The Women In the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

 

What I love about Japanese Literature is how its simple engrossing plot ends with something dark and absurd. The woman in the purple skirt is a novella about obsession/ stalking/ mental illness.  The narrator calls herself the woman in the yellow cardigan and knows every intimate detail of the woman in the purple skirt. From where she lives, to how many jobs she changed and even the shampoo she uses, every detail was stalked by the narrator.

She is so obsessed with the Women in the purple skirt that it becomes unnerving and frustrating at one point in time. Things start to turn dark when the narrator helps her get a job in the same place where she works to befriend her.

A short quirky and easy read ends with too many unsettled questions in readers' minds.

3/5

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas: John Boyne

 

 

Most of you have already read the book The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, but if you have not then you might want to pick this up after reading this review.– Read it with the mentality of a 9-year-old and not as an adult. It's not a BOOK for ADULT. Though it deals with Holocaust which is an adult subject to discuss but the entire story is from a child’s perspective and nothing violent has been mentioned anywhere in the book. Yet it is a heart wrenching painful story 

The story is from Bruno's perspective, who befriends a Jewish boy named Shmuel who is of his same  age living in the concentration camp. Both being naive about what's happening around , and why there is a fence in between them ( poverty, destitution vs High-class living) the book takes you to an innocent journey of 2 friends who enable themselves to transcend the division ( the fence) and cross over.

There are two words which have been used by the author to show the innocence of the children  who do not have any clue about what's going on: Fury and Outwith. This was mispronounced by Bruno throughout the book  Fury here is Furer which means Leader also referred to as Hitler the angry little man and Outwith as Auschwitz  the largest concentration and extermination camp in Poland.The tone of the book changes  slowly and Bruno starts to feel apprehensive  about the new place he started living with his family.

A highly recommended book for everyone especially for early teens.

Lines from the book:

• “We don’t have the luxury of thinking,” said Mother. “…Some people make all the decisions for us.”

• all of them—the small boys, the big boys, the fathers, the grandfathers, the uncles, the people who lived on their own on everybody’s road but didn’t seem to have any relatives at all—were wearing the same clothes as each other: a pair of grey striped pajamas with a grey striped cap on their heads.

• Bruno was sure that he had never seen a skinnier or sadder boy in his life but decided that he had better talk to him

ANY Holocust Recommendation for Young Adults?

An Educated Women In Prostitution -A Memoir of Lust, Exploitation, Deceit (Calcutta, 1929)

 

An Educated Women In Prostitution -A Memoir of Lust, Exploitation, Deceit (Calcutta, 1929)

By Manada Devi

Translated by Arunava Sinha

Manada Devi also known as Miss Mukherjee,  Feroza Bibi and Maani didi,  writes about her life as a prostitute. we don't know if this character is actually real or not.  According to the manuscript Manada Devi was born in  Calcutta into a high class Brahmin  family. She was sent to Bethune school, had private tutor teaching her literature. At an young age she lost her mother and being neglected by her stepmother and father  she found comfort with her cousins.  Her male cousin Ramesh dada exploited her at a tender age of 15 when she eloped with him and ended up pregnant and left all alone. She was disown by her father and without bad company lands  in prostitution.

Manada devi in this memoir talks about the painful life as a sex worker , the patriarchal society , the double standard high class males exploiting females and also the political environment of Bengal.

I, as a reader have taken the book way too seriously and somehow I  am pissed off with the character and her callousness. Why did she choose prostitution?  She wasnt forced !There is a line in the book which say ' the lawyer sells his intellect, teachers sells his education even the spiritual leader sells his incantations ; why should alluring  women not sell their body then? And this line heard from a prostitute made Manada Devi choose this world. She has mention that with her education she could have easily done jobs like teaching children which would have let her live a  respectful life but with bad company she  choose the road to hell. 

In my opinion ( solely my personal point of few) I don't feel its the bad company  which dragged her to hell it was her decision, her willingness, the lust which   made her  join the group. The book also mention about very famous people like Vidya Sagar, Shib Nath Shahtri,  CR Das who in that time period were  actually fighting for women's right which includes widow remarriage or saving women who were abused by family or disowned, by giving them shelter  . In fact she was been constantly told to leave the place and start something new. But I guess scanty education  lead her to ruin her own life with arrogance pouring in.

Exploitation by the upper class was definitely  mentioned in the book, the double standard life of high class men who lived shamelessly, guilt free life keeping mistress yet looked down upon prostitute, or kept restriction in their own home. Yet among all these things there were  men  who fought day and night  to give the right life to women.

Written in simple language, an eye opening revelation on the colonial time period in Bengal.  The rich literature which calls for the revolution. So much of thoughts I have for this book.  Do read it  . Also do give it a thought did the orthodox society change yet in this century?

Lines from the book:

• Since nature has decreed that women feel desire at the age of fourteen it is best for them  to be married before that.

• Illegitimate love is always born out of passion. But passion is by nature short-lived, and not the result of discernment. Therefore, a love that arises swiftly ends swiftly too.’