The Tigerclaw Tree
follows the shifting fortunes of four generations of a Tenkalai Iyengar
family, as each member confronts his or her own role in their family
legacy of idealism, political involvement and, ultimately, betrayal.
Ponna, the matriarch, bedridden and fighting a last losing battle with memory, forces her children and grandchildren to deal with events and people from their past, known from half-remembered family anecdotes. Her great-grandsons, Kannan and Nambi, enter her fragmented twilight world with its confusion of stories that are set against the larger regional and national histories.
Their quest exhumes relatives conveniently dead or forgottten: Andal, the child widow, whose search for love ends in insanity; Madhurakavi, the comunist turned-nationalist; and Nammalwar, the ascetic, whose coming coincides with Nambi's death.
A novel about love and loss, about the persistence of the past and the redemptive powers of memory
First published in 1998, this attractive new edition brings to life again a novel that became a cult classic in its time.
Ponna, the matriarch, bedridden and fighting a last losing battle with memory, forces her children and grandchildren to deal with events and people from their past, known from half-remembered family anecdotes. Her great-grandsons, Kannan and Nambi, enter her fragmented twilight world with its confusion of stories that are set against the larger regional and national histories.
Their quest exhumes relatives conveniently dead or forgottten: Andal, the child widow, whose search for love ends in insanity; Madhurakavi, the comunist turned-nationalist; and Nammalwar, the ascetic, whose coming coincides with Nambi's death.
A novel about love and loss, about the persistence of the past and the redemptive powers of memory
First published in 1998, this attractive new edition brings to life again a novel that became a cult classic in its time.
My Rating: 3 out of 5.
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