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Resolve by Perumal Murugan

A poignant novel by the celebrated Tamil writer of One Part Woman and more

The beauty of Perumal Murugan’s prose lies in his eye for the ordinary. It is through vignettes of simple rural life in Tamil Nadu that he addresses the complex issues of our times. Widely acclaimed for his nuanced portrayal of the agony of a childless couple in One Part Woman or his scathing political commentary through a little black goat in Poonachi, Murugan tackles the thorny issue of gender discrimination and female foeticide in Resolve. 

Marimuthu, a 35-year-old landed farmer with a little education and a decent income, is desperate to get married. But there are simply no women left for him! Years of sex-selective abortions and infanticide have led to this day. Given the high status of boys in Indian society, it is but fitting a twist of fate that now it is the girls who are calling the shots. With just a handful of girls for scores of young men, girls’ families are spoilt for choice, and think nothing of calling off an alliance over something as trivial as buttermilk. The girls themselves have many demands — they want a well-dressed man, a man with a motorcycle, a television, a cable connection…. Marimuthu does it all, yet lady luck refuses to smile at him. 

A contemplative novel, beautifully translated into English from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan and published by Penguin Random House India, read it over a long weekend, savouring the slow pace of the story as it heightens Marimuthu’s desperation.