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Read A Married Woman (2003)

A Married Woman (2003)

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Author
Genre
Rating
3.25 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0571215661 (ISBN13: 9780571215669)
Language
English
Publisher
faber & faber

A Married Woman (2003) - Plot & Excerpts

I remember a few bloggers reviewing Manju Kapur's books positively and had wanted to pick something up by her for the longest time. My library had a couple of books by her and for some strange reason I was attracted to this book.Guess it had something to do with the fact that I was intrigued by the storyline- about a relationship an older woman has with a younger one and wanted to see how the subject's been handled by an Indian writer.Astha is a middle class woman ,who lives in Delhi with her husband, two children and in-laws.She has everything a woman would need, but still has niggles of dissatisfaction bubbling in her. The story is really about how Astha changes from a unsure,college girl who has dreams of a mills and boons- type hero swooping in and carrying her away to a mature ,middle-aged woman who feels a little alienated in her marriage as time passes. Manju's writing is not spectacular ,but she adroitly captures the essence of trials and tribulations of a middle class family in the 80's. She takes time to build characters,but does a good job of keeping the reader glued to the pages. I am sure a lot of people will relate to a lot of things Astha or her family goes through like how they struggle to buy their first house or what is perceived to be the role of a woman in a traditional Indian household.The beginning of Astha's "rebellion" against conforming to the norm starts when she starts taking interest in conceiving a play about the Babri Masjid troubles. She meets like minded people and drifts off into the world of activism.Her family's attitude towards her activism enrages her all the more and she inadvertently falls in love with Pipee, an NGO worker. Their relationship has friendship as a base and deepens into something more as time passes.The rest of the story is about what happens to the relationship between Pipee and Astha and also how Astha manages a double life- the life of a lover of a woman and that of a married woman with kids and responsibilities.The intimate scenes between Astha and Pipee have been handled very sensitively by Manju,so have the incidents surrounding the Babri Masjid demolition and riots. At times Pipee came across as an overly selfish, immature person.she would have to be my least favorite character in the book. Hemant(Astha's husband) is portrayed realistically with many idiosyncrasies. Some might feel that Hemant's demands on his wife were excessively unrealistic,but I guess he represents how a lot of Indian men were like in the eighties. The backdrop of political agitation imparts a bitter-sweet tinge to the main story.Manju switches from a third person narrative to a first person narrative (where she captures Astha's take on the activism directly) somewhere in the middle of the book.The abrupt change seemed a little weird and makes the narrative choppy. Overall, an okay read. Not brilliant,but entertaining and a thought-provoking piece of fiction.Rating: 3/5 .I recommend it people who like Indian writing.

This is the third novel by this author I have read, and although quite readable, it is the one I liked least. Although I often felt sorry for Astha and came to dislike her husband, I just didn't come to care enough for the characters. It is a well written engrossing story - so I can't say I disliked it, it just left me a little cold. The majority of the book tells the story of Astha's marriage. Astha is dominated - to an extent - by her husband - she has more freedoms than many women - and in her relationship with Pipee she again seems dominated by a stronger personality. Astha becomes political, and her passion for the cause inspires her art - but also heralds many of the problems she has at home. In some ways Astha is a different kind of woman than we are used to seeing in "Asian Lit" - and that does make her interesting, but in other ways she is conventional - a sad figure stuck inside a pretty staid marriage, slowly lettting go of everything that is important to her.

What do You think about A Married Woman (2003)?

It's a nice book dealing with controversial issues in a very sensitive manner & exploring the hidden power play between a married couple in the Indian context. I had a major issue with the plot though... One does not suddenly realize that they are bi- sexual or attracted to the same sex... The book no where explores with the protagonist's history of this realization ( The protagonist is a married woman here). Same sex attraction does not develop because of lack of affection at your home front. Otherwise, it's a lovely book. I quite liked the way Babri Masjid issue has been explored and portrayed in the book.
—Pragya

I wanted to read this after having thoroughly enjoyed Kapu'rs latest, The Immigrant--a better, far superior novel. Still, I enjoyed A Married Woman, the story of what Kapur transmits as a tyical Indian 'middle class' (is there truly such a thing in India?!) woman, educated at the same Miranda House all-female college where Kapur herself was educated and has taught for years, from less than stellar circumstances: basically, an only child with apparently clueless parents whose need to marry her off well are continually met with a naive sort of resistance from her and their own clueless ineptitude. In this regard, the protagonist quite closely resembles the one in The Immigrant (though here she was more tightly drawn, and comes off as far more convincing). The action takes place during the 1970s, a time of change and turmoil in India, and Kapur attempts, not always successfully, to juxtapose these transformations with those within the protagonist herself--a woman who seems highly sexual from the set go--odd within these middle-class constraints?--but whose desires are thwarted both by the few young men she encounters and her own situation. Then she is finally 'set up' with a man determined to marry her, a man in a better position than her own, and marry they do: also, they seem to be sexually compatible, which, from the looks of it, would seem a good bet in these circumstances, considering that these kinds of women have virtually no options to learn, experience or choose, and that they're taught nothing. Her husband seems quite fond of her and although, as they years pass and children arrive, he becomes more and more submerged in his new business ventures, I still wasn't convinced that any of it was a true basis for her discontent, or her sudden lesbian awakening. Thus, for me, the love relationship with the other woman was the least interesting or authentic aspect of the book.
—Maia

It super one..The Books deals with various aspects of woman's Life related to Love Relations.The central character of Book is Astha.It protray's Astha's relationship with each male love interest at very stage life.she lives the as per wish of her parents n husband lifestyle.she is very content in her marriage.over a period she feels neglected by her husband.It also beautifully captures the issue related babri masjid.Aijaz character's introduces her to this issued n secularism.untimely death of aijaz turns her upside down .After longtime she moves towards her original passion sketching n painting.In manch's event she meets aijaz wife pipeelika.Astha falls in love with pipeelika, they shared intimate love affair.But striking the balance as married woman responsibilities n lover ,sometime she failed which lead to separation.Author has beautifully woven the political n social n religious upheaval.The language is simple n interesting one.Love making scenes are amazing woven.It Fantastic book to read
—Amruta Joshi

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