THROWBACK THURSDAY REVIEW
BY Rasana Atreya
Narrated/Performed by Shruti Kapdi
1 hour and 34 minutes
Contemporary Fiction
4.60 stars on Audible
My rating is 4.7 stars
Book Blurb from Audible
Publisher's Summary
Ensnared by a tradition hundreds of years old, a woman fights for her daughter's happiness.
From the author of Tell a Thousand Lies, which was shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia award. UK's Glam magazine calls Tell a Thousand Lies one of their "five favorite tales from India".
If you like Rohinton Mistry or Shilpi Somaya Gowda, you might like this short story.
©2014 Rasana Atreya (P)2015 Rasana Atreya
My review to be found on Audible and other sites
The Temple is Not My Father: A Story Set in India by Rasana Atreya. Narrated/performed by Shruti Kapdi. Length 1 hours and 34 mins. Contemporary Fiction. Novella. (May contain some spoilers in the beginning of review)
This story really drew me in and I was quite taken back on the Indian traditions. Traditions that go back a 100+ years. Such a wide awaking to the non-traditional American traditions of how a family is ruled by the father’s law. What he says goes even in this modern day.
The story starts out in a village of a woman Godavari and her daughter Sreeja. How their village shuns them from participating anything from sending her daughter to school to the woman getting a job in the town. All from when her father sold her to the temple to be married to the Goddess to become a prostitute to satisfied men and their sexual appetites at a girl’s very young age. Her mother horrified by what her husband did leaves him to take care of her granddaughter when Godavari gets pregnant. Then behind his back made sure that the money left to her by her mother went to Godavari. All Godavari wanted was a better life for her daughter.
Then enters the story two young American-Indian girls. When they find out that this woman and her daughter is related to them. Without, the knowledge of their grandmother that they were sent to live with. Since their father felt that the American lifestyle was corrupting their young minds. They needed to learn the tradition of a proper Indian women.
They start to visit their cousin during their grandmother’s prayer time. The girls in the beginning decide that the youngest one would hang out with the daughter and agreed to teach her math and English with other things. The oldest of the girls hung out with the mother learning how to cook traditionally and learn the dialect. Over time the mother asked why they were sent there. The oldest one in her American way of speaking was sometimes hard for Godavari to understand. Though she learn what their father did by sending them to live with their grandmother. They learned off each other American and the Indian dialect of the area. The mother would eventually tell this young girl why the two of them really should not be there in her home. That it would tarnish their reputation. Then the grandmother finds out sending the girls away.
This story drew me in with the harsh story of the life that both fathers felt was the where women are to be placed in society. What Godavari does to give her daughter a better life. How the young American girls thought that their father was so harsh sending them to India only to see that Godavari’s life was much worst. I felt like I was listening to something from the early 20th century not 21st century way of life. This short novella really hit me in the heart.
This is a must listen to for I don’t want to be a spoiler to the entire story but, when the story does come full circle is does tug on every heart string imaginable. Shruti Kapdi did an excellent job performing the Indian and American dialects of the women. The harsh realities are brought to life as she tells and expresses the conversations of all the characters. Rasana Atreya has a magic way of expressing her words.
Even though this was short and I felt that it could have been a much longer with more detailing to the story. However, the story comes across as written. This book is not available yet as WhisperSync but, I do recommend that you by the book as a companion to the audio since some parts I did have an issue with the accent. Rewind and listen again and all was fine.
This book was provided to me for an honest review by the author. All comments above are solely mine and no one has influenced my review. Please like and comment below. I love to hear if my review helped you in listening or reading this novella.
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