My Story

by Kamala Das

Acclaimed as one of the ten best books of 1976. The most sensuous life story ever written. Refreshingly candid. Poignant… and delightfully provocative.
“Every middle-class bed is a cross on which the woman is crucified.. Men fall in lust, not love. Women crash in real self-destroying love”. Author of over 30 novels in Malayalam and 3 books of poems in English, Kamala Das has blazed a new trail of emancipation for Indian women. My Story combines her love for truth with candour and poignancy.

231 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Ishita Bagchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book became a sensation in erstwhile conservative Malayali society for its rather sensational and honest recounts of feminist desires, a woman’s struggles, and deep-seated wishes. Even though the book did receive some backlash, it also found some ardent followers and fans, largely comprising women who too were tired of the patriarchal oppression and the never-ending cycle of sexism and gendered discrimination.

While this might seem like a story of the past, let me remind you all of the current realities which look bleak for women sadly with the global order walking backward when it comes to women’s rights (re: Global gag order, Taliban’s attack on women, and the list goes on). It is important to visit such feminist literary pieces, now more than ever.

I read this book for the first time last year while I was on a work trip. I kept revisiting the book again and again since then multiple times largely because of how honest the writing is.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book found me on my birthday two years ago. one amongst thousands of used books stacked floor to ceiling and lazily guarded by two cats. crumbling at the spine, a gift from its prior owner tucked within. a faded immigration ticket with an address just a few streets from my own. a simple serendipity that assures that her rich recollections of the yellow moons and the summer rains, her poetry and confessions and innermost musings, were all written to stand in solidarity with mine.