Book Review: The Temple is Not My Father by Rasana Atreya

The Temple is Not My Father by Rasana Atreya
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pages: 40
Genre: Literary Fiction, Cultural
Source: Book Review Request
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.08


SYNOPSIS:

Ensnared by a tradition hundreds of years old, a woman fights for her daughter’s happiness.

From the author of 'Tell A Thousand Lies,' which was shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia award. UK's Glam magazine calls 'Tell A Thousand Lies' on of their 'five favourite tales from India.'

If you like Rohinton Mistry or Shilpi Somaya Gowda,you might like this short story of 40 pages.
~~From Goodreads~~


MY THOUGHTS 

A short fast-paced story about a woman who have suffered so much from being child ensnared and blinded by her love for her father who's devoted to a hundred year tradition of marrying her to the temple(Goddess. Later on, Godavari, the protagonist was turned into a prostitute by his father and was abused by men and had a baby at such a young age. She was then shunned and cursed by the society.

Reading Godavari's story broke my heart. The sufferings she had was too much. A father who offers her daughter for a ridiculous tradition, prostituting his own daughter and attempting to do the same with his granddaughter. A mother who committed suicide just to provide for the daughter who lost a dignity. Relatives who cut their ties. Siblings who ostracized her. To top all her suffering, she had to give up her daughter in order to give her child a normal life away from the hateful criticism of the society.

It was a relief that one of her sisters, Krishna, still cared and helped her. Also, it was nice that her 2 niece cared as well. All in all, it was a touching story. The author's writing is very great. I can say that it mirrors real happenings in life and in the society.

Although I love the story, I can't say the same with the ending. Well, it's not a cliffhanger but it feels like it. I feel like it needs elaboration on what happened in between before she was reunited with her daughter. It was just too short. Anyways, it's a 40 page story so maybe, that's just it. In general, it's still a dramatic and touching story.

A Touching 4 Stars

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Rasana is the author of Amazon bestseller 'Tell A Thousand Lies', which was also shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia award. UK’s Glam magazine calls this novel one of their five favourite tales from India (June 2014). Her other works are 'The Temple Is Not My Father' and '28 Years A Bachelor' (coming October 31, 2014).

Now on to more personal stuff – Rasana would like to be able to tell her readers that she once stopped a robbery single-handedly, except she’s terrified of robbers. And geckos. And two-year-olds who throw tantrums. When she’s not running scared, she’s mother to a girl and a boy who were respectively six and eleven years-old when they wrote and illustrated The Mosquito and the Teapot. She lives with her husband and children in Hyderabad, India, where a lot of her stories are set.

She blogs at: http://rasanaatreya.wordpress.com