Lonely Harvest Paperback – January 1, 2018

Still trying to fit in some reading from the @thejcbprize into my very hectic graduate school schedule.This is one of the two sequels to Perumal Murugan’s One Part Women. I haven’t read that, and hence reading this was mostly a standalone experience for me, I was adequately curious about the prequel but I deduced the premise well enough to enjoy reading this.Kali and Ponna, a childless couple have waited for twelve years for parental bliss. Out of desperation, ultimately the resort to a measure, that may be accepted in their community, but violates the sanctity of the institution of marriage and ultimately destroys their marriage. At the beginning of this book, Kali commits suicide, and the women around him, Ponna and his mother Seerayi are trying to come to terms with this loss. When they find out that they are on the verge of getting their deepest desire fulfilled, it remains to be seen if that would fill the void of the loss of their beloved.The writing has all the elements of Murugan’s repertoire. It’s succinct, crass, dramatic and yet honest. The crassness comes from the community that the writer tries to represent and he doesn’t try to sophisticate the language for the sake of aesthetics.I felt that a lot of time was spent in describing Ponna’s grief and that was very well done. But the portion on childbirth lacked the same detailing, I was not able to figure out Ponna’s feelings as regards to that.I liked how the writer tries to subtly bring out the dubious moral standards of the society. On one hand, there are traditions where moral code of conduct can be broken to conceive a child, on the other hand the woman has to stand in front of a village council to defend her character and to swear that her husband is the father of her child. And the fact that it’s only the women who is answerable is even more discerning. But then, that’s the bane of our society, isn’t it?