A review by mothgoth
Pyre by Perumal Murugan
2.75
I was really excited to read a book that explores caste prejudice in India, and I think the idea of doing it through a relationship between two people in different castes is a really good one. I liked not knowing the castes the characters belonged to, only that because they were of different castes, they could not be together in the eyes of their families. The ending of the book felt like a departure from most of it, written in such a beautiful way that compelled me to read it more so than the rest of the book did.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy most of the characters or the lack of detail about the village and specifics about it. Maybe it was meant to be sort of a stand in for any village, like this could be happening anywhere in India, but some more specifics would be nice. The characters were either repetitive or naive and that definitely took away from some of my enjoyment of this novel. An important topic, but I wish it had been executed better.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy most of the characters or the lack of detail about the village and specifics about it. Maybe it was meant to be sort of a stand in for any village, like this could be happening anywhere in India, but some more specifics would be nice. The characters were either repetitive or naive and that definitely took away from some of my enjoyment of this novel. An important topic, but I wish it had been executed better.