Pyre

By Perumal Murugan

FROM ONE OF INDIA’S MOST RESPECTED AND BESTSELLING WRITERS COMES A SEARING AND POIGNANT NOVEL ABOUT LOVE AND INTOLERANCE IN A SMALL VILLAGE

TWICE LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

‘With tender rage, one of India's most powerful living writers breathes life into an age-old tale of forbidden passion’ Nilanjana Roy

‘Pyre is extraordinary. Rarely does literature reveal so much with so little’ Nayomi Munaweera

‘A major India writer’ New York Times

______

Saroja and Kumaresan are young, in love and in danger. They meet in a small southern Indian town, where Kumaresan works in a soda bottling shop, and quickly marry before returning to Kumaresan’s family village. But they are harbouring a dangerous secret: they belong to different castes, and if the villagers find out they will both be in grave peril.

Faced with venom from her mother-in-law, and pointed new questions from her new neighbours, Saroja struggles to adjust to a lonely and uncomfortable life. Kumaresan throws himself into building a new soda business, hoping to scrape together enough money for them to start over somewhere new. But as vicious whispers encircle the couple, will their love be enough to keep them safe?

______

PRAISE FOR PYRE

‘So tense it leaves you gasping for air’ Ellen Barry, New York Times

‘Pyre glows with power… and adds immeasurable value to contemporary Indian literature… a hard and glittering gem of a story’ The Hindu

‘A haunting story of forbidden love set in Southern India that illustrates the cruel consequences of societal intolerance’ Kirkus Reviews, starred review

‘Piercing detail… The simple, elegant prose of Vasudevan’s translation ranges from poetic to suspenseful… Murugan deserves worldwide recognition’ Publishers Weekly, starred review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pushkin Press
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781782278634

Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan is an author, scholar and literary chronicler who writes novels in Tamil.    

Reviews for Pyre

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Saroja and Kumaresan are young, naive and in love. And that usually spells problems - depending on when and where, the problems are different but the story is almost always the same. Except for the endings - sometimes it is a "happily even after", sometimes not so much. So how about a story set in rural Tamil Nadu in India in the early 1980s? The text is not dated explicitly but we are told that Kumaresan was sorry that he was not a year younger - he had to leave school after 11 years and the 12th was introduced a year too late for him. That maps with the Indian school reforms of the late 70s and as that had happened a handful of years before the main story, it gives some idea of the timeframe. Other from that we know it is a somewhat modern tale because there are cars and radios that can show pictures and the British are nowhere to be seen but other from that, the tale can happen at almost any time - remove these parts and the story still works. So what causes the problems for our young lovers? They belong to different castes. Saroja grew up in a town - taking care of her brother and father, spending her days in their one-room house (when not delivering them lunch), waiting to be married. Kumaresan grew up in a village in the Tamil Nadu where people are dirt poor and stick to the old ways. They meet when Kumaresan moves to the town so he can make some money and while learning how to make and sell soda, he convinces himself that he can marry Saroja and his mother and village will accept her. So they elope and return to the village, where things do not go exactly as any of them expected. And things are not helped by his decision to hide the difference in caste and to insist that they are the same caste - despite the difference in their skin tones and the fact that this is easy to check. I am not sure if Kumaresan was just too optimistic and naive or if he was so used to being accepted and loved that it never crossed his mind that his mother, family and village may not accept his choice. Even when the initial reaction shows that he underestimated their reaction, he still does not realize just how badly things can turn out - refusing to return to the town with his new bride, going on with his life as if people would just forget and forgive and let him be. Most of the story is told from Saroja's side - with us seeing her thoughts and memories. In these memories we see the two of them falling in love and courting but in her reality we see her dealing with a mother-in-law who thinks she is a witch (and worse) and a village which is not ready to accept her. She cannot even understand them half of the time - their Tamil is different from hers and the local dialect sounds almost like a different language (we also see Kumaresan struggling with that in the town and yet, when he brings her home, he never thinks for a second that this may be a problem). Kumaresan is mostly oblivious to Saroja's suffering - but then we have some hints that his mother behaves a bit better when he is around - Saroja wants her mother-in-law to explode in front of him so he can see what she lives through. The shock of living in an isolated hut in the middle of nowhere when she is used to the modern world does not help things much either. But she tries to hide even from herself how much this marriage had been a mistake - she is still in love, she still hopes that their love will be enough but she is losing her naivete and she is starting to realize that she cannot live there and that they need to find another way. The end was almost expected. The author chose not to show us the very end - it is implied but there is enough of ambiguity to allow for a different interpretation. I usually dislike open endings but this one works (and depends on how you want to read it, it may not even be an open one - the implication is strong enough to count as a fact if one so chooses). We are never told which caste is the higher one. Indian readers possibly would know that but even if you don't, it is never a question of grades - they are different so that's all that matters. Kumaresan's refusal to accept the reality and understand his mother's viewpoint drives the story towards its end. And right there, in the crossfire between tradition and love, between stubbornness and pride, is sitting Saroja - the naive young bride who just wants to be happy.It is an interesting story of a place I don't know much about. I knew it won't be a happy story when I started reading it but I did not expect it to be as sad as it turned out to be. But I could not stop reading - the story, as predictable as it can be, has enough local color to make it worth reading. The author's choice of non-linear story (we get a lot of the action in memories from a year or a day ago) makes the narrative a bit jumpy and while it works in some places, it feels like an interruption in others (almost like an ad in the middle of a movie - you want it to end so you can get back to the story). Despite that, I was never sorry I picked up the book.PS: A note on the cover - maybe whoever designs covers need to read the books they are designing the covers for. The bicycle is indeed important for the story but she never sits in front of him... so maybe when looking for an image of a couple on a bicycle, someone should have noticed that...

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kumaresan and Saroja meet in town, where she has lived for as long as she can remember. He has come from a village to learn the soda trade--bottling, cleaning the bottles, delivering. She keep house for her father and brother, who both work in a leather factory (is that the same as a tannery?). They flirt, fall in love, and run away to marry. Kumaresan takes her home to his village and mother. Where they are ostracized for marrying between castes.Murugan never tells who is the higher caste, he just gives clues. Saroja is pale and stays at home keeping house for her family (her mother is deceased), who work in the leather factory. Kumaresan grew up with his widowed mother, in their village where they keep goats and chickens. He has been doted on by his uncles. I imagine Indian readers know who is higher caste, and perhaps how much higher.Well written, the flirting and love is quite sweet. I enjoyed the book and was left wondering--how did these two not understand how their marriage would be seen? Saroja is used to being in a mixed-caste neighborhood, but might be a bit naive. But what was Kumaresan thinking? His mother admits to spoiling him, did she not teach him? Did his uncles' lackadaisical approach to finding him a wife leave him thinking they did not care? The misunderstandings and misinterpretation are everywhere, yet not discussed by all involved.I look forward to reading more from this author.