The novel explores the life of group of Muslim women during 1980. The story also brings the many unknowns among the Muslim community. Most of the female characters are some what not satisfied with their life specially in regards to their bodily wants. In my limited Tamil reading experience this book is something i will not forget easily. None of the books i read dealt with issues faced by the female characters in this book so effectively and without provoking religious sentiments.
All the characters are lively and portrayed beautifully by the author.I like the way the author as if holding our hands and walking through the characters. Very well written. I split the story into two , the stories of adults and stories of kids. The author very realistically wrote about the way the kids grow in that environment and their thoughts on various things including sex . The many questions Rabiya asks still remains to be answered.
The author clearly details the marriage life and the family structure. The role of women is also defined partly by the family and partly by the religion. One can find the shadow of religion everywhere and the portrayal of God, sometimes for Justice , sometimes against the will and sometimes as a question mark. The female characters goes through various perception of God but they clunk on to the belief and religion.
The gossiping is another important ingredient in this novel . Whenever the women meets there is lot of gossiping , laughing and teasing . The gossiping is most about sex . These women meets only during some special occasion and they never miss to gossip. In fact , i felt the author moves the story through these gossips.
Men:
Most of the men in this novel are doing business(Merchants or traders) in India or abroad. These men decides the life of their family women. Kadar, who love his wife but decides against her wish on marriage of their only daughter and Karim ,whose affair with Mariyayi is well known, never treat his daughter Rabia properly are the main characters. Suleiman who came back from abroad and started creating rules on community and try to impose those on women in particular. Most of the men are either too religious and did not give much freedom to their wives and kids, specially daughters. What these women expects on them is simple things but these men could not do that also.
Then there are some non-Muslim characters like Mariyayi , mistress of Karim, Shiva whom Fridowze loves The author uses these characters to show the relationship Muslims and different castes of Hindus .
The book is bit lengthy but one will not worry about it as the author makes sure that we will continue reading with her wonderful narrative. Its always dangerous to write about particular community and specially about the life of their women and their relationship but Salma did a wonderful job without hurting anyone. I think the author used her childhood experience a lot in this novel
There are so many memorable characters in this book . I do not want to single-out anyone in particular. This book is the celebration of women , their joys and miseries , their friendship and families and their wishes. Truly a remarkable book.
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