One part woman
(Book)

Translation of: Maadhorubaagan.

Selling over 100,000 copies in India, where it was published first in the original Tamil and then in this celebrated English translation, One Part Woman has become a cult phenomenon in the subcontinent, jump-starting conversations about caste and female empowerment. Set in rural South India during the British colonial period, it follows a couple, Kali and Ponna, who are unable to conceive. Kali and Ponna try everything to please their parents and have a child, including circumambulating a mountain supposed to cure barren women, but none of the offerings or rituals helps. A more drastic plan is required, so Kali and Ponna's mothers agree that Ponna should go to the annual chariot festival, a celebration of the half-male, half-female god Maadhorubaagan. On the eighteenth night of the festival, there is an immense carnival, during which the rules of marriage are relaxed, and consensual sex between unmarried men and women is overlooked, for all men are considered gods. But rather than bring them together, this scheme threatens to drive the couple apart. Wryly amusing and deeply poignant, One Part Woman is a powerful exploration of a loving marriage strained by the expectations of others.

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