Perumal MuruganCríticas

Even though it all went wrong

Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan
Media:Audio
Read by Peter Holdway
Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

This is a story of a married couple Kali and Ponna in Southern India who have been happy for many years but who have been unable to conceive a child. For many years they have pondered going to the festival of the god Maadhorubaagan. Maadhorubaagan is half woman, half man. On the eighteenth day of the annual festival this god allows men and women to have consensual sex outside of marriage. The men in this case become gods. If the problem of conception is Kali, then there’s a chance that if Ponna attends the festival on the eighteenth day, she will conceive.

Neither Kali or Ponna have wanted Ponna to attend, though all but one of their families’ members have encouraged this course of action. If Ponna does not have a child Kali worries she will regret it. If she doesn’t have a child Ponna worries that Kali will regret it. What can they do?

The story is set during colonial rule, though colonial actions do not play a proactive part in the main story. It’s more about the daily lives of Kali and Poona, and their friends and family, as they live mostly happy lives in rural India. Until. Or maybe forever. You’ll have to read the book.

I doubt many of you will have my delightful experience though. I “read” the book using an electronic copy from the US Talking Books library. It’s read by Peter Holdway, a non-professional volunteer who does an excellent job. At times he repeats a phrase. There was at least one time when I heard an intake of breath and the sound of a turning page. It was sort of comforting, like having a real live person reading to me.

The book was written in Tamil. Many Tamil writers have written in English. This includes Sri Lankan Anuk Arudpragasam who noted, … English is the language of aspiration and opportunity in Sri Lanka, as in many other former British colonies, and it is taught to those of us in Sri Lanka who have the privilege, even if our parents were educated in Tamil or Sinhalese. Very few people in South Asia are capable of writing and speaking in sophisticated English, but almost all South Asian writing disseminated internationally has been originally written in English, because it is financially and institutionally supported globally. in A SMALL WINDOW OF CONSCIOUSNESS

On listening to One Part Woman I could feel the authenticity of the book. Whether it was because it was originally written in the writer’s native language , or because of the Audible page-turning of the narrator, I’m unsure. Whichever it was, or perhaps it was both, I found it a gentle and pleasant read.

A Tamil Love Stoty

Translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudeva
Media: Audio
Read by: Suvash Mohan
Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize and beautifully narrated by Suvash Mohan, the short novel tells a tale of two young lovers, and like so many such love stories it can only end in tragedy.

Saroja and Kumaresan meet in Saroja’s town where Kuaresan works. After falling in love they marry and Kumaresan takes his bride to live in his tiny rural village where his the couple is immediately ostracized.

Despite Kumarestan’s protestations the villagers believe that Saraja is from a different caste. Everyone there is related to each other. Everyone is of the same caste. The hostility toward Sareja extends to Kumaresan. He has to leave her alone in their hut, when he leaves for work in the town where they met. We follow her life alone. She sees Kumaresan only at night and on a festival day, when the couple are shunned.

The book is delicately written and the reader is put into the village where Saraja waits alone. She has no human contact in the day but can hear the villagers deriding her as they talk to each other outside her hut.

Surprisingly this is not a difficult read. Despite the ostracism of the couple their love for each other shines through. Kumaresan is optimistic and naive. Saraja wants only to love.

I’m reminded Story of Anuk Arudpragasam ’s Story of a Brief Marriage, another poignant story of two young Tamil lovers. Gentle and delicate in the face of britality.

Part parable, part commentary, fully readable.

*Longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize*

4.5⭐️ rounded up.

As the story begins, we are introduced to Saroja and Kumaresan, a young newly married couple who have recently eloped and are traveling to Kumaresan’s native village in hopes of starting their new life together Kumaresan is aware that their inter-caste marriage will raise eyebrows and create a stir. He decides to keep the fact that Saroja does not belong to the same caste a secret until the fuss dies down and incorrectly assumes that in time things will settle down and Saroja will be accepted in his fold.

His mother Marayi , having raised her son alone after being widowed at a young age, is horrified at their arrival and does not mince her words in condemning their actions. Her anger is propelled not only by missing out on being able to choose a “suitable” daughter-in-law who would come with a dowry but also the fact that her family and fellow villagers would react adversely and her status in their community would be affected by her son's actions.

While Kumaresan goes about in an effort to set up his own business venture, Saroja spends her days a home forced to endure her mother- in- law's berating and taunts from relatives and neighbors. Alone in her thatched roof hut, she misses her family, and through flashbacks , we see how she met and fell in love with Kumaresan. The villagers eventually ex-communicate the family until the upcoming religious festivals are over. When the couple receives no support from Kumaresan’s relatives , he starts to break under the pressure of both economic uncertainty and being ostracized by his community. He starts drinking to numb his pain, compounding Saroja’s fears for their future. When Kumaresan finally finds a location for his business in location at a distance from their village, Saroja hopes that they could leave and settle down somewhere people would be more accepting of them as a couple. The situation with the mounting conflict and tension with the villagers eventually spins out of control and the climax leaves Saroja’s fate hanging in the balance.

Compelling and powerful, Perumal Murugan’s Pyre evokes strong emotions and paints a harsh picture of the dark side of human nature and the ill–effects of certain social beliefs and practices that promote hatred, discrimination and violence. Vivid descriptions of the harsh terrain and landscapes add to the atmosphere of the novel. While the descriptions of the rituals , customs and traditions of the region are beautifully penned throughout the narrative, the darker side of societal structure and practices in terms of discrimination and intolerance are also exposed as the story progresses. When Saroja and Kumaresan fall in love, they remain hopeful that their love can withstand all resistance and can bring about change in the way society perceives such relationships that defy age-old social norms. Their naïveté and misplaced hopefulness, mostly Kumaresan’s inability to comprehend the possible dangers they could face when the entire community and his family stands against them is in stark contrast to the animosity displayed by his family and fellow villagers. The beauty of Perumal Murugan’s Pyre (translated brilliantly by Aniruddhan Vasudevan) lies in the simplicity with which the thoughts and emotions of these characters are expressed.

This is not a happy or light read. Dealing with a sensitive social issue, it is harsh but rooted in reality. It remains unfortunate that even in today’s world, there are instances of unfiltered hatred, discrimination and violence based on the age-old caste system and family 'status'. This is my first Perumal Murugan novel and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

’மாதொருபாகன்’ முடிவில் இரு வெவ்வேறு கோணங்களை விரித்து ‘ஆலவாயன்’, ‘அர்த்தநாரி’ ஆகிய நாவல்களாக உருவாக்கியுள்ளார் பெருமாள்முருகன். இவை ஒரு நாவலின் அடுத்தடுத்த பாகங்கள் அல்ல. தம்மளவில் முழுமைபெற்றுத் தனித் தியங்குபவை. இரண்டும் ஒரே புள்ளியில் தொடங்கினாலும் வெவ்வேறு திசைகளில் பயணம் செய்யும் சாத்தியப்பாடுகளைக் கொண்டுள்ளன. பெண்மீது ஆண் கொள்ளும் உடைமை உணர்வின் காரணமாக ஏற்படும் உறவுச் சிக்கல்களைப் பேசுகிறது. ‘அர்த்தநாரி’ நிலமும் வாழ்வும் பிணைத்திருக்கும் சூழலும் அதனால் உருவாகும் விழுமியங்களும் மனித மனங்களை அலைக் கழிக்கும் விதத்தை நாவல் பற்றிச் செல்கிறது. சமுகம் ஏற்றுக் கொண்ட நடவடிக்கைதான் எனினும் அதன் பின்னியங்கும் எளனங்கள், புறக்கணிப்புகள், ஒவ்வாமைகள், கீழ்மைகள் ஆகியன ஏற்படுத்தும் சஞ்சலங்கல் ஆணுக்கு வேறாகவும் பெண்ணுக்கு வேறாகவும் இருக்கின்றன. அவர்ரை அவர்கள் தத்தமது வழிகளில் எதிர்கொள்கிறார்கல். மனிதத் தேவை அடிப்படை நிறைவேற்றத்தொடு முடிந்துவிடுவதல்ல. அதைக் கடந்து எங்கெல்லாமோ செல்லும் மன அமைப்புசெயல்படுகிறது. இதனை வட்டார மொழியின் அடர்த்தியான நடை கொண்டு இந்நாவல் விவரிக்கிறது.

ஒரு பிரச்சனையின் பல்வேறுகோணங்களை ஆராய்வதே படைப்பு என்பது இதற்கு முற்றிலும்மாகப் பொருந்தும். பெருமாள்முருகனின் ஏழாம் நாவல் இது

Love Doesn’t Conquer All
Review of the Black Cat/Grove Press paperback edition (February 2022) of the English translation first published by Penguin India (2016) translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan from the Tamil language original "பூக்குழி Pookuzhi" (2013).

Kumaresan had rehearsed his strategy several times in his head. He believed that everything would go according to plan; it had to. He had thought long, and hard about all possible contingencies and modified the plan accordingly. And though he was well aware that any scheme can unravel no matter how foolproof it might have seemed at first, a blind courage propelled him on.

Kumaresan has eloped with his new wife Saroji and brings her back to his home village from the larger town where he was working and where they met. Despite his supposed 'all contingencies' preparations, they are met with complete rejection by his mother (the father having died at a young age) and the rest of the community. The reason being that the community do not recognize her as part of their caste and are offended accordingly. This escalates into mockery, shunning and even physical attacks until the tragic conclusion (which is slightly telegraphed by the title, but not quite exactly as you might expect) It is not the sati or suttee ending which the title had led me to expect..

I had numerous problems with this book and the presentation of its translation which account for my low rating. This is an outlier opinion though, so you should look to the average 4 rating reviews for more positive reactions. My issues summarized as bullet points were:

- The translation reads very oddly in parts, the title itself seems wrong to start with (see Trivia below) but the entire book reads with the unreality of a fable. Constantly referring to the home as 'the rock' is another example of an odd context which is repeated constantly. The fable aspect extends to very standard archetypes, the evil 'mother-in-law', the innocent bride, the oblivious son, the herd bullying mentality of the relatives and the community. So people just don't feel 'real'.

- There doesn't appear to be any effort made to adapt this for the international market from the original 2016 translation as published by Penguin India. The glossary is completely inadequate and misses dozens of words which I tried to look up (many unsuccessfully). Several of those could be understood in context as a food, an item of clothing, a term of endearment, a family relationship, etc., but most were still frustrating to puzzle out, e.g. Tamil 'maama' is apparently 'uncle', and not an alternative for 'mother'.

- The whole issue of caste is not explained or given any context. You have to research that yourself if you are unfamiliar with it. The villagers condemn Saroji as 'not of our caste' and treat her as a so-called 'untouchable'. Untouchables are not a caste however and fall outside of it. Again, an Afterword or an expanded Translator's Note would have been helpful here, but nothing was provided.

I read Pyre due to it being longlisted for the 2023 International Booker Award. You can read further about the longlist of 13 books and the shortlist of 6 books here. The shortlist was announced on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 and Pyre was not included. The winning title will be announced on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

Soundtrack
A song from the film Graamathu Aathiyam (1980) (Tamil: A Village Chapter or A Village Episode) becomes the soundtrack to Saroja and Kumaresan’s courtship which is seen in a flashback, and it also helped to situate the time setting of the book in the early 1980s. The song was easy to find on YouTube and one of the comments (in Tamil) even provides the lyrics (which Kumaresan quotes). Listen at Aatthu Mettuley.
An extended video of songs and clips from the movie can be seen here, Aatthu Mettuley is the first song in that sequence.

Trivia and Links
I may be completely off-track here, but a google search for the original Tamil title பூக்குழி [Pookuzhi] leads to Wikipedia pages for a fire-walking ritual ceremony associated with a temple festival, such as here in English and here in Tamil. This is perhaps the festival that the village was preparing for when the council decided to exclude Saroja and Kumaresan? The title then seems to be something much more complex than just translating it as “Pyre”, which raised quite different connotations for me.

To read further about the caste system in India see the Wikipedia article here, or read this article here.

One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan is a book that made the author an object of controversy. The book is about a couple in rural Tamil Nadu in Independent India. Kali and Ponna have been married for twelve years but do not have children and this has made their otherwise blissful life, unbearable.
The story puts forward the kind of criticism and social discrimination the couple face together and as individuals in the society. It weaves together various stories about ancestors, Gods and even animals and manages to make the reading experience a beautiful one. The story shows how Kali and Ponna's relationship is affected by something that is considered essential in a marriage in our society. It has been successfully portrayed the family dynamics that was and still is predominantly seen in our country
Overall, a well written book. It is short but it does a good job in keeping you engaged and the storyline moves very well and includes a lot of important topics including social hierarchy, gender issues, caste and untouchability without deviating from the story.

Saroja and Kumaresan are young, naive and in love. And that usually spells problems - depending on when and where, the problems are different but the story is almost always the same. Except for the endings - sometimes it is a "happily even after", sometimes not so much. So how about a story set in rural Tamil Nadu in India in the early 1980s?

The text is not dated explicitly but we are told that Kumaresan was sorry that he was not a year younger - he had to leave school after 11 years and the 12th was introduced a year too late for him. That maps with the Indian school reforms of the late 70s and as that had happened a handful of years before the main story, it gives some idea of the timeframe. Other from that we know it is a somewhat modern tale because there are cars and radios that can show pictures and the British are nowhere to be seen but other from that, the tale can happen at almost any time - remove these parts and the story still works.

So what causes the problems for our young lovers? They belong to different castes. Saroja grew up in a town - taking care of her brother and father, spending her days in their one-room house (when not delivering them lunch), waiting to be married. Kumaresan grew up in a village in the Tamil Nadu where people are dirt poor and stick to the old ways. They meet when Kumaresan moves to the town so he can make some money and while learning how to make and sell soda, he convinces himself that he can marry Saroja and his mother and village will accept her. So they elope and return to the village, where things do not go exactly as any of them expected. And things are not helped by his decision to hide the difference in caste and to insist that they are the same caste - despite the difference in their skin tones and the fact that this is easy to check.

I am not sure if Kumaresan was just too optimistic and naive or if he was so used to being accepted and loved that it never crossed his mind that his mother, family and village may not accept his choice. Even when the initial reaction shows that he underestimated their reaction, he still does not realize just how badly things can turn out - refusing to return to the town with his new bride, going on with his life as if people would just forget and forgive and let him be.

Most of the story is told from Saroja's side - with us seeing her thoughts and memories. In these memories we see the two of them falling in love and courting but in her reality we see her dealing with a mother-in-law who thinks she is a witch (and worse) and a village which is not ready to accept her. She cannot even understand them half of the time - their Tamil is different from hers and the local dialect sounds almost like a different language (we also see Kumaresan struggling with that in the town and yet, when he brings her home, he never thinks for a second that this may be a problem). Kumaresan is mostly oblivious to Saroja's suffering - but then we have some hints that his mother behaves a bit better when he is around - Saroja wants her mother-in-law to explode in front of him so he can see what she lives through. The shock of living in an isolated hut in the middle of nowhere when she is used to the modern world does not help things much either. But she tries to hide even from herself how much this marriage had been a mistake - she is still in love, she still hopes that their love will be enough but she is losing her naivete and she is starting to realize that she cannot live there and that they need to find another way.

The end was almost expected. The author chose not to show us the very end - it is implied but there is enough of ambiguity to allow for a different interpretation. I usually dislike open endings but this one works (and depends on how you want to read it, it may not even be an open one - the implication is strong enough to count as a fact if one so chooses).

We are never told which caste is the higher one. Indian readers possibly would know that but even if you don't, it is never a question of grades - they are different so that's all that matters. Kumaresan's refusal to accept the reality and understand his mother's viewpoint drives the story towards its end. And right there, in the crossfire between tradition and love, between stubbornness and pride, is sitting Saroja - the naive young bride who just wants to be happy.

It is an interesting story of a place I don't know much about. I knew it won't be a happy story when I started reading it but I did not expect it to be as sad as it turned out to be. But I could not stop reading - the story, as predictable as it can be, has enough local color to make it worth reading. The author's choice of non-linear story (we get a lot of the action in memories from a year or a day ago) makes the narrative a bit jumpy and while it works in some places, it feels like an interruption in others (almost like an ad in the middle of a movie - you want it to end so you can get back to the story). Despite that, I was never sorry I picked up the book.

PS: A note on the cover - maybe whoever designs covers need to read the books they are designing the covers for. The bicycle is indeed important for the story but she never sits in front of him... so maybe when looking for an image of a couple on a bicycle, someone should have noticed that...

Kumaresan and Saroja meet in town, where she has lived for as long as she can remember. He has come from a village to learn the soda trade--bottling, cleaning the bottles, delivering. She keep house for her father and brother, who both work in a leather factory (is that the same as a tannery?). They flirt, fall in love, and run away to marry. Kumaresan takes her home to his village and mother. Where they are ostracized for marrying between castes.

Murugan never tells who is the higher caste, he just gives clues. Saroja is pale and stays at home keeping house for her family (her mother is deceased), who work in the leather factory. Kumaresan grew up with his widowed mother, in their village where they keep goats and chickens. He has been doted on by his uncles. I imagine Indian readers know who is higher caste, and perhaps how much higher.

Well written, the flirting and love is quite sweet. I enjoyed the book and was left wondering--how did these two not understand how their marriage would be seen? Saroja is used to being in a mixed-caste neighborhood, but might be a bit naive. But what was Kumaresan thinking? His mother admits to spoiling him, did she not teach him? Did his uncles' lackadaisical approach to finding him a wife leave him thinking they did not care? The misunderstandings and misinterpretation are everywhere, yet not discussed by all involved.

I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book perfectly epitomizes my village and customs. I remained perennially nostalgic through the read. I believe more and more works like these must be translated into English from Tamil, as it serves as an excellent peek-through into Tamil culture and customs.

I have no idea why I requested this book from the library; apparently I read some glowing review. It is just that: the story of a very small black female goat given in a poor man by a giant. The goat is named Poonachi and is cared for by the man's wife. She is always small, grows some, gets in heat, has seven kids, falls in love, has more kids, dies. I guess it's some fable for life but truly totally escaped me.

I originally gave this a lower rating because it left me with a strong sense of futility. I decided that was killing the messenger.

An impoverished couple is given a doe goat, the runt of a litter of seven, whom they name Poonachi, and with great effort keep alive. The area where they live is in the midst of a multi-year drought, and conditions deteriorate from year to year. Poonachi the goat is one of the point-of-view characters. There were times when I felt I had learned more than enough about goats. Poonachi is a black goat, which have been rather rare -- the government is suspected of exterminating them. I assume that this is an allusion to the pressures that indigenous and minority population are under. The author himself has been attacked, physically and verbally, by right-way castes and Hindu nationalists.

The villagers, and sometimes Poonachi are harassed by petty, arrogant and touchy, government officials.
some of the villagers console themselves by arguing that the government must have some good reason for treating them so badly -- that one day this endurance will come in handy. Poonachi dislikes the sheep, who are docile and walk with their faces down, whereas goats hold their heads up and struggle to be free of their tetherings.

On the couple's trips to their daughter's house, Poonachi has a taste of freedom, which she both fears and rejoices in, and falls in love. Alas, the ram belongs to the daughter, and they are separated.

One analysis I saw blamed the couple for Poonachi's sufferings, which in most cases is unfair, except that some decisions are made because the people consider the goats to be more expendable than themselves. I leave the reader to decide how they feel about that; the couple is too poor to keep pets. At the same time, couple go to great efforts to feed the infant goat and are fond of her. Their own poverty forces them to make decisions they don't want to -- when Poonachi, like her mother, produces seven kids at once, and what might seem like a blessing of fertility is instead a problem. She cannot feed all the kids, and neither can the couple, especially in the deteriorating climate conditions. They are sold when a stranger offers to buy them all. He also wants Poonachi, and perhaps it would have been kinder to sell her to him, but the couple are unwilling to part with her They sell fewer of her next litter, but as things get worse, it becomes harder and harder to manage.

No, there is not a miraculous happy ending.½

I took up this book mainly because of the controversy surrounding it, and because I liked its synopsis.

I liked the characters a lot; their struggles seemed all too real. Their rustic life captured my attention. The author has a way with words, especially the sensual scenes.
The way they (the protagonists) longed for a child, and did every single thing in their power to please the upset deities (though, all in vain) was kind of heartbreaking.
The society they lived in too wasn't really one to let them live in peace; they always had to interfere and say something about their personal matters. They taunted, spread rumors and whatnot.

The one scene about the dispute regarding Uncle Nallupayyan's inheritance was absolutely hilarious and I LOL'd hard.
Also, the scene where the grandfather tricks everyone into believing that he had thrown the rock across the lake was extremely cunning and amusing. But blaming that incident for them not having a child was lunacy.

Reading about the controversy I feel really bad for the author. I'm all for the freedom of expression, and this has been a blatant violation of it IMO. Read the following excerpt taken form the Wikipedia page of the novel:

In January 2015, Perumal Murugan, 48, has a post which reads like a suicide note. It is by P Murugan on behalf of Perumal Murugan. “Author Perumal Murugan is dead. He is no God. Hence, he will not resurrect. Hereafter, only P Murugan, a teacher, will live,” it reads. The note thanks everyone who supported the author and upheld the freedom of expression, and announces the withdrawal of all his novels, short stories and poems. It calls on his publishers not to sell his books and promises to compensate their losses. The readers have been advised to burn their copies of his books. The note ends with an appeal to caste, religious, political and other groups to end their protests and leave the writer alone since he has withdrawn all his books

*WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!*

One of the major reasons why this book didn't score well for me was its ending. I mean really, you're gonna leave me hanging like that? It's s**t like that that kills it for me.

This was a cute idea, and in the beginning I really enjoyed it, but it got less and less believable as the book went on. The goat's inner thoughts just didn't work for me. Even such a short book was hard to finish.½

This novel of unresolved tensions due to societal pressures to produce children is an eye-opening look at rural life during the colonial period in Tamil Nadu, southern India. In a culture where the need for a successor generation is so critical that a lack of pregnancy in the first month of marriage is cause for consternation, a loving couple, farmers Kali and Ponna, are on the verge of having their happy marriage torn apart by infertility. Kali’s refusal to take a second wife, and their tenderness and care of each other, are brilliantly portrayed. The climax of the tale is Ponna’s attendance at an annual religious celebration offering the chance for barren women to become pregnant by other men outside of marriage. Although the novel ends before Ponna makes a life-altering decision on the last night of the chariot festival, the bonds of caste and family loyalty are seemingly stretched beyond repair.

The lack of access to medical assistance to resolve the issue (not knowing if the technology was even available at the time), and at what might have been an insurmountable financial cost, is surprising and tragic to a modern reader. To ponder also: is the lack of a child still seen as ruination in a rural society where many hands are required for sustenance, or has technology has reduced the hardship?

This book, which had been published years earlier, came to the attention of right wing religious circles when the conservative Modi administration came to power. As a result of the descriptions of the licentious actions of men and women in the novel, and the negative view of the half-male, half-female god celebrated at the festival, the author was forced to denounce his own work and stop writing, due to threats of violence by religious extremists. For a time, he became a Salman Rushdie in his own state. Later, courts ruled that Murugan was free to write on whatever topic he chose, and he rejoined the literary world.

The story opens with young lovers Saroja and Kumaresan making their way to the latter's village, somewhere in the western region of Tamil Nadu, India. They belong to different castes, and their hasty marriage is a decision that goes against everything the people around them believe in.

Early on, the reader can feel Saroja's sense of displacement very strongly. Having left her hometown and her family, she is now transplanted to a village she has never been to, she knows nothing of, and to which her only connection is through her new husband. Her predicament, however, is only visible to the reader and her.

Kumaresan, although nervous, expects the problems that may arise from their caste differences to dissipate quietly. He tells Saroja as much, when she keeps imploring him to find answers that might reason with the villagers' prying questions.

Their sweet bubble of calm is burst soon, however. They're excommunicated and ostracised, their access to the local well is cut off, their relations with their family members sour, and life becomes difficult. What follows is a difficult read, as the reader witnesses how caste differences poison the lives of Saroja and Kumaresan.

Pyre is set in the 1980s in a remote Indian town, but the story rings true even today. It is a tale of blinding hatred spurred on by communal differences. Perumal Murugan captures the claustrophobic atmosphere the lovers live in rather well. The book was originally written in Tamil, and there are parts of the book where the loss of vernacular nuances, as it often happens with works of translation, are felt greatly. But Aniruddhan Vasudevan has managed to reproduce the original work in English with as much integrity and as little compromise as possible. The book leaves you with a deep sense of dread and anguish.