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A review by midnight_lit_
The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar
4.0
A girl is a burden, a girl is a curse.
TW about this book:
Female infanticide
Physical abuse
Mental harassment
This is the crux of this book. A mother who gives birth to sons are not useless. The daughters are viewed as a wasteful burden who only increase a family's struggles because they'll require dowries one day.
Mothers-in-law berate their dils while their sons spend all the hard earned money on their vices. Husbands are spineless in front of their mothers but show their so called masculinity by hitting of abusing their wives. Two of Janani's girl babies are killed because they are girls. No one views this as a crime. Rather, they view it as a honor killing.
As a woman, this was very hard to read. Not because it was true at one point, but because it's still true. Female infanticide is still prevalent in India and other places because a girl child cannot be an "heir". The girls are not given a proper education, they have to do all the housework and if possible, go out and earn as well and even if they do all this, they are still considered lesser because they don't have a Y chromosome.
Coming back to the story, I loved the back and forth between the years. I was slightly annoyed with Nila for being so annoyed that Janani wouldn't talk to her about her past. But I get it. If I didn't know anything about my ancestry, I would feel that way too. Janani was a fantastic mother and woman and I loved the final confrontation between her and her wretched former mil. This book is very heavy. The writing style did not speak to me as much as it could and hence, the 4 stars
TW about this book:
Female infanticide
Physical abuse
Mental harassment
This is the crux of this book. A mother who gives birth to sons are not useless. The daughters are viewed as a wasteful burden who only increase a family's struggles because they'll require dowries one day.
Mothers-in-law berate their dils while their sons spend all the hard earned money on their vices. Husbands are spineless in front of their mothers but show their so called masculinity by hitting of abusing their wives. Two of Janani's girl babies are killed because they are girls. No one views this as a crime. Rather, they view it as a honor killing.
As a woman, this was very hard to read. Not because it was true at one point, but because it's still true. Female infanticide is still prevalent in India and other places because a girl child cannot be an "heir". The girls are not given a proper education, they have to do all the housework and if possible, go out and earn as well and even if they do all this, they are still considered lesser because they don't have a Y chromosome.
Coming back to the story, I loved the back and forth between the years. I was slightly annoyed with Nila for being so annoyed that Janani wouldn't talk to her about her past. But I get it. If I didn't know anything about my ancestry, I would feel that way too. Janani was a fantastic mother and woman and I loved the final confrontation between her and her wretched former mil. This book is very heavy. The writing style did not speak to me as much as it could and hence, the 4 stars