What do you think?
Rate this book
My Story
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.
“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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2026
This book is Kamala Das telling you all the real, messy parts of her life without hiding anything in this autobiography.
She describes her life events from childhood to adulthood, showing how she managed to survive in a hypocritical, biased, and deeply patriarchal society, where men were often dominant, dangerous, and overly cocky.
So, it is important to know that some parts may feel shocking or uncomfortable, because she talks about things people usually don’t talk about. But if you look at it simply, it’s about a person trying to understand herself and find love in a world that kept telling her how she should behave.
It tells you how Kamala Das felt as a child who didn’t always get the love she wanted, and how that feeling stayed with her as she grew up. She got married very young to a man who did not treat her well, and she often felt lonely, severely abused and confused. So, she kept looking for love and care in different places, because deep down she just wanted to feel important to someone.
She makes a lot of choices that people may not agree with, and sometimes even I felt like why is she doing this. But that’s kind of the point, she’s being very real about her feelings, even when they are not perfect.
The book talks about things like love, sadness, identity, and the desire for freedom, but in a very personal and emotional way.
Kamala Das was one of the earlier voices who broke barriers by speaking openly about a woman’s emotions and desires.
I came across her reference in Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, where she mentions Kamala Das as a fearless woman who told her truth, even if people didn’t like it and that made me want to read this book.
Bold, honest, raw!
She describes her life events from childhood to adulthood, showing how she managed to survive in a hypocritical, biased, and deeply patriarchal society, where men were often dominant, dangerous, and overly cocky.
So, it is important to know that some parts may feel shocking or uncomfortable, because she talks about things people usually don’t talk about. But if you look at it simply, it’s about a person trying to understand herself and find love in a world that kept telling her how she should behave.
It tells you how Kamala Das felt as a child who didn’t always get the love she wanted, and how that feeling stayed with her as she grew up. She got married very young to a man who did not treat her well, and she often felt lonely, severely abused and confused. So, she kept looking for love and care in different places, because deep down she just wanted to feel important to someone.
She makes a lot of choices that people may not agree with, and sometimes even I felt like why is she doing this. But that’s kind of the point, she’s being very real about her feelings, even when they are not perfect.
The book talks about things like love, sadness, identity, and the desire for freedom, but in a very personal and emotional way.
Kamala Das was one of the earlier voices who broke barriers by speaking openly about a woman’s emotions and desires.
I came across her reference in Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, where she mentions Kamala Das as a fearless woman who told her truth, even if people didn’t like it and that made me want to read this book.
Bold, honest, raw!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2025
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.
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.
June 11, 2025
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.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews