One Part Woman

Starred review from August 6, 2018
This beautiful novel from Murugan, winner of the Translation Prize from India’s National Academy of Letters, plunges readers into Tamil culture through a story of love within a caste system undergoing British colonization in the early 19th century. Everything in Ponna and Kali’s lives seems fruitful: they have a flourishing herd of cows and a stunning flower garden. But after 12 years of marriage, Ponna still has not conceived a child. Ponna has taken the strange, bitter herbs her mother-in-law gives her, has traveled to make countless offerings to the gods, and has tried many traditional rituals, but nothing works. A deep source of shame, their childlessness isolates Ponna and Kali from their community and becomes a subject of ridicule from their friends and neighbors. Their families scheme together in secret to push one last ritual on the couple—at the annual chariot festival celebrating the half-man half-woman god, where men and women are free to copulate with anyone. It’s unthinkable to Kali, but Ponna may be willing to give it a try if it means they will be blessed with a child and their suffering will end. Murugan’s touching, harrowing love story captures the toll that infertility has on a marriage in a world where having a child is the greatest measure of one’s worth.

October 1, 2018
A South Indian couple struggles to conceive a child.Kali and Ponna have been married for 12 years, but they can't seem to have a child. They've tried everything: They've been to see palmists and astrologers, made offerings at various temples, and made all sorts of promises to all sorts of gods. Their families have even begun to urge Kali to marry another woman. He and Ponna are tired of the whisperings of their neighbors, tired of the isolation that the childless are reduced to. This is the first novel by Murugan, a celebrated writer of Tamil in India, to be translated into English. It's poignant, funny, and painful and will expose readers of English to a region and class they likely haven't seen represented in literature: South Indian farmers. Kali and Ponna's last hope seems to be the festival for the god Maadhorubaagan, who is half male and half female (hence the book's title). On the 18th night of the festival, sex between unmarried men and women is permitted. But the prospect of losing Ponna, for one night, to another man--even though, by the rules of the festival, that man will be considered a god--is horrible to Kali. When, instead of refusing, Ponna tells Kali, "If you want me to go for the sake of this wretched child, I will," their relationship becomes strained. Murugan has an ear for the gentle absurdities of marriage as well as sympathy for his characters' woes. Still, the prose can be awkward, though it isn't clear how much of that awkwardness can be attributed to the translator, Vasudevan. Sprinkled throughout the novel are certain idioms, like "he was merely testing the waters," that seem unlikely given the setting.Poignant and sweet, the novel suffers only from a certain roughness in the prose; something, it seems, has been lost in translation.

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October 15, 2018

In many ways, Kali and Ponna's lives couldn't be more fertile. Their fields and their cows keep them well nourished. Their playfulness and passion feed their souls. But after 12 years of marriage, they remain childless, leaving the couple helpless against the disdain disguised as concern they receive from their judgmental South Indian Tamil community. Desperate for conception, Ponna's family pushes her to partake in an upcoming annual festival in which single men become gods ready to service infertile women. Tragedy proves inevitable. Although a cult phenomenon in India, this work's success had near-fatal consequences for Murugan, who was viciously derided and sued, his books burnt for the revealing glimpse into his village culture. Only when he won "a landmark court decision defending the right of artists to critically depict their own communities" did he write again. Lauded translator Vasudevan has not been without controversy either, having even declined a major translation award. VERDICT With a backstory as fascinating as the narrative, this intriguing work, long-listed for the National Book Award, will undoubtedly be appreciated by internationally savvy Anglophone audiences.--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2018
Kali married Ponna for love, and it is evident in their every interaction. The lovers, living in India during British rule, are physically and emotionally attuned to each other, so much so that a single glance becomes a secret language, laden with meaning. But this ability to read the other's thoughts becomes as much a burden as a blessing, as year after year passes without them conceiving a child, and they plunge deeper into despair. Surrounded by rumors of family curses and openly mocked in their communities, Kali and Ponna's desperation leads them to try multiple remedies, prayers, and sacrifices until, finally, after a decade of barrenness, relatives suggest the unthinkable, that Ponna attend a festival where any man, at that moment considered a god, would be able to try to impregnate her. This novel, presented in translation from the original Tamil, is a heartrending portrait of the painful challenges faced by a couple struggling with infertility. A moving tale that transcends time and place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)