Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classics) by Kamala Markandaya Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classics)
Book Review: One of my favorite books
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading this book, I felt like I knew Rukimani personally. Her grace, her inner beauty, her happiness and sorrows were a part of my life forever.
It was sad to realize that her grace was often a product of having no choices. When she accepts her husband's shocking revelations (don't want to spoil it for you) it's not because she's the most level-headed, forgiving woman on earth - I mean - where is she going to go exactly? She has no choices and in her soul she knows it.
Yet she still can find her life a better fate than that of others. There is a scene in which Ruki sells some of her vegetables to a wealthy muslim woman in a burka who has all the material things that Ruki lacks (I do not have the book in front of me I can remember her description of the woman's rings "any one of which would have fed us for a year"). But Ruki is not jealous - she feels sorry for the woman's cloistered existence and the fact that she is not free, cannot walk outside and feel the sun against her skin and work side-by-side with men. It was very interesting.
I can envision Ruki buying the dum-dum cart for her grandson. I can picture her grandson in the shade, eyes watering, waiting for a chance to play with the others. I have seen many times the rupee that fell from Irawaddy's sari into the river. I have felt the hopeless struggle that cost her son his tannery job.
This book is beautiful, sad, interesting, and moving. I recommend it highly.
Book Review: Great backup information for British India
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this as a view as to what living in India was like under British rule and during their transitional period. It was great as an inside look to the average life of a peasent farmer.Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this for an Intro in Indian Civilization class. It is a very good narrative, and I could not put it down. It describes bascially the life of an Indian woman from the time she gets married, and then it goes a full circle until the woman finds herself, essentially alone with no husband, at the same place she first lived after getting married.One of the themes of the book is modernity and its affects on an Indian village and Indian family.
I highly recommend this book.
Book Review: Nectar in a Sieve
Summary: 4 Stars
Nectar in a Sieve is an emotional trip through the life of, Rukmani, an Indian woman. Begining in the present, she takes us through her life; sharing with her readers the hardships, sacrifices, the joys, and the family that we soon become a part of. As Indian customs go, she is married off at the age of thirteen to a poor husband whom she grows to love. After trying for many years, thanks to the help of a white doctor, yet unknown to her husband, Rukmani is finaly able to have children. She watches the world change around her and her family into new modern business which she feels is distroying everything. Poverty and hunger stricken, she watches two of her sons die, one move far away and her daughter, unable to bear children, become a prostitue. This book pulls you so deep into the heart of Rukmani you can feel her tears when she is forced to move away from her homeland and go on a journey which eventulay takes the life of her beloved husband.
I really enjoyed this book and i reccomend it to anyone looking for a fast read of courage and never giving up.
Book Review: how i feel...
Summary: 5 Stars
Nectar in a Sieve.I believe there are two different interpretations in this ambiguous title, just like the words inflammable and flammable. Before I continue, let me inform you the definitions of nectar and sieve. Nectar is a sweet liquid secreted by flowers and are consumed by pollinators such as hummingbirds and insects. A sieve is a utensil for separating the finer and coarser parts of a pulverized substance. The first interpretation is that the main character in the story, Rukmani, used a sieve to try to capture all the sweetness out of her hard, miserable life and she somehow succeeded. The title shows how this brave Indian woman tries to get the best out of every challenge and never surrender to fate. The second interpretation, the one that I believe to be true, is that in Rukmani¡¦s depressing life she tried to capture the sweet nectar by using a sieve and the results were fruitless. All her hard work and her hope, represented by the nectar, slipped away bit by bit through the sieve. There are many evidences in the book that supports and chains my idea.
Rukmani is the ¡§daughter of the village headman¡¨ but due to the reason of the dowries of her four previous sisters and the Collector in the village who seized control, Rukmani¡¦s family ¡§could not find her a rich husband, so they married her to a tenant farmer who was poor in everything.¡¨ Rukmani¡¦s social status drop suddenly from a daughter of a headman to a wife of a farmer and the marriage was considered as¡§ a poor match.¡¨ Later, to her disappointment, she gave birth to a girl named Irawaddy, ¡§after one of the great rivers of Asia, who would take with her a dowry and leave nothing but a memory behind.¡¨ Five years after the marriage of Irawaddy, she was returned to her parents for she is a ¡§barren women¡¨,¡§a failure." As the story moves on, more unexpected events came and shatter Rukmani¡¦s life. She gave birth to more children and ¡§the resources have to be shared out in smaller and smaller portions. Finally, ¡§they no longer had milk in the house and curds and butter were beyond their means except on rare occasions.¡¨ After their lives improve,¡§the rains failed¡¨ and ¡§the earth was parched to dust.¡¨Still,¡§day after day the pitiless sun blazed down, scorching whatever still struggled to grow and baking the earth hard until at last it split and great irregular fissures paged in the land.¡¨To Rukmani¡¦s surprise, her beloved daughter, Irawaddy, tried to help the family financially by becoming a prostitute. As a result, she gave birth to an albino child as ¡§fair as a blossom¡¨ and whose hair was the ¡§color of moonlight.¡¨ It was a great humiliation to the family and the source of gossip around the neighborhood. Due to the problem with the lack of rain, another merciless impact hit Rumani, her ¡§last child, conceived in happiness at a time when the river ran gently, had been taken¡¨ by death.
These are just a few examples of obstacles such as poverty or disasters Rukmani encountered throughout her life. Many more heartrending events happened afterwards. To me, Rukmuni courageously used a sieve to try to capture the nectar, or precious objects in life but no matter how hard she tries, the sweetness seeps out and all that is left is bitterness and despair.