A review by jola_g
Pyre by Perumal Murugan, Aniruddhan Vasudevan
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.