Books The Toss of a Lemon Online Download Free

Particularize Epithetical Books The Toss of a Lemon

Title	:	The Toss of a Lemon
Author	:	Padma Viswanathan
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 640 pages
Published	:	April 1st 2008 by Random House Canada
Categories	:	Fiction. Cultural. India. Historical. Historical Fiction

The Toss of a Lemon

Padma Viswanathan

Hardcover | Pages: 640 pages

Rating: 3.78 | 2863 Users | 487 Reviews

Narrative Concering Books The Toss of a Lemon

In south India in 1896, ten-year old Sivakami is about to embark on a new life. Hanumarathnam, a village healer with some renown as an astrologer, has approached her parents with a marriage proposal. In keeping with custom, he provides his prospective in-laws with his horoscope. The problem is that his includes a prediction, albeit a weak one, that he will die in his tenth year of marriage.

Despite the ominous horoscope, Sivakami’s parents hesitate only briefly, won over by the young man and his family’s reputation as good, upstanding Brahmins. Once married, Sivikami and Hanumarathnam grow to love one another and the bride, now in her teens, settles into a happy life. But the predictions of Hanumarathnam’s horoscope are never far from her new husband’s mind. When their first child is born, as a strategy for accurately determining his child’s astrological charts, Hanumarathnam insists the midwife toss a lemon from the window of the birthing room the moment his child appears. All is well with their first child, a daughter, Thangam, whose birth has a positive influence on her father’s astrological future. But this influence is fleeting: when a son, Vairum, is born, his horoscope confirms that his father will die within three years.

Resigned to his fate, Hanumarathnam sets himself to the unpleasant task of readying his household for his imminent death. Knowing the hardships and social restrictions Sivakami will face as a Brahmin widow, he hires and trains a servant boy called Muchami to help Sivakami manage the household and properties until Vairum is of age.

When Sivakami is eighteen, Hanumarathnam dies as predicted. Relentless in her adherence to the traditions that define her Brahmin caste, she shaves her head and dons the white sari of the widow. With some reluctance, she moves to her family home to raise her children under the protection of her brothers, but then realizes that they are not acting in the best interests of her children. With her daughter already married to an unreliable husband of her brothers’ choosing, and Vairum’s future also at risk, Sivakami leaves her brothers and returns to her marital home to raise her family.

With the freedom to make decisions for her son’s future, Sivakami defies tradition and chooses to give him a secular education. While her choice ensures that Vairum fulfills his promise, it also sets Sivakami on a collision course with him. Vairum, fatherless in childhood, childless as an adult, rejects the caste identity that is his mother’s mainstay, twisting their fates in fascinating and unbearable ways.

Specify Books In Pursuance Of The Toss of a Lemon

Original Title:	The Toss of a Lemon
ISBN:	0307356329 (ISBN13: 9780307356321)
Edition Language:	English
Setting:	India

Rating Epithetical Books The Toss of a Lemon

Ratings: 3.78 From 2863 Users | 487 Reviews

Crit Epithetical Books The Toss of a Lemon

This is not a book for everyone, in the sense that you must be receptive in order to read it, or else you'll want to put it down after the first 100 pages (if that). It's a slow story, rich in details and dwelling on significant moments in the lives of its many characters. There's very little action and a lot of deliberation. It takes dedication and patience to see it through until the end. If you have that, however, then hopefully you enjoyed The Toss of a Lemon as much as I did.Padma

Why I Don't Read Novels to Learn AnythingReviewers on this site and LibraryThing call this novel "informative," and say it's a look into the "psyche" of a Brahman family in India. It is said to be an "epic," which opens a "window" onto a world many readers won't know, "enriching" our experience and making us more sympathetic to "exotic" customs and ideas. The book, in other words, functions in two ways: it's a romantic epic of a family, and it tells us about rural Brahman life in India. It's

It's a quietly fascinating book. I'm at the point where I can't put it down, not because the plot is driving or it's suspenseful; it's one of those books that sneaks up on you and really pulls you in. It describes the daily life, religion, and culture of India from the late 19th century on, through the eyes of a Brahmin family and the trials they endure. The descriptions of the rituals surrounding daily life are fascinating, and the momentum of the story is quietly building now that I'm halfway

The Toss of a Lemon is a sprawling, multi-generational family saga centered on Sivakami, a young widow raising her daughter (Thangam) and son (Vairum) and a whole host of grandchildren, with her faithful servant Muchami always at her side. Over the 600+ pages, the novel deals with the intricacies of arranged marriages, the caste system, independence from Britain and more, all seen through their impact on Sivakami and her family (in the last third, the persective shifts to Janaki, the brightest

She had always thought of her life as a series of submissions to God. What if she has been making her own decisions all along? Sivakami is ten years old when she is married to Hanumarathnam, a village healer with good Brahmin standing. Unknown to Sivakami and following tradition, Hanumarathnam reveals to his new bride's parents that his horoscope shows that he will die in his tenth year of marriage. The couple grows to love each other but his prediction haunts their lives and marks the lives of

This book started off well but became an absolute drag to read. I ended up not finishing the book. The author got far too muddled in the details of each character's life that it became hard to understand what was going on with whom. Though I always enjoy a family's journey, this became far too slow for me. Also, I think the author got too bogged down in the details of cultural and religious events as well as political developments. It gets very difficult for the reader to keep up with these

This novel started well but I found my interest lagging as it progressed. It explained vividly the rituals and superstitions of the Brahmin culture and presented an extremely dismal picture of the lives of Brahmin women in the first half of the 20th century.