The Toss of a Lemon - Hardcover

Padma Viswanathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151015333 ISBN 13: 9780151015337

Publisher: Harcourt Publishers,U.S., 2009

Synopsis

Spanning the lifetime of one woman (1896-1962), "The Toss of a Lemon" brings us intimately into a Brahmin household, into an India we've never before seen.Married at ten, widowed at eighteen, left with two children, Sivakami must wear widow's whites, shave her head, and touch no one from dawn to dusk. She is not allowed to remarry, and in the next sixty years she ventures outside her family compound only three times. She is extremely orthodox in her behaviour except for one defiant act: She moves back to her dead husband's house and village to raise her children. That decision sets the course of her children's and grandchildren's lives, twisting their fates in surprising, sometimes heartbreaking ways.Inspired by her grandmother's stories, Padma Viswanathan masterfully brings to life a profoundly exotic yet utterly recognizable family in the midst of social and political upheaval. "The Toss of a Lemon" is the debut of a major new writer.

About this title

Review

"* "The Toss of a Lemon is a captivating novel that in relating the story of one Indian woman and her family tells the story of a changing society. Precisely and deftly written, constantly interesting, morally serious yet sympathetic -- I challenge any reader to start reading this book and give up on it. It joins the company of the great novels on India." (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi) * "Viswanathan's narrative, refreshingly, is free of anachronism, and she has a pleasing way of engaging the reader's senses - not least with some mouth-watering descriptions of dry and wet curries, pacchadis of yogurt and cucumber.... Deep-fried patties of lentil and chili," and other such delicacies.... Of a piece with the recent works of Vikram Seth, and reminiscent at times of Garcia Marquez---altogether a pleasure." Kirkus starred review"

From the Back Cover

"Viswanathan . . . achieves something that is in many way more nuanced than the broad brushstrokes of an epic: a meditation on fate's workings in a family dominated by the quiet rule of one woman." The Washington Post Book World

Sivakami was married at ten, widowed at eighteen, and left with two children. According to the dictates of her caste, her headis shaved and she puts on widow's whites. From dawn to dusk, she is not allowed to contaminate herself with human touch, not even to comfort her small children.

Sivakami dutifully follows custom, except for one defiant act: She moves back to her dead husband's house to raise her children. There, her servant Muchamibecomes her public face. Their singular relationship holds three generations of the family together throughthe turbulent first half of the twentieth century, as India endures great social and political change. But as time passes, the family changes, too;Sivakami's son will question the strictures of the very beliefs that his mother has scrupulously upheld.Heartbreaking, exhilarating, and profoundly exotic, The Toss of a Lemon is above allan evocationof the tensions that change brings to every family."Padma Viswanathan has real talent." New York Times Book Review

"[An] exquisite debut novel. . . . [E]lectrifying." Baltimore Sun Padma Viswanathan is a fiction writer, playwright and journalist. Her writing awards include residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the Banff Playwright's Colony, and first place in the 2006 Boston Review Short Story Contest. Shelives withthe poet and translator Geoffrey Brock and their children in Fayetteville, Arkansas."

About this edition

• Publisher: Harcourt Publishers,U.S.
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0151015333
• ISBN 13: 9780151015337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 640