- Paperback: 640 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Canada (Mar 10 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307356337
- ISBN-13: 978-0307356338
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 22.4 x 15.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#5,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American
- #22 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Short Stories
- #22 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > United States
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Journalist, playwright and short-story writer Viswanathan's absorbing first novel, based on her grandmother's life, goes deep into the world of southern India village life. Starting in 1896, the story follows Sivakami, a Tamil Brahmin girl, from her marriage at the age of 10 through her long widowhood, while Indian political and social life lumbers through immense changes. Before he dies, Sivakami's astrologer husband, Hanumarathnam, foresees his death in the malignant interactions between his stars and his son Vairum's. Though he trains a trustworthy servant to assist Sivakami until their son comes of age, the world that Hanumarathnam leaves behind is rapidly changing, and the family is not entirely fit to survive it; Vairum, especially, suffers the pain of a father's disaffection and, later, a widowed mother forbidden to touch any human being during daylight hours. Irreconcilable conflicts between tradition—especially the strict caste rules of Brahmin life—and the modernizing world lead predictably to alienation and tragedy, but on an epic scale. Viswanathan is especially adept at unobtrusively explaining foreign customs and worldviews to Westerners while wholly respecting the power and significance they hold for practitioners. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Her narrative, refreshingly, is free of anachronism, and she has a pleasing way of engaging the reader’s senses….Of a piece with the recent works of Vikram Seth, and reminiscent at times of García Márquez–altogether a pleasure.”
–Kirkus (starred review)
“What Viswanathan does remarkably well is give the reader a closeup of India’s history, culture, politics and landscape through the domestic lens of one family. This is a rich, sensual book that uses life itself as its plot....Reading it is an experience of immersion. You feel as though you are right there in all the teeming detail of life as Sivakami and her family know it. There is a whole world here between two covers.”
–National Post
"With its rich and complex background and often sharp insights, The Toss of a Lemon is a valuable and evocative work.”
–Elaine Kalman Nave, author of Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature (Ottawa Citizen)
“Astonishing. Brilliant. Beautiful….Like the very best novels, at its core, The Toss of A Lemon teaches us about ourselves.”
–January Magazine
“Lovers of Rohinton Mistry and Vikram Seth will want to get a hold of this Brahmin family saga involving early marriage, early widowhood and clashing values.”
–The Vancouver Sun
“The Toss of a Lemon is a captivating novel that in relating the story of one Indian woman and her family tells the story of a changing society. Precisely and deftly written, constantly interesting, morally serious yet sympathetic–I challenge any reader to start reading this book and give up on it. The Toss of a Lemon joins the company of great novels on India.”
–Yann Martel
“The Toss of a Lemon is a glorious feat, as boisterously written as it is wholly engrossing. It’s about love - and cruelty - and how each reverberate across the generations in one family. And it is that rare thing, a novel that manages to be both epic and intimate at the same time.”
–Peter Orner, author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo
"In this, her debut novel, Padma Viswanathan performs a wondrous balancing act of words. She sustains a vivid sense of the moment while spanning decades, brings unforgettable individual characters to life while recounting a saga of generations, and lays bare the inner worlds of those characters while evoking an entire nation in turmoil. Rich with sensual detail, The Toss of a Lemon is the story of a community centred on tradition during an era of upheaval and change. Above all, it is a moving and deftly drawn portrait of a family."
–Alissa York, Giller-nominated author of Effigy
“The Toss of a Lemon gives readers the rare opportunity to enter the life of a Brahmin widow, to live her norms and routines and rituals as they have been lived by countless women over thousands of years. Padma Viswanathan’s remarkable achievement is to capture the slow, stately pace of an 8,000-year-old culture and yet keep her story moving briskly. I closed the book indebted for this immersion in a world I could not have otherwise entered.”
–Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy
From the Hardcover edition.
–Kirkus (starred review)
“What Viswanathan does remarkably well is give the reader a closeup of India’s history, culture, politics and landscape through the domestic lens of one family. This is a rich, sensual book that uses life itself as its plot....Reading it is an experience of immersion. You feel as though you are right there in all the teeming detail of life as Sivakami and her family know it. There is a whole world here between two covers.”
–National Post
"With its rich and complex background and often sharp insights, The Toss of a Lemon is a valuable and evocative work.”
–Elaine Kalman Nave, author of Robert Weaver: Godfather of Canadian Literature (Ottawa Citizen)
“Astonishing. Brilliant. Beautiful….Like the very best novels, at its core, The Toss of A Lemon teaches us about ourselves.”
–January Magazine
“Lovers of Rohinton Mistry and Vikram Seth will want to get a hold of this Brahmin family saga involving early marriage, early widowhood and clashing values.”
–The Vancouver Sun
“The Toss of a Lemon is a captivating novel that in relating the story of one Indian woman and her family tells the story of a changing society. Precisely and deftly written, constantly interesting, morally serious yet sympathetic–I challenge any reader to start reading this book and give up on it. The Toss of a Lemon joins the company of great novels on India.”
–Yann Martel
“The Toss of a Lemon is a glorious feat, as boisterously written as it is wholly engrossing. It’s about love - and cruelty - and how each reverberate across the generations in one family. And it is that rare thing, a novel that manages to be both epic and intimate at the same time.”
–Peter Orner, author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo
"In this, her debut novel, Padma Viswanathan performs a wondrous balancing act of words. She sustains a vivid sense of the moment while spanning decades, brings unforgettable individual characters to life while recounting a saga of generations, and lays bare the inner worlds of those characters while evoking an entire nation in turmoil. Rich with sensual detail, The Toss of a Lemon is the story of a community centred on tradition during an era of upheaval and change. Above all, it is a moving and deftly drawn portrait of a family."
–Alissa York, Giller-nominated author of Effigy
“The Toss of a Lemon gives readers the rare opportunity to enter the life of a Brahmin widow, to live her norms and routines and rituals as they have been lived by countless women over thousands of years. Padma Viswanathan’s remarkable achievement is to capture the slow, stately pace of an 8,000-year-old culture and yet keep her story moving briskly. I closed the book indebted for this immersion in a world I could not have otherwise entered.”
–Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent debut,
By Vaino Ylimayry "Eclectic bibilophile" (Edmonton, AB Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Toss of a Lemon (Hardcover)
Toss of a Lemon is a portrait of a Brahmin widow, and the lives of her children and grandchildren in India in the first half of the twentieth century. It provides a detailed look at the caste system and the rules imposed on caste members, particularly a widowed woman. The book is written in almost a poetic fashion. While it is quite lengthy, there is nothing superfluous in the creation of the atmosphere of the time and place. As you read, you enter this world, and become captivated by it and want to learn what happens to this family. While it is focused on the family, the overlay of the political events impacting India are very much a part of the book - independence, partition and emigration are some examples.Readers who value literary craftmanship will be richly rewarded.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Oh dear.,
By
This review is from: The Toss of a Lemon (Paperback)
I love books about Indian culture. While this book does illuminate one about Indian culture, history, etc., the reading of it is not enjoyable. The characters are one dimensional and I couldn't get involved in the story.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL,
By
This review is from: The Toss of a Lemon (Paperback)
I loved this wonderful culturally rich story. Very refreshing and enjoyable to read (and without violence). Couldn't wait to get back to it after work each night. I don't give many books a five star, but this one is top notch . . . . five stars.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
