Ramaswamy weaves a complex story, one as wild, unpredictable, funny, sad, and as convoluted as the people who populate it. The characters might live in an era long past and in a place we have never been to, but they are as recognizable to us as ourselves. On more than one occasion I smiled and giggled to myself, seeing my father, mother, a cousin, or myself in the characters.

This is a novel of a place and time. The novel takes place in the vicinity -- the junction -- of the tamarind tree and revolves around events the tamarind tree witnessed, became party to, and became a victim of. But, more than that, the novel is set in and depicts India in the 1950s; not colonial, europeanized India, brimming with exoticism and romanticism, and not fiery, violent India of the Partition and Decolonization, not political India, not anthropological Indian, but India in the lull after the violence, the lived India of Indians, when ordinary people, Muslim and Hindu alike, merchants, beggars, men, women, and children are settling into the age-old necessary rhythms of life: marriage, work, the bearing and raising of children, paying taxes, earning wages. The social politics of the moment underpin the interactions of the people who live and work at the junction of the tamarind tree. It is in these banal frictions between merchants, husband and wife, apprentice and master, that Ramaswamy invokes the shadows of India's larger social conflicts: religious tension between Muslims and Hindus, the oppression of women and the traditionalism of domesticity, the capitalist desire for individualism and individual profit at odds with a kind of social collectivism necessary to survival and tribalism.

The story is told from an unnamed narrator's perspective, partly. In other parts an omniscient narrator takes into the interior movements and minds of the characters. The story is fluid, flowing from one character to another, from one drama to another, one scandal to another -- not in a superficial way, but to perform how close contact is between the characters, to show the reader how intertwined these lives are.

This is a beautiful novel that imparts the scent and colors of India through a vivid portrait of its people and their everyday needs, their lives, and interact

“The Tamarind Tree” – Sundara Ramaswamy (translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan)

While it lived, the tamarind tree stood at the junction of three roads…. Now the tree is gone. I firmly believe – and you may disagree – that no matter what we replace the tree with, no matter how wonderful the new human invention we put in that spot, our town has lost its allure.

Originally written in 1966, “The Tamarind Tree” is a tale of the conflict between the old and the new, of the unrelenting changes of the world, and how people react to them. The eponymous tree stands as witness to all of this, standing mute and observant as all around it is in flux, as empires rise and fall, and as India sets off into its new-found independence, with the problems and challenges that come from this.

It took me a while to get into the narrative style of this book – it starts off with the recounting of the stories of Damodara Asan, a tale teller idolised by the young in the village for his weaving of fables and leaving his young listeners on tenterhooks. He speaks of Chellathayi and her moonlight stranger, her tragic tale intertwining with the fate of the tree, that bedrock of stability for the village. He spins a yarn of former kings and their push for progress, and all links back to ideas of changing and metamorphosis, how this arrived in unexpected ways.

The second part of the novel moves post-independence, to a morass of morally grey characters and political machinations as the people seek to rise to power and wealth. Turmoils and challenges affect the characters at every step, with some beautiful and thought-provoking writing along the way.

All in all, I was very happy to find more Tamil literature being made available (thanks to @netgalley and @amazoncrossing for the ARC copy), and I really enjoyed the story and style – I can see why it is so well-regarded in Tamil literature. Its original narrative style and messaging are both timeless and resonated with me even in 2022, and I honestly hope it finds the audience it deserves.

Published 15/11/22, keep an eye out for it! And my copy didn't have a cover, so feel free to use my drawing in any future editions

First things first- I love the cover.
I got to know more about the author and that this book is a translation of the original classic first published in 1966- and the narration is what I'd call warm and cosy. From the very beginning, we have an unnamed narrator bringing to life the changes a town experiences-with the tamarind tree as a landmark.
This book is the kind that I would recommend to lovers of historical fiction and literary fiction because of the flow and style of writing which makes the story enjoyable as it is insightful.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Many of my favorite books are the kind that span across time, where we get to grow up with a character. The Tamarind Tree is no exception. Told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator, we get to experience the life of the tamarind tree and the town. It’s incredible to watch how much this town changed in the course of a few decades as technology, Christian missionaries, and capitalism are introduced, but the tamarind tree never changed. An important reminder of how communities can be shaped by western influence, The Tamarind Tree is a bittersweet and comforting tale.

The Tamarind tree is a translation of Sundara Ramaswamy's debut work, "Oru Puliyamarathin Kathai", a modern classic first published in 1966. I simultaneously read the original work and Aniruddhan Vasudevan's translation. This novel revolves around the society symbolised by a tamarind tree through generations from pre-independent India to a few decades after independence and deals with many social, economic, political, religious and cultural turmoils and their effects on people and the region during that time. The characters are raw and brilliantly written, morally grey, wily and deceitful. Sundara Ramaswamy's imagery, wit, and subtle philosophy are very well achieved in this translation by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, The attempt to include a few words from the original dialect is appreciable.

4/5

Thank you Netgalley/Amazon Crossing for this book in lieu of an honest review.