The Village Before Time

by V.K. Madhavan Kutty

Autobiographical.

Genres: Fiction

180 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, translated from the Malayalam, is somewhere between an ethnography of a village near Palghat in the Southwest Indian state of Kerala and an autobiographical novel set in what appears to be the ten years or so before Indian independance. The tone is a mixture redolent of R.K.Narayan's Swami and his Friends and Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford. It's charming, and informative. Unfortunately, a comparatively detailed knowledge of Indian mythology and the matrilineal nature of Nayar kinship and social structure is necessary to even start to understand many of the references. In addition, the Malayalam words for many artifacts are used, rendering descriptions of realia difficult. Nevertheless, I recommend it to anyone interested in India. It was a pleasure to read.

[Parvathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fictionalised memoir, if there is such a thing. Set in the first half of the twentieth century in a nair tharavadu, Madhavan Kutty brings alive the unique cultural milieu of the time. The casteism and patriarchy (in a supposedly matriarchal system) is horrific. The arrival of democracy and the rise of communism in the state serves to destroy the feudal nature of the tharavadu, dragging it, kicking and screaming, into modern times. But there is no paradise at the end of it, just a transfer of power to a different set of people. It will be a difficult book for a non-Malayali - the cultural references are too specific and unexplained. But if you can plough through it, it’s a great portrait of a vanished world.

[Aswin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay there are two things that made me want to read this one, the reference of early village era set in palakkad and the review at the back of the cover of this book by O.V. Vijayan. 20 pages into the book I felt the lack of imagination in writing and there are literally a truck load of characters which are introduced with just their name or very little description that half way through the book I lost track of who is who. Unless you are a part of the life experienced by the writer one finds it difficult to paint a picture in mind while reading this. The writing feels more of like diary entries than of a novel.

[Shaj Hameed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smooth translation. Short chapters that narrate interesting stories about a village, its people and its transformation. Has a lot of details on the life of the Nair community in the pre-independence period as well as the period immediately after India's independence when the Communist movement strengthened in Kerala. Overall, very good read.

[Ammu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sad to give this such a low rating, something must have been lost in translation as this was extremely hard to follow. Way too many characters and a disjointed storyline. Disappointing. Perhaps the original was better because I can't understand why one would bother to translate something so hard to follow.

[Venkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice little stories. good for short travels.

[Vinny · Rating 1 out of 5]

yawn fest