The Painter of Signs

by R.K. Narayan, Monica Ali (Introduction)

For Raman the sign painter, life is a familiar and satisfying routine. A man of simple, rational ways, he lives with his pious aunt and prides himself on his creative work. But all that changes when he meets Daisy, a thrillingly independent young woman who wishes to bring birth control to the area. Hired to create signs for her clinics, Raman finds himself smitten by a love he cannot understand, much less avoid-and soon realizes that life isn't so routine anymore. Set in R. K. Narayan's fictional city of Malgudi, The Painter of Signs is a wry, bittersweet treasure.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Genres: Fiction, India, Classics, Indian Literature, Novels, Asia, Literary Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

R. K. Narayan is among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists who wrote in English.

R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.

Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.

-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one will cheer you up. It's not especially funny, but it's like going where the weather suits your clothes and meeting people that you like when you're there. I read three by R K Narayan and I had to stop, they were all so nice, all really charming and all as light as a summer breeze with hummingbirds stuck in it. I bet every one of R K Narayan's many books are just as good.

You can't spend all your time reading good nice pretty novels though. You have to read some horrible ones too.

[Mahima · Rating 1 out of 5]

R.K. Narayan is a good writer, I admit. I quite liked his Swami and Friends. But here's the thing. What he writes, though in beautiful words, is very simplistic. In the case of Swami and Friends that was fine because simplistic writing worked with its subject matter. But this book - its idea and concept was superb, so much so that it could've been a brilliant book had the idea been executed properly - but, really, this book required much more depth. As simplistic as it was, the idea behind it completely lost ground. It really lacked substance.

More than that, as far as the characters are concerned, Raman is a dick. That's all. He's a big stupid jerk. He's obsessed with somehow making Daisy dependent on him. Daisy is definitely an empowered woman and that's something the jerk cannot handle. He wants to be a modern man and wants the world around him to change its ways but he himself, especially when it comes to women, is not. He's deeply misogynistic. Also while Daisy is an empowered woman to us she is not exactly presented in a positive light as it is through Raman's eyes that we see her.

The only thing I liked about the book was that Daisy, resolute in what she wanted and completely sure of herself, didn't stay with Raman. But that's not nearly enough to make this a good book. Besides, it didn't feel like this book was presenting a critique of the condition of Indian women even though that might have been the author's intention. I don't know if (and how) people see it as a critique; I just couldn't.

So, yes, I really did not like this book. I'll find it hard to pick up R.K. Narayan again, but maybe he's at his best when the characters are kids? I don't know, and I'm not sure I'm willing to find out.

[Gorab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raman, a signboard painter, is living a simple life staying with his pious Aunt. He wishes to be chastise and staying a brahmachari all his life... and here comes Daisy!
Daisy, an ardent social worker for birth control and family planning, gets some signboards done by Raman
...and Raman goes head over heels for her. Now while Daisy leaves no stones upturned to convince and educate people on family planning, ironically Raman keeps daydreaming of his own "family planning" with Daisy!
Branded with RKN's simplicity all over, this is one of the strongest female characters by him.

[Sumit Singla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in RK Narayan's much-acclaimed fictional town of Malgudi, The Painter of Signs is a relatively short book with relatively few characters. Raman, the main protagonist is a relatively erudite signboard painter, who takes a lot of pride in his work. He leads a quiet, reasonably humdrum existence till he meets the mysterious Daisy - a campaigner committed to reducing the population growth rate through sheer force of will.

In terms of plot, there isn't much to the story but the interplay of human emotions is brilliantly narrated. Narayan captures the mindset of a small-towner so well, without making Raman sound like a simpleton or a country bumpkin. He deals with complicated subjects (in a conservative country like India in the 1970s) with aplomb - talking about sexual liberation and suppression, birth control, and staying together out of wedlock.

There is quirky humour as well, which may not make you laugh out loud, but is good enough to make you smile and shake your head at the antics of Narayan's extremely relatable characters.

Not in the same league as his best works, but still worthy of a 3.5ish star rating.

[Vikas Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel deals with the population situation of the country. On a different level, the novel is about a woman's own aspirations and ideals and her conflict with the stereotyped woman and her role in the society. The novel actually extends into a short story RK later wrote where we come to know that to her horror Daisy had got pregnant, which was perhaps the trigger for her to run away from the marriage. Good read.

[Fiza Pathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.K.Narayan surprised me with this novel. Set during the period when the Family Control propagation came into focus, this novel can shock a person as well as realize the depth of the Indian soul. Narayan in this novel tries to go with the times & is very bold in his writing. Infact, the novel involves many themes of the 1970's Indian scenario like birth control, Bollywood, dare devil women etc. Narayan also breaks his initial way of presenting his characters & uses a new technique which is refreshing. The tongue in cheek way in which Narayan analyses the 'birth control' issue is hilarious.

The author has broken down a way of thinking for us, which we have to comprehend as citizens of a nation with a lot of population related issues, as well as a nation which is steeped in what one would call skepticism against modern science. Also, through the eyes of the author, one realises how serious the problem of population explosion was (& is). the drastic & almost weird attempts to rid the masses of the 'evil' of producing more children is taken up very well by the author. He may have gone into more uncomfortable details if it were not for the fact that he was writing a novel in an India which was not yet all that fine with bold literature, though, foreign readers accepted him well. The zeal of the government workers to sterilize the whole of India may seems funny in the novel.....but the dangerous side of the way things turned out is also underlined subtly here in the story via the character of Daisy, the love of Raman who is the actual 'painter of signs'....especially the painter of the popular Family Planning Sign, the red triangle.....we two, our two !

Raman is shown as a person rooted in sexuality & intense passion, quite opposite to his lady love whose only aim in life seems to be, the sterilization of the Indian population. the author even ventures to state the various methods involved in this process, especially forced vasectomy which became very popular during that period of time. The author seems rather preoccupied with this part of Indian history as I've read about a similar story related to forced sterilization in the book 'Malgudi Days'. The author even discloses certain delicate topics in this novel which is quite commendable.

Sexuality is a main ingredient in this modern Narayan book which is presented in a very humorous way, without any hint of hesitation. The comic sexual drive of Raman for Daisy in part 2 of the novel is very comic....a novelty of the 'Grand Old Man Of Malgudi'.

In all, the book is a great read & enjoyable to the core.

[Sonali Dabade · Rating 2 out of 5]

R.K. Narayan is so well-loved in the Indian literary scene that once upon a time, I used to be really excited to read his books. When I read 'Malgudi Days', I was actually really bowled over and thought, “Okay, wow, what writing! So simple and beautiful!” I was even further excited to read 'The Painter of Signs', a book I bought a couple of years ago and got to reading only now.

But now that I’ve read 'The Painter of Signs', I really, really don’t like it.

My apprehension began slightly, somewhere at the halfway point but it turned into a completely chaotic one as I ended the book. I thought that maybe I was the only one having thoughts like this. And I needed to check if there were other people like me. So I went to Goodreads and scrolled through the reviews. Imagine my relief when I saw that there are quite a few people who share my thoughts. Yeah, it’s not something to be actually relieved about but you know, the want for a sense of belonging does make you feel things at times.

The problem I had with this book was its protagonists, both being characters that I absolutely disliked. My God, both are so annoying that I cringed through the latter half of the book.

Raman is a huge, selfish prick, thinking that the world exists for his service. He thinks himself above everyone else and tries to act aloof when things don’t happen according to his liking. But also, he acts like a puppy around Daisy – a puppy who is cowed and doesn’t have opinions of his own. Not to say he doesn’t demand things of her. He becomes so desperate at times that I just wanted to jump into the pages and knock some sense into his thick head.

Daisy, on the other hand, is a strong, independent woman and I admire what she does to a certain extent. But I have almost as many problems with her as I have with Raman. She puts people down, plays around with their feelings, thinks that one talk by her and people should accept what she says and move on, and in the end, she’s all ‘I, me, myself.’ Given, the cause she works for is good but you can’t have a myopic view of the world that you cannot see anyone else. She strings Raman along, maybe because she wanted to figure things out. But in the end, she is so blasé about it and gets completely irritated. So basically she’s selfish too.

So maybe Raman and Daisy were made for each other. Doesn’t mean the story appealed to me though. So much could have been done with it, but all it did was disappoint me. I wish it had been written differently.:(

[Ashley Bell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Narayan,
You can call it 'insistent passion' all you like on the blurb, attempted rape is attempted rape, no matter what delusions of romance the attacker has.
Yours, Society.

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was (to my way of thinking) an enjoyable read without being extremely deep or iconoclastic. Whether it portrays India to some extent as it is (or certain parts of it), I do not know, but I shall be interested to read other Indian writers to see their slant on their country and society. If I had to describe the author's tone and style. I would say it is endearing!!

[Eve Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short tale started out as an interesting journey to a world I know just a tiny bit about and wanted to learn more. The main character was initially uninteresting but turned out to be highly relatable to me! I see I read this at a time where I need some kind of guidance and thus felt that what Raman went through, felt, thought and how he reacted were all very understandable. I know that if I had read this under other circumstances this book wouldn't have gotten such a high rating since I guess it's a little bit mild, doesn't go deep enough and there isn't enough action. But at this moment in time I feel I scratched the surface and a whole heap of stuff flew at my face.
Which is great.

"Minä koen maailman tyhjyyden kun sinä olet poissa"

"--seurallinen puhe oli merkityksetöntä lavertelua, joka jotenkin lohdutti ihmiskuntaa yhteyden tunteella."

"teko joka jotenkin tuotti hänelle suurta tyydytystä, kun hän vihdoin toteutti omaa tahtoaan."

[Rajat TWIT · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light read having the quintessential RK Narayan fiction, The painter of Signs is a story of Raman who treats himself as an artist and is a well read man of past thirty age. He is a rational person who wants to establish a society of logic and hence treats religious superstitions with disdain. He lives with her Aunt who has taken care of him since his Parents died and never realizes her importance in his life, till she leaves him in the penultimate stage of the story. Raman is a guy satisfied with his work and life, exploring his possibilities.
Enter Ms Daisy, a sublime figure of modern lady who is both bold and mysterious. No wonder she catches the fancy of Daisy and gets hooked to her work of Birth Control, travelling with her in the hinterlands. He gets attracted to her and explores her past, which she shares with him only after a lot of efforts put up by Raman. They take some decisions further making the story take new turns and it better should be read by readers. Though one has to mention the ending of the story which is a powerful statement which some of readers may find ambiguous. All in all, this novel provides a good insight of young yet over-aged guy who finds a bold and intellectual female attractive, ignoring all other aspects and then suddenly finding themselves in strange and awkward situation.
Go for it if you are a Narayan fans. Others may give it a skip, though considering its length it won't hurt to read it by non-Naarayan fans too.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was really lacking in substance. Maybe I'm not bright enough to find the substance and it was an easy enough read, but I got done with it and just thought, "Well, nothing happened in that story." The other thing I thought was that the main character was really a jerk. And not Steve Martin jerk, but really just a self-centered jerk.

There was hardly any character development, so I didn't feel like I understood any of the characters. The book was mildly funny at times, like many other reviewers on goodreads have mentioned but that alone wasn't enough for me. I don't think I'll be picking up another of Narayan's writings any time soon.

[Prashant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is another delight by Narayan. It dwells on the strong emotions and the intricacies of the human mind.

I have been trying to pin point the reason I love Narayan's writings and just the simplicity and understanding of the mango people is enough to make him one the best Indian writers.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtle and charming love story set against the context of the Indian population control campaign of the 1970s. Raman is the Painter of Signs, a perfectionist who struggles to get payment for his work, living with his elderly devout aunt. When he meets the independent Daisy who is dedicated to bringing birth control to the villages, Raman’s world begins to change and not in the way he expects.

The real strength of this book lies in the characters Narayan creates - not only Raman and Daisy who are complex, flawed and convincing, but Raman’s aunt, the teacher in the remote village, the flirtatious bangle-seller, the elderly driver of the bullock cart. All these come alive and create a world that pulls the reader in.

There is a definitely a satirical tone to the novel as it examines the coming of modernity, with the clash between new political ideas and old religious and cultural traditions. However, this is done subtly and sympathetically so the overall effect is bittersweet, a mix of amusing and melancholy. I love Narayan’s understated writing and the vivid pictures he paints.

[Kanarese · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.K. Narayan's "Printer of Signs," though different, retains his charming touch. It follows Raman, a meticulous sign painter, who falls for Daisy, a passionate activist. Their initial business encounter blossoms into love during a population control campaign in villages. Marriage looms, but Daisy vanishes. The story, with its ups and downs, feels like a unique diary, offering a different yet enjoyable Narayan experience.

[Medha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. It was difficult to read because of its disturbing portrayal of the extremely misogynistic main character. But this was also effectively countered by the female character's ruthlessness and independence. The author never overtly passes any judgement but I suppose the moral ambiguity is what makes the book interesting (but also painful). He paints an unbiased picture of Indian society in the 1970s and allows us to glimpse into the lives of two complex characters. As we observe the clash between their opposing ideologies, and the eventual outcome, he leaves the task of interpreting the message of the story to us. Although it takes some effort to read this book without judgement, it can be quite thought provoking.

[arline · Rating 4 out of 5]

“One cannot forever flourish and fatten in a father’s house, especially one born a woman.”

[Nithesh S · Rating 4 out of 5]

One expects Indian writers' books to always end on a positive and happy note. In fact , I expected RK Narayan to keep up to that cliche. But he surprises me with this book.

As I always say, RK is someone who brings out the struggle between modernity and traditions during his time. In this book he speaks about feminism and birth control . He creates two powerful feminine characters who shatter a man's life in two different ways. In a predominantly man's world, where Raman takes his aunt for granted and feels that his lover has an obligation to his emotional well being.
Both defy him strongly.

But one could also feel pity for the character since he is not guilty of any crimes. His sense of entitlement is derived from his possessive attitude and the social norms of his time ( and of course our times as well) . A brilliant and humorous work of fiction indeed.

[Revathy Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time reading an R.K Narayan novel and I loved it. Raman seems so uptight but he ends up groveling at Daisy's feet. Some situations were so cringe-worthy and some outright hilarious (the scene at the police station)

Daisy was so straight laced and at times, I felt she was insane in the way she talked to people regarding birth control and vasectomy. And Raman's subtexts were hilarious too. But it also shows how India was at that time - stuck between REASON and SUPERSTITION where the latter generally won over the former. The best example being the 'wise man in the forest'.

On the whole, an easy read that delights and frustrates you in turns.

[Jaseena AL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating : 3.8 stars

[sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

a guy thinks he's a perfect modern intellectual until he meets a woman that makes him self-reflect on the reality of his own ideas only to realize he's kind of a dumbass, you love to see it

[Sumithra Krishnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The painter of signs has two complicated and perhaps least likeable RK Narayan protagonists. We have two flawed characters who meet by chance, spend time with each other, maybe fall in love, and just move away. While we get a running commentary on what Raman thinks all the time, Daisy remains a mystery. We get to see her only through Raman's eyes. Raman is portrayed as someone from a small town who thinks their universe is all that there is. He is important because he perceives himself so, not because he actually is. It was quite hard to feel any emotions attached to the relationship or its subsequent dismissal. Maybe because Raman himself is quite happy that this particular phase of his life is over. The story is more of a study about two characters rather than their relationship itself.

[Pranathi Charasala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not be fooled— this is not a love story. But for the right reasons. Sometimes we can’t change the people we love and sometimes we do. What is real is that we know love in so many ways and in so many people and places. Narayan was a genius (rip king) and I wish more men thought like him.

[Ravina P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raman, saw a dream and it ended.

[Sam B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, refreshing, and slightly bittersweet. Narayan writes with a simple, but evocative style, and the complexities and flaws of his characters immediately come through with us peering into Raman’s mind. Raman is a bit despicable in his naïveté and ego, simultaneously humanizing him. He’s the prototypical chauvinist, steeped in entitlement and limerance, and it comes through in the way the world responds to him. I might read more RK Narayan.

[Darragh Mulryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt seen

[EnVy17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple well narrated story with an unusual or unexpected ending.

[Pallavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gem from RK Narayan based in Malgudi about the love story of Raman a principled painter of signs whose love for an overzealous population control worker Daisy which is doomed from the very beginning. An extremely modern story for it’s time , exploring Raman personality who is a very grounded and principled man until he gets so smitten in love that he starts behaving totally out of character and in the end loses everything that he has in his life including his aunt who has been devoted to him since he was a baby . RK Narayans insights into human behavior is both , humorous and tragic .

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite writers. I don't know what there is about Narayan but he's the author I feel most friendly towards. It's almost as if he is such a tangible presence in all his novels that it seems he is sitting in the same room and telling you the story directly. I do have to say that I think his novels became weaker as time went on, and there are some slapdash passages in this novel (as there were in Talkative Man, another late novel) but these are easy to forgive. This is a lovely and poignant story about two individuals who are on different life-paths who nonetheless meet and become deeply involved with each other.

[Mradul Dubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This book bites the unsuspecting reader

This book is awesome. Not as a drama or tragedy or even as an outright comedy. This book is the one of the most subtle books I have ever read, in the way it evokes emotions. In the initial part of the book, I identified with the lead character and his rationale and later I was sucked into his emotional state and as the plot approached climax I was as dumbfounded, vexed and perplexed as the lead character himself and I finished the book with an impulsive reaction of throwing it away. It was only later I realized that the lead character too had a similar reaction in the end. This is how awesome this subtle book is.

The style
- RK writes in the most Indian style possible: with simplistic sentence structures juxtaposed with
heavy words here and there that would cause most native speakers to feign. Reading this book made me feel like listening to a narration by some paternal figure.

The Plot
This books tell the story of a rational boy whose rationality aligns with the reader int the starting and the story keeps rolling and then, with a few turn of events the character is cajoled amidst impossible circumstance, unable to make any sense of how did those happen much like the reader. The phrase "painter of signs" will mildly irritate you forever after reading this book. And obviously the book would be more relatable to Indians than to others.
It was claimed on some corner of goodreads that his simplistic narration lacks punch for the matter written. Well, that is not entirely true. The book is written in a light-hearted manner and not a tragedy or a drama. There were ample spots where the writing evokes laughter. Similarly, the book will irritate you when it wishes to do so. You might not think so, but RK is always in control and he will get the intended response out of the reader without the reader noticing.

Conclusion
If you are looking for a tragedy or drama look for another book. Though, if you are looking for a light-hearted, mildly-funny, Indian fiction short read, I couldn't recommend it enough.