The Tamarind Tree by Sundara Ramaswamy - Book Review

The Tamarind Tree by Sundara Ramaswamy, Aniruddhan Vasudevan (Translator)

Publication Date: 15 Nov 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction, Social Commentary 

4 Stars 

One Liner: Enjoyable but will work only for a specific audience

The tamarind tree has lived at the cross for decades. It has been a silent observer of the changes that took place, the good, bad, and the average, that affected people in a million ways. The tree and Damodara Asan are a source of information, intrigue, and entertainment for our nameless narrator. In this book, he takes us through the lives of a selected few who were connected to the tamarind tree in one way or another. 

My Thoughts: 

Firstly, my big thanks to my friend for reminding me what to expect from the book. I enjoyed the book more because I was prepared for it read like social commentary interspersed with stories rather than a structured novel. 

The events are narrated by a nameless character who is pretty much passive throughout the book. This means readers are doubly distanced from the events and don’t have anything to connect with. It’s like listening to a friend tell you the story of a movie they recently watched while you are only half-listening to it. (If this makes sense, then you know how the book reads). 

However, what makes the book interesting is this distanced view of everything that happens to people from the region. Local rivalries, village politics, national politics, communal clashes, rich vs. poor, and just about everything is presented without any drama. It’s impersonal. No taking sides or pointing fingers. 

The core human attitudes, fallacies, desires, etc., are presented similarly without making a hullabaloo of it. Whether or not the reader likes a character is not the author’s concern. Their role is to present the characters’ stories and leave it to the readers to decide the rest. It’s always refreshing to read such works, especially from Indian authors. There’s only so much pseudo-activism one can survive! 

The translation seems authentic enough, though I have no way of knowing if it is otherwise. As an Indian reader, I found no issues with understanding the nuances that are integral to my land. That said, I’m not sure how someone with limited or no knowledge of the country and its history would appreciate the book. Given that the setting is around the Independence period (the 1940s), it is even more vital to know the sociopolitical situation of the place to make sense of the majority of the book. 

What I thoroughly enjoyed were the observations of the people in the municipal park (those who read the book will know what I mean). And, of course, the fact that no character in the book is either good or bad is icing on the cake. They are the kind we see around us even today. After all, basic human traits don’t change much. 

To summarize, The Tamarind Tree is a different experience and one that I enjoyed much. The pacing is a little inconsistent, but you can speed-read. Pick it up if you want something different. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Amazon Crossing, for the eARC. 

#TheTamarindTree #NetGalley

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P.S: The cover is perfect for the book.