song of the cuckoo bird
Song of the Cuckoo Bird by Amulya Maladi
The book is set in India, from 1961 until 2000. It is centered on the lives of women, and some men, in an ashram, Tella Meda, in Southern India (probably Andhra Pradesh), overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
The story is about Charvi, who was pushed into the role of Goddess by her father Ramanandam. She remains reluctant about the role, and her powers throughout the book, often displaying non-God like qualities of hate, fear, anger and love. Her father Ramandandam, is a recluse, who is protective of his family but beats his son and sleeps with a much younger woman, the orphan Kokila. Chetana, the prostitute Ambika’s daughter is the same age as Kokila, and has also been adopted by the Ashram. Chetana is always trying to find a way out of the ashram, while Kokila refuses to be married and wishes to stay at Tella Meda. Chetana marries the tody drinker and womanizer, Ravi, who gets kicked out of his house for marrying a non Brahmin woman. Kokila adopts Karthik, as her son.
Before each chapter in the book, their are dates of current events at that time, for instance.
1981-1982
14th January 1980. Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the prime minister of India for the second time.
The political details seemed irelevant to the story, and I felt, distracted from the chapters. The current events did not give much background to the time period.
The book was engrossing at times, but not great. I think the author’s first book is still her best, A Breath of Fresh Air.
This book had strong women characters, but the author kept emphasizing the importance of children and husbands. At the end the author and her mother have a conversation, and try to figure out who the most unhappy character is the book is. The author says its “Charvi, because she never had a husband, lover, children…she was lonely in the end.”
The book is set in an ashram, where attachments like husbands and children are usually seen as superfluous. People are attempting to be closer to God, and material things are supposed to be secondary. But this book emphasized the base human aspects of greed, anger, betrayal and lust more than any spiritual realizations taking place in the ashram.
The book is set in India, from 1961 until 2000. It is centered on the lives of women, and some men, in an ashram, Tella Meda, in Southern India (probably Andhra Pradesh), overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
The story is about Charvi, who was pushed into the role of Goddess by her father Ramanandam. She remains reluctant about the role, and her powers throughout the book, often displaying non-God like qualities of hate, fear, anger and love. Her father Ramandandam, is a recluse, who is protective of his family but beats his son and sleeps with a much younger woman, the orphan Kokila. Chetana, the prostitute Ambika’s daughter is the same age as Kokila, and has also been adopted by the Ashram. Chetana is always trying to find a way out of the ashram, while Kokila refuses to be married and wishes to stay at Tella Meda. Chetana marries the tody drinker and womanizer, Ravi, who gets kicked out of his house for marrying a non Brahmin woman. Kokila adopts Karthik, as her son.
Before each chapter in the book, their are dates of current events at that time, for instance.
1981-1982
14th January 1980. Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the prime minister of India for the second time.
The political details seemed irelevant to the story, and I felt, distracted from the chapters. The current events did not give much background to the time period.
The book was engrossing at times, but not great. I think the author’s first book is still her best, A Breath of Fresh Air.
This book had strong women characters, but the author kept emphasizing the importance of children and husbands. At the end the author and her mother have a conversation, and try to figure out who the most unhappy character is the book is. The author says its “Charvi, because she never had a husband, lover, children…she was lonely in the end.”
The book is set in an ashram, where attachments like husbands and children are usually seen as superfluous. People are attempting to be closer to God, and material things are supposed to be secondary. But this book emphasized the base human aspects of greed, anger, betrayal and lust more than any spiritual realizations taking place in the ashram.
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