggles to conceive a child.Kali and Ponna have been married for 12 years, but they can't seem to have a child. They've tried everything: They've been to see palmists and astrologers, made offerings at various temples, and made all sorts of promises to all sorts of gods. Their families have even begun to urge Kali to marry another woman. He and Ponna are tired of the whisperings of their neighbors, tired of the isolation that the childless are reduced to. This is the first novel by Murugan, a celebrated writer of Tamil in India, to be translated into English. It's poignant, funny, and painful and will expose readers of English to a region and class they likely haven't seen represented in literature: South Indian farmers. Kali and Ponna's last hope seems to be the festival for the god Maadhorubaagan, who is half male and half female (hence the book's title). On the 18th night of the festival, sex between unmarried men and women is permitted. But the prospect of losing Ponna, for one night, to another maneven though, by the rules of the festival, that man will be considered a godis horrible to Kali. When, instead of refusing, Ponna tells Kali, "If you want me to go for the sake of this wretched child, I will," their relationship becomes strained. Murugan has an ear for the gentle absurdities of marriage as well as sympathy for his characters' woes. Still, the prose can be awkward, though it isn't clear how much of that awkwardness can be attributed to the translator, Vasudevan. Sprinkled throughout the novel are certain idioms, like "he was merely testing the waters," that seem unlikely given the setting.Poignant and sweet, the novel suffers only from a certain roughness in the prose; something, it seems, has been lost in translation. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
