swetha062's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
In this story, Marayi, Kumaresan and Saroja are victims to casteism, patriarchy, violence, emotional abuse, and every other societal disease plaguing the Indian community. Perumal narrates a story which erupts gradually into the only solution for such diseases, a pyre. Disheartening doesn't even begin to describe a story which I'm accustomed to hearing that happens on a day-to-day basis. I really believe there are numerous such unlived stories needed to be remembered and told. Women often end up being godesses, protecting the sole thing they were killed for standing against, honor killing needs to cease existing in every way and form. Somehow, I keep living, hoping one day this society would learn to live and let others live...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief
littoral's review against another edition
3.0
Perumal Murugan’s Pyre is often described as a love story between two young Indian lovers, Kumaresan and Saroja, whose inter-caste marriage inspires caste-induced hatred towards the two. Much of the plot portrays intolerant abuse after intolerant abuse being piled onto the young couple, which rends the heart as we see Kumaresan’s repeated attempts to provide for the couple and Saroja’s increasing unhappiness and loneliness in an unfamiliar community. The stakes are high and we feel a sense of increasing foreboding until the culminating scene of the novel.
Despite the progress of the plot, there is little development of Kumaresan and Saroja’s story together. We are told that they met in Tholur, where Saroja lived, but their initial love is young and naive; we fail to get a sense of the source of their attachment other than physical attraction. Of less have more successful marriages been wrought - but Kumareson never outgrows his youthful optimism that love will overcome caste, and the two are never seen to form a more mature attachment throughout the rest of the book - which weakens the book’s argument about the injustices of caste-based hatred.
There is some exploration of themes about women’s role in Indian society in particular - Marayi, Kumaresan’s mother and Saroja’s mother-in-law, is one of the more developed characters in light of her varied roles as daughter, wife, mother, and mother-in-law being highlighted by various other characters. Through these different lenses, we see how her vitriol towards Saroja, though clearly unjustified, is shaped by the hardness of her life, and the role that society thrust upon her as a young widow raising a son on her own in a patriarchal society. And the book’s depiction of difference in caste is interestingly done, since it is only one source of difference between the couple that is highlighted (semi-urban vs rural, fair-skinned vs dark-skinned). The explicit difference in caste is never named as a way of casting the insignificance of these other potentially significant differences in relief.
If anyone has recommendations for other literature that explores similar themes, I’d love to hear them.
Despite the progress of the plot, there is little development of Kumaresan and Saroja’s story together. We are told that they met in Tholur, where Saroja lived, but their initial love is young and naive; we fail to get a sense of the source of their attachment other than physical attraction. Of less have more successful marriages been wrought - but Kumareson never outgrows his youthful optimism that love will overcome caste, and the two are never seen to form a more mature attachment throughout the rest of the book - which weakens the book’s argument about the injustices of caste-based hatred.
There is some exploration of themes about women’s role in Indian society in particular - Marayi, Kumaresan’s mother and Saroja’s mother-in-law, is one of the more developed characters in light of her varied roles as daughter, wife, mother, and mother-in-law being highlighted by various other characters. Through these different lenses, we see how her vitriol towards Saroja, though clearly unjustified, is shaped by the hardness of her life, and the role that society thrust upon her as a young widow raising a son on her own in a patriarchal society. And the book’s depiction of difference in caste is interestingly done, since it is only one source of difference between the couple that is highlighted (semi-urban vs rural, fair-skinned vs dark-skinned). The explicit difference in caste is never named as a way of casting the insignificance of these other potentially significant differences in relief.
If anyone has recommendations for other literature that explores similar themes, I’d love to hear them.
heartshapedness's review against another edition
4.0
// "people lived around here in all directions. there was nowhere she could seek help."
a novel about an intercaste marriage that progressively gets more awry by the page, all rendered in simple and lucid writing that complements perfectly with the complex politics of caste and gender. influenced to write the story by the unfortunately increasingly common occurrence of the real-life killing of a dalit man who had been in a relationship with an upper caste woman, perumal murugan has no qualms about depicting the brutalities of intercaste alliances in this harrowing story
a novel about an intercaste marriage that progressively gets more awry by the page, all rendered in simple and lucid writing that complements perfectly with the complex politics of caste and gender. influenced to write the story by the unfortunately increasingly common occurrence of the real-life killing of a dalit man who had been in a relationship with an upper caste woman, perumal murugan has no qualms about depicting the brutalities of intercaste alliances in this harrowing story
imkarthikdeva's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Horrifying tale of the Indian caste system that perpetuates & normalises abuse, violence and ignorance. The plot takes you to the deep south of Tamil Nadu and it's secrets. The ending was so tense that it left me speechless. Naieveity and love has no place in our 'culture'
An important addition to remind us of the evil that is, caste.
Spoiler
May Saroja and all the victims of honour killing, rest in peace. The Tamil version of the novel was dedicated to R. Ilavarasan, a young dalit who was murdered after his inter-caste marriage.annrhub's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
jola_g's review against another edition
3.0
My main issue with Pyre (2013) by Perumal Murugan was the feeling of déjà vu, droning over me obtrusively. Similar stories about two young people in love versus intolerant, close-knit communities have been told many times before. Just substitute 'different castes', which is the problem here — The entire village bears a mark of impurity if there is a woman here whose caste or family are unknown, with 'conflicted families', 'conflicted street gangs, 'conflicted countries', 'different religions', 'different skin colours', and you will feel at home at once. By the way, it is so sad that despite multiple repetitions the moral of these stories and their tendency to end very badly, still have not taught us a lesson. Pyre is set in India at a nonspecified time but a similar tragedy could have happened in other parts of the world. The sacralised, collective violence seems to be universal. This novel sadly reminded me of the theories discussed in [b: The Scapegoat|604562|The Scapegoat|René Girard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348981440l/604562._SY75_.jpg|591122] by René Girard.
Perumal Murugan styled the novel as a folk tale but let's face it, this does not feel very innovative either. Besides, the cost of such folk tale stylization is black-and-white characters: Saroja is angelically good, while her mother-in-law, Marayi, makes all the evil queens and cruel stepmothers seem like benevolent lambs in comparison to her wickedness. The only character that escapes easy classification is Kumaresan. I keep pondering his decision to bring Saroja to the village. He must have been aware that it surely would be a harbinger of serious trouble. Was it love blindness and naivety? Or maybe selfishness? He knew that if anyone would get hurt, it would not be him but his wife.
It will probably sound strange but this time I am glad that the characters are one-dimensional: if they were more realistic, the story would be just too brutal to bear. The deceivingly soft, warm and tender tone of the novel is starkly contrasted with the nightmarish finale which I cannot stop thinking about. I liked the subtle use of symbols in the novel, for example, the thorns in the final scene (Christ's crucifixion, destruction of something beautiful and innocent?), goats (sexual desire?), fire (love and death?), rock (hostile and emotionally cold environment?). The writing style of the novel is minimalistic. The only embellishment — and its overuse slightly annoyed me — was the plethora of rhetorical questions. I guess the author's intent was to engage his readers emotionally but it felt manneristic at times.
Pyre is a blend of a crushingly sentimental love story and an unforgiving analysis of a closed community. One of the characters in [b:Waves|42740186|Waves|Eduard von Keyserling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541799718l/42740186._SY75_.jpg|1991350] (1911) by Eduard von Keyserling, which I am currently reading, argues that whenever a foreign element enters into a social group, it triggers a reaction like citric acid in soda. Incidentally, I came across a similar notion in Perumal Murugan's novel: All this mixing might work with soda colours, but it doesn't in life. In Pyre the experiment ended up with an explosive reaction.
Big Diva Star Crossed Lovers, painting by Wyanne.
Perumal Murugan styled the novel as a folk tale but let's face it, this does not feel very innovative either. Besides, the cost of such folk tale stylization is black-and-white characters: Saroja is angelically good, while her mother-in-law, Marayi, makes all the evil queens and cruel stepmothers seem like benevolent lambs in comparison to her wickedness. The only character that escapes easy classification is Kumaresan. I keep pondering his decision to bring Saroja to the village. He must have been aware that it surely would be a harbinger of serious trouble. Was it love blindness and naivety? Or maybe selfishness? He knew that if anyone would get hurt, it would not be him but his wife.
It will probably sound strange but this time I am glad that the characters are one-dimensional: if they were more realistic, the story would be just too brutal to bear. The deceivingly soft, warm and tender tone of the novel is starkly contrasted with the nightmarish finale which I cannot stop thinking about. I liked the subtle use of symbols in the novel, for example, the thorns in the final scene (Christ's crucifixion, destruction of something beautiful and innocent?), goats (sexual desire?), fire (love and death?), rock (hostile and emotionally cold environment?). The writing style of the novel is minimalistic. The only embellishment — and its overuse slightly annoyed me — was the plethora of rhetorical questions. I guess the author's intent was to engage his readers emotionally but it felt manneristic at times.
Pyre is a blend of a crushingly sentimental love story and an unforgiving analysis of a closed community. One of the characters in [b:Waves|42740186|Waves|Eduard von Keyserling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541799718l/42740186._SY75_.jpg|1991350] (1911) by Eduard von Keyserling, which I am currently reading, argues that whenever a foreign element enters into a social group, it triggers a reaction like citric acid in soda. Incidentally, I came across a similar notion in Perumal Murugan's novel: All this mixing might work with soda colours, but it doesn't in life. In Pyre the experiment ended up with an explosive reaction.
Big Diva Star Crossed Lovers, painting by Wyanne.
stargirl07's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
madams12's review against another edition
4.0
Murugan fascinatingly presents the complexities of castes, the patriarchy and societal hierarchies through themes of love, religion and hatred. this honestly read like a thriller and it simmers with tension on every page. the story is highly evocative and my heart aches for Sarojas hope that love conquers all.