The Toss of a Lemon

by Padma Viswanathan

Book Overview

Sivakami was married at ten, widowed at eighteen, and left with two children. According to the dictates of her caste, her head is shaved and she puts on widow's whites. From dawn to dusk, she is not allowed to contaminate herself with human touch, not even to comfort her small children. Sivakami dutifully follows custom, except for one defiant act: She moves back to her dead husband's house to raise her children. There, her servant Muchami,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547247877
• ISBN13: 9780547247878
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 636 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An excellent literary work - they don't often make them this way anymore.

I was surprised by the Toss of a Lemon in a number of ways. The first was sheer size. In a world of publishing quotas, you don't often see long books anymore - and for a first novel from an author, this is huge. Well over 600 pages. This can be an intimidating read, but I actually adored it. I miss books having heft in my hands. It's a quiet internal joy to know that I won't skim through it in a night or two, but have a nice month-long affair with it. This surely is not a skimming sort of book. The detail of the family it highlights, that of Sivakami, is complex and dripping in intricate stories. It's a culture that most people reading it probably aren't familiar with in general - that of post-colonial India, just as the new industrial age began to spread there after British influence. The book is heady with mythology and culture of all sorts, and this can indeed be overwhelming. If you stick with it, you shall be rewarded by more than you can imagine. It may seem daunting to most not accustomed to reading literary books, nevermind cultural references that take time to adapt to and understand. I will not go into great detail about the story, except to sum it up simply: the novel is about a family. It starts with the progenitors who are a part of the social system in India, the Brahmin caste, specifically, which is one populated by the educated and scholarly. All marriages are arranged, and moreover, matches are investigated by astrology as much as anything else. Sivakami marries an astrologer of note reputed to also be a healer, one Hanumarathnam, who has determined their future fate to be auspicious. This changes during the birth of his son. This is where the title of the book comes from - the midwife is told to throw a lemon from the window (due to purity and caste laws, the husband is not with the wife during birth, or may see her immediately after). With that simple throw, Hanumarathnam's life is forever changed. Time serves as a marker in astrology, and thus he does a reading of his son's charts, learning of a dire portent for his future. Ironically his son does not place much stock in superstition himself - or so he claims. He, too, is human...is Varium. Though diamond-hard like his name, he indulges when it suits him as well. Some of the cultural aspects are startling. Sivakami's ascent into widowhood for one, and the fact that widows are considered pure, but at the same time carry a strange and bizarre stigma attached to this. The caste system is alien to most people reading this surely, and sometimes the result of it horrifying (one example in the book of when a higher-caste woman had relations with a younger male from a lower caste which ended in a very sad, and rather horrible by western standards). You see the cultural divides defended, even by people who are taken advantage of and suffer by them. Despite having been raised american and very remote from this, I came to sympathize with Sivakami. Though so

This Epic of Old India is no lemon.

When i got the book, i resisted reading it at first. I thought, "Is this a woman's book?", since it tells the epic story of Sivakami's life. No, its not a "woman's book", just women IN a book. This is far less a romance novel than Hesse's Sidhartha. TOSS OF A LEMON is however, a quietly philosophical work, with the majestic themes that one rolls out in every attempt to view the why of humanity. This tossing of a lemon is a signal given at the moment of the birth, of Sivakami's two children, so her astrologer husband can cast very accurate birth charts. Since the husband must not be in the same house, as a woman giving birth, the lemon was tossed outside, to maintain the ritual purity of the Brahmin caste. When Sivakami became engaged to the local astrologer-herbalist at the age of 7, her father making the arrangement with the astrologer was told, that his future son in law had a "bad quadrant" in his birth chart, tho perhaps the birth of a son, would wipe this out. If this didnt happen, he might die "an early death". Anyway, the second child arrives, a son, and sure enough, the lemon tossed outside when the new baby greeted the world, fortold that the Sivakami's husband only had 3 years to live. So right from the outset, we are met with the themes, that seem to be threaded thru this tale. One of the big questions, is Fate verses Self-determination. The Braham caste have many many odd ceremonies, in place for millenia, that seem to keep change from happening. When something unusual or tragic DOES happen, its all got to do with witchcraft, astrology and angry gods. And tho a self respecting Brahman might not say he believes in superstition, in fact, the book starts with very superstituous people on the verge of the 20th century's scientific insights, but not quite there. In many ways, Sivakami is a woman trapped between these two worlds, one world of the ancient Indian customs shaping her thru fate and submission to ones role in society, verses the idea that one MUST make it in the world thru their own self willed stance against outdated, and socially harmful customs. In one small way, Sivakami stands in defiance of custom, so that when her husband dies, she doesnt leave his home. Altho she in every way, wants to be the perfect little housewife, mother of two, and devoted lover to her husband (all this by the time she was 18 years old), it is a great burden, when the "stars" take away your happiness at an early age. Like so many people that have fate rob them of some simple happiness, those singular, small happinesses of life we so often take for granted, Sivakami keeps moving thru this world with the dignity of her social caste, affected by her situation, but not being brought down by it. This is why she is a heroine, of course. She can manage distant in-laws who try to rob her of her inheritance from her late husband with ease. She can see to raising a family as a single mother. (She was not allowed to remarry, Braham custom.) I would like

Extraordinary Cultural and Generational Experience

A Toss of a Lemon is an epic spanning 70 years of Indian life, in the Brahmin tradition. While it's fictional, it's unlike typical fiction in which the story builds towards an ultimate conclusion or climax. This story is simply a narrative, a chronicle that seems so lifelike that I would have believed it to be nonfiction. The language is largely informational, in contrast to dramatic or theatrical storytelling, and it carries the reader along much like a boat on a river. The narrator tells the story of the family matron, Sivakami, beginning at the age of 10, continuing through her marriage, the birth of her children, the death of her husband, her widowhood, her family and extended family, and her religious traditions and Brahmin ways. The author describes in matter-of-fact detail a family and social system ruled by religious observance and superstition that contrasts sharply to modern ways and progressive ideas as the story marches through the decades. Although I thought, at first, that this would be a dry narrative, I quickly identified with Sivakami as a woman bearing up under the strains of life, fiercely endeavoring to retain her dignity and hold her family together. Her Brahmin practices, complete with caste prejudices, dietary laws and purification ceremonies, make her who she is and are her only real support after the early death of her husband when she is only 18 yrs. old. The author does not interpret events for the reader, but simply reports the incidents as they occur, from the points of view of the various characters. An ingenious web of familial relationships is woven in which personalities and politics are all made plain without fanfare or needless drama. I feel that I know more about Indian culture and the politics of the caste system from reading this book of fiction than from any textbook I have ever studied on India and its people. The text is sprinkled with Indian words and phrases, briefly defined and then used repetitively throughout the story. Brahmin worship, beliefs and lifestyle practices are also used throughout and described only briefly or mentioned in passing, although they play a part in so many situations that the reader not only becomes familiar with them, but comes to expect them, even when not mentioned in the text. It is a near total immersion in Brahmin culture. I actually had a craving for lentils and curry. There is a portion of the book that deals with specific political struggles against the caste system and involving British/Indian relations. My Indian history isn't sharp, so I was lost in a couple of places, but the narrative carries the story along and I found that as I kept reading, a lot of my confusion was cleared up. I know a lot more about India's struggle for independence and the caste system than I ever knew before, as well. As an American, the caste system sets my teeth on edge, but in this story, it was the basis for the Brahmin's sense of belonging, security and order

Glimpse into the Brahmin constraints within the caste system

A married Hindu friend once told me, "I don't mind when my in-laws make demands upon me. I will do whatever they wish, but I do not like when they make demands upon my parents." Another confided that her beloved grandmother (father's mother) beat her mother when she was pregnant. I found such statements somewhat perplexing, but did not investigate. Having just finished "The Toss of a Lemon", I now understand that these were just the tip of the iceberg with regard to the political intricacies of modern living within the even remotely "caste dictated" Indian family. Padma Viswanathan's book is a fascinating and (for me) sobering glimpse into a culture about which I had no deep comprehension. I gained insight and an exponentially increased respect for Hindu friends who continue to face similar challenges. Throughout the book, I kept wishing that Sivakami would be more open. I wanted to watch her grow. I felt that, just as I was getting to know her, part of her disappeared. Her deepest essence was veiled - which is not to diminish her great influence upon her family for generations. As I pondered these things, I realized that these were things the author wanted me to think and question. She gave me a tangible grasp of how, within the caste system, a woman's entire being can be obscured by "the toss of a lemon". This is not an easy reading novel. It is a novel that challenged my Western sensibilities and helped me see Eastern sensibilities from a very different perspective.

Rare and wonderful

I am not sure I can adequately describe just how much I enjoyed this book. The story follows a family of Tamil Brahmins in India from 1896 through the early 1960s, beginning with the marriage at age 10 of Sivakami. We see her through her 10 years of marriage, and then through almost 60 years of orthodox Brahmin widowhood. She rears her own children, and then the children of her daughter, and then many grandchildren. What a remarkable woman! I loved this character. I loved how finely drawn, actually, each and every character was. The novel is so well done that I found myself rejoicing with each child's birth, and weeping with each character's death. I was totally caught up in the sweep of this multigenerational story, and also in the story of the changes that India went through during this time. In addition to telling a wonderful story, the author also has the great skill to keep this story going without faltering through 616 pages! This is a fantastic book that has passed onto my list of alltime favorites. I can hardly wait till it is formally released so I can get copies to give as gifts for my friends. How much did I like it? I sat down to read it and finished it in one day's obsessive reading. I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book without reservation.