Jody-Brettkelly
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“Appa, you were born to a domineering mother who was barely sixteen when you were born.”
Love that introduction of domineering mother the even the word mother is so powerful and compelling – mothers can use this to good or to evil – and the “barely sixteen” becomes intriguing and in some ways carries us to some sympathy of her. Also love the direct “Appa”, not sure what you call that, but very direct and makes you wonder who is speaking.
The description of mother – “aggressive and greedy woman who wanted desperately to be wealthier than she was” and the father “who failed to disciplne you” is a great contrast.
After the first couple of pars I realise he is addressing a boy and the way this is written very quickly sums up his life. The mention of the irons is horrific, the fact a mother did that contrasts so strongly to the father who does not discipline himThe “roast you skin” simple and horrific. Now we know the father terrified him too as they both terrified him past the age of fifty, but intrigued to know how father terrified him, maybe pschologically.
“Appa, that raw fear curtailed your ability to respond to the pain and suffering your parents caused incessantly on your wife because of the huge dowry she brought with her.”
Had to read the “curtailed your ability” sentence a couple of time as I tripped over that, as it was abstract and the rest factual simple but rich.
“She wondered out loud, the day after you passed onwards to we do not know where (not sure what this means, passed onwards??):
In just a couple of pars you have summed up what some would take a book to do, a tragic story of a trusting girl who thought she bought with her equal standing and a man who is terribly stunted by what his parents did to him. Love everything about it, as a reader would have liked to slow down and rest for a while on some of the pars.
Love the references to the time – 1954, makes it deeper and more historical. It was densely populated with facts and had to read twice but worth it because so well written and so much said about their lives and life in just a couple of pars. Lovely Vijaya!
