The Mango Season, by Amulya Malladi
Monday, March 08, 2010
I am in two minds on writing about this book – one part of me was thrilled and exalted while reading this; the other part did a critique look and found some areas to be similar and heard many times over in other books.
Starting from the cover, there is a centralized theme of mango and pickle all through the book and it is called ‘happiness’ by the protagonist and her brother. Most of the chapters have a recipe to start with and in fact there are scenes where the central characters make those. I did savor many pages with relish, just as I take a ripe mango. The initial pages give a beautiful expression of India and the changes when seen through the eyes of an Indian returning after a period of seven years in the US. The nostalgic mood of the streets, screeching traffic, the color and texture evoke a poignant feel.
The protagonist, Priya Rao is portrayed as a character of strength as she is engaged to an American, defying traditions of her Telugu Brahmin family. The emotional agony that surfaces in her mind as she is made to sit through the traditional ‘bride-seeing’ where she is unable to break the news of her engagement, the conflicting feel whether she would still be accepted as a daughter/granddaughter, on the news being out, all these are crafted with a way that makes it adorable. It even touches upon the family politics about male heirs and matriarchs, the strictest cultural enforcements looming in the family system. A comment about arranged marriages was truly unique!
“"Even though I was raised in a society where arranged marriages was the norm, I always thought it was barbaric to expect a girl of maybe twenty-one years to marry a man she knew even less than the milkman, who, for the past decade, had been mixing water with the milk he sold the family."”
However, the story became predictable for me towards the end and probably other books in the same genre could be a reason.
Still, it’s a fast, humorous and good read for a nice feel!
2 comments
In short, a well narrated, predictable book, isnt it?
ReplyDeleteyou always have a way of summarising - don't you? Yep, can be called that way!
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