28 November 2016

Review #563: The High Priestess Never Marries by Sharanya Manivannan



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”

----Robert A. Heinlein



Sharanya Manivannan, an Indian author, pens a heart touching, extremely gratifying and thoroughly thought provoking book of short stories, The High Priestess Never Marries, about love and marriage, Sharanya Manivannan where the author weaves stories, ranging from half a page length to almost 50 pages long, of independent women of today's century and also those who are not fearless to break free from the rules, all the while letting the readers to give wings to their hearts' desires over the values of the society.


Synopsis:

A Sri Lankan mermaid laments the Arthurian Fisher King; a woman treks to a cliff in the Nilgiris with honey gatherers of the Irula tribe; a painter fears she will lose her sanity if she leaves her marriage and lose her art if she stays faithful within it; one woman marries her goddess; another, sitting in a bar, says to herself, ‘I like my fights dirty, my vodka neat and my romance anachronistic.’The women in this collection are choice makers, consequence facers, solitude seekers. They are lovers, vixens, wives to themselves. And their stories are just how that woman in the bar likes it – dirty, neat and sexy as smoke.


Each and every story from this book has its own flavor, aura and flair and each story, no matter how long or short it is, will manage to pull the readers straight into its unpredictable depth of vastness, clarity and emotions. It wouldn't be correct to say that there are any favorite stories among the lot, as each and every story reflects a woman's freedom for sex, marriage and love, above all, the freedom to celebrate and enjoy womanhood despite the difficult norms set by our society. The author gives wings to moral freedom in a century and in a country dominated so much by the Western ideals. I was deeply moved by each and every story penned by the author, where the central character of the each story stands as the personification of today's women who are liberal minded yet held back by values and ethics.

There are 26 short stories in this collection where each denote the significance of love and no doubt its consequences but also sex, deepest desires of a woman's heart, lust, passion and marriage along with the dilemma of commitment to the things or men that love them. The women of these stories are flawed to their very core, impulsive in nature and wild to limitless extent and therefore projected as someone "neat, dirty and sexy".

The author's writing style is fervent and laced perfectly with deep, heart felt emotions thereby making it rhapsodic for the readers. The prose is lilting with a Tamilian flair that gives a passionate side to each and every tale from this book. The narrative reflects the local dialect, and the author bravely uses the Tamilian slang and sayings without explaining further for the national and international readers, but that gives a challenging outlook to the whole book, although this approach by the author left me slightly disappointed as I failed to decipher the meaning of many of such local phrases. (PS: I had to google such phrases!) The journey of each women flows freely like a brook boldly and bravely through the ups and downs.

The characters from this book are well developed with honesty and realism in their demeanor, hence the readers will be able to easily connect with those women. Moreover, the author projects such relatable situations from everyday life that a common woman of today's century endure is striking enough to strike an emotional chord of every young and mature Indian women. Yes, the characters are mature, bold and do not sh away from lusting for their wishes, they get angry easily and take whimsical decisions about life. Well it's wrong to say that those women are self-centered but they are strong, fearless and can face any challenge alone.

Also another notable thing about this amazing writer that I can't miss to mention at any cost is the author's unexceptional panache for penning vivid, tiny details of each and every scene that will come alive before the eyes of the readers. So while reading I felt like the scenes are unrolling right in front of me. The author's love for her culture, her city and her ethnicity is strongly evident from the way she has used all those in the backdrop of the stories.

Verdict: An enriching and highly satisfying tale of womanhood, sexual and moral freedom, love, marriage and its consequences.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review the book.
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Author Info:
Sharanya Manivannan was born in India in 1985 and grew up in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Her first book of poems was Witchcraft (Bullfighter Books, 2008); she is currently working on a novel, a collection of short fiction and two manuscripts of poetry. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in Drunken Boat, The Nervous Breakdown, Superstition Review, Killing The Buddha, Pratilipi, Dark Sky Magazine and elsewhere.
Visit her here


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