Author: Shreekumar Varma
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 330
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0140297308
Description
The Story of five generations of an aristocratic Kerala family, its loves and hates, and its confrontation with a sobering present.
Gopi Narayan is shocked to discover unbelievable revelations about his own family and its history in the manuscript of a novel by Rangachari, a small-time writer, and sets out to discover how a complete stranger knows so much personal details. Gopi's encounter with the eccentric Rangachari and his audacious novel becomes a journey to the past, his own as well his family's return to Chennai, the city where he once lived, and ultimately to Kilikkara, in rural Kerala, where it all happened.
As he maps out the complex and colorful history of the clan, Shreekumar Vermeer brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters: Kochu Kelu, the indolent patriarch; Sara of the bustling goodwill and legendary culinary skills; Narayanan Namboodiri, who attempts to become part of the aristocratic family he has married into; MVR, the romantic poet whose epic turns from a celebration of the loves of gods to those of humans after one magical meeting with a beautiful woman in the dark rooms of a bathhouse; and Gopi himself - self-deprecating, well-intentioned and enormously lovable.
A grand saga written with great lyricism and rich humor. Lament of Mohini is a brilliant debut.