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I walked along with the characters in the fields of my village and it brought up childhood memories. The love for family and brotherhood stood up more than anything in this short story.
Was lost to the plot, execution and editing. Maybe I was lost in translation.
Did not enjoy half as much as anticipated.
He goes to his uncle and friends who are not surprised and act to move him out of the village. He joins his father and stays in hiding away from the villagers. Over 7 days, we get to know more about the reasons for the family's acceptance of the crime.
There is abuse of power, there is a hint of cas
Vekkai (Heat in English) uses violence as backdrop to explore the rationalisation of a crime. 15 year old Chidambaram hacks off the hand and kills Vadakooran in the first few sentences and on the run.He goes to his uncle and friends who are not surprised and act to move him out of the village. He joins his father and stays in hiding away from the villagers. Over 7 days, we get to know more about the reasons for the family's acceptance of the crime.
There is abuse of power, there is a hint of casteism but the book stays mostly non-political. The boy despite the gruesome murder he has committed is shown as just a boy - who wants his mother to sing to him, he misses his aunt's food. We are shown the entire family struggling and trying to deal with a act of revenge.
For a book that inspired the national award winning Asuran, the book shies away from taking sides. The writing wavers in the middle on landscape which, I thought, didn't add much to the plotline. The significance of his father's past also didn't stike a chord with me.
It is a decent read.
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If I had one gripe with the book, it was that it did not tackle the concept of caste as much as it perhaps could have. We are told over and over tha
Perhaps I should have read the book first, before watching what is now a super-hit movie starring Dhanush. But maybe that wouldn't have changed much given that the book is still better and unarguably different. There is something very poetic about the way the book moves through scenes of sylvan solitude but deals with all the problems of coexistence.If I had one gripe with the book, it was that it did not tackle the concept of caste as much as it perhaps could have. We are told over and over that this Vadakooran is not a nice person, that he is a product of privilege. But not always do we understand how. There is not much exploration as to why the society is the way it is or what exactly is happening to break all this. These things exist in the background and in the forefront is this boy who becomes a man too early. Perhaps if this books had chosen more to deal exclusively with this person's inner monologue as it does from time to time, I would have enjoyed it more. Instead there is a precarious balance of all this and a dialogue about surviving in the forest and a view into the culture of those times.
It is an interesting read. But it did feel like it wanted to and failed at being a lot more.
...more There's a lot to like about this book. It discusses the oppression and politics of revenge. A very detailed account of what happens when you are a fugitive in India. However, following two points made me uncomfortable and hence 3.5.
Even if you are a native Tamil, this isn't an easy read. You need to know the dialect from the region of Tirunelveli.
And I didn't like it that the ending was open.
There's a lot to like about this book. It discusses the oppression and politics of revenge. A very detailed account of what happens when you are a fugitive in India. However, following two points made me uncomfortable and hence 3.5.
Even if you are a native Tamil, this isn't an easy read. You need to know the dialect from the region of Tirunelveli.
And I didn't like it that the ending was open.
Asuran movie inspired me to read this novel. Caste based violence r very dangerous to our human society. It will never happen to anyone
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#theguywiththebookreview presents Heat by Poonami
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When a book starts the way Heat did, you expect a lot! 15 year old Chidambram wants to avenge the death of his elder brother and attacks his killer. He wants to chop off his hand with a sickle but ends up chopping his neck and killing him instead.
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What follows is a very intense few pages of Chidambaram and hi When I picked up Heat, I expected a fugitive story with a lot of movement and maybe some really intense moments, unfortunately it had none.
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#theguywiththebookreview presents Heat by Poonami
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When a book starts the way Heat did, you expect a lot! 15 year old Chidambram wants to avenge the death of his elder brother and attacks his killer. He wants to chop off his hand with a sickle but ends up chopping his neck and killing him instead.
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What follows is a very intense few pages of Chidambaram and his father taking off on the road to escape the goons and police.
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Most surprising aspect about the book is the nonchalant manner in which everyone around little Chidambram reacts to him killing the man. Accepting it as something that happens every now and then. I guess it does (the murder actually took place irl)
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The book continues for a couple of chapters like The Road by Cormac McCarthy but slowly tapers into a narrative that hops between the past and the present.
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What would really attract a lot of readers to this book is the way the whole thing plays out. There isn't an impactful ending, you could say that Poonami almost artistically ends the book without a clear conclusion to mean that life just goes on for Chidambram and his family.
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One thing I want to say is that this is the first time I could feel like a book has been translated as a lot of passages felt very bland and maybe that's because some things just don't translate very well.
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Overall, it was an interesting experience and I should blame myself for expecting something from the book that it never promised to be. ...more
I picked up this book because it was in tamil, and i had been looking forward to reading a good one in that language...
I picked up this book cos someone mentioned it was set in/around tirunelveli, a town I grew up in and have fond memories of.
As I got reading, the words got to me.. Some words had me stumped, even though I knew tamil. I had to highlight and ask my dad for explanation. The dialect is
I picked up this book upon discovering a movie had been released and people were raving about it..I picked up this book because it was in tamil, and i had been looking forward to reading a good one in that language...
I picked up this book cos someone mentioned it was set in/around tirunelveli, a town I grew up in and have fond memories of.
As I got reading, the words got to me.. Some words had me stumped, even though I knew tamil. I had to highlight and ask my dad for explanation. The dialect is quite different ... That apart, the story is simple, but the way it has been told is gripping., Loved the attention to detail and the way it flowed through the pages. The father son bonding, the son's thirst for vengeance, the mother and the dog playing the loving supporting character roles. Not to forget the bitterness between the upper lower caste, the way money truly shows where the power lies and how the less unfortunate suffer..
Update-
I watched Asuran two days back. The movie does not stand even remotely close to the book. The movie has been masalafied to work for an audience expecting drama and jazz. The BGM is what carried the movie through, if not for it you would feel it just being flat...
If you know tamil, and wanna read a well written book, do grab a copy of this..
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The translator does a great job even though the sentence structure definitely feels incoherent after every few pages. Poonami, I admit I haven't heard of him before reading this, portrays how a close knit family is
A different kind of book. I enjoyed it to an extent as I have been wanting to read something which has a local flavor. This was a well needed change. In terms of story - I never felt gripped by it. There was no excitement or chase or any other sort of a mystery waiting to be unveil.The translator does a great job even though the sentence structure definitely feels incoherent after every few pages. Poonami, I admit I haven't heard of him before reading this, portrays how a close knit family is and what problems occur if a single thread is cut lose.
I still have to do my dissertation and I'm kinda panicked but this book was a good companion in these tough days.
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The ending here was a cliffhanger, and I'm really glad the movie wasn't like that.
Slightly different from the movie (Asuran) and I enjoyed this version a lot too! The language was a little hard for me to understand, but overall the plot kept me going till the end. The non-linear narrative was at times tough to understand, but I think there couldn't have been another way to delivery the story for it to have the impact it did.The ending here was a cliffhanger, and I'm really glad the movie wasn't like that.
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My video review at https://youtu.be/MM-0S72QGkQ This book is shortlisted for the Hindu Prize, sponsored by Indian newspaper of the same name. Though it was written in Tamil over 20 years ago it has only been translated recently.
My video review at https://youtu.be/MM-0S72QGkQ ...more
The novel is also critical of the feudal structure that characterizes the village life, although not stated we how even holding a small piece of land and living a life of honor is so difficult for some. The novel is not political or ideological for that matter as it never dwells into doctrines or philosophies to explain the exploitation, but it still is able to capture it by just writing the lives of the people living it.
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Movie is more action drama and thriller. But the book is just a drama that started after a violence. So I was little disappointed coming to read the book after the movie.
But the book is more realistic than movie. Also the book has the clearly defined and natural characters. It also describes the surroundings of the characters more vividly tha
I expected at least 75% of Asuran story in the book. But this book is more like a skeleton for the movie and the movie has a lot of developments around it.Movie is more action drama and thriller. But the book is just a drama that started after a violence. So I was little disappointed coming to read the book after the movie.
But the book is more realistic than movie. Also the book has the clearly defined and natural characters. It also describes the surroundings of the characters more vividly than visual media.
Even if I had read the book before watching the movie, I would have wondered why are they running around everywhere by taking meticulous effort in hiding even the footprints when there is no strong motives/members from the family of vadakkooraan to take revenge.
The ending is another disappointment, for me, at least. Why do I have to read all this to see nothing changed From what we started with?
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However the latter half of story, I felt lacking content and a drag. It was little difficult to see some new characters that flash in flashback/thoughts of the key characters and do n
I liked the first half of the book. The book was written in the southern (kovilpatti and Tirunelveli) dialects and I liked the way the author has portrayed the socio-civic setting between labor class and capitalist-owners. It gives far better insights, moral dilemmas, and challenges that a boy faces in that society.However the latter half of story, I felt lacking content and a drag. It was little difficult to see some new characters that flash in flashback/thoughts of the key characters and do not add any new content to the plot.
A smart way to end the story though!
A good read by bringing in some of the challenges that were not spoken in society during that time.
...more I cannot say that this book will make you cry but it will leave a heaviness in your heart if you care about this society.
This book also will also make us realize the difference between the olden days and what we are no A book that depicts the caste inequality and economic inequality in olden Tamil Nadu which is to be seen even now. It also portrays the amazing bond of a family. Esspecially, the relationship between the boy and his father and the sweet memories of his sister is so heart warming.
I cannot say that this book will make you cry but it will leave a heaviness in your heart if you care about this society.
This book also will also make us realize the difference between the olden days and what we are now; both god and bad and how the poor were/are treated. ...more
coming to the novel, it is a nice read, not so glorious in word usage or nature depiction or characters depiction, just a small boy tales and travails
worth a read but am not much into the hype surrounding it
Poomani (Tamil: பூமணி) (born 1947) is a Sahithya Academy Winning Tamil writer from Kovilpatti in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.He won Sahithya Academy Award for his novel Agnaadi in 2014.
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/20483032
Posted by: darnelldarnellmorandie0270717.blogspot.com
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