T he Goat Thief is a compilation of short stories by Tamil writer - Perumal Murugan. The stories were originally in Tamil, but have been translated (excellently) to English by Kalyan Raman.
There are ten stories in the book. The blurb indicates that these are ten of the author's favorites and so I dove into them with great interest and high expectations.
Most of the characters in the stories inhabit a rural landscape. Even the city dwellers among them are villagers who have an acute sense of displacement - such as the newly wed houswife who is afraid of the commode in the bathroom. All characters are Tamilians.
As per the blurb:
Set in the arid Kongu landscape of rural Tamil Nadu, these tales illuminate the extra-ordinary acts that make up everyday lives.
I loved this aspect of the stories so much. All of them deal with the day-to-day lives of average people, with a bit of spice to liven up the tale.
The opening story The Well started off very normally with a city man swimming with local lads in a nearby well. It was a very ordinary story until suddenly it turns sinister. Or does it? I can't quite make up my mind about what happened there.
I enjoyed An unexpected visitor where a city boy staying temporarily in his grandmother's village home falls in love with village life. Overall, a very heart-warming story until the end, where Murugan managed to surprise me with an ending that jolted.
Another favorite story The Night the Owls Stopped crying about a security guard guarding a haunted house. It reminded me so much of the ghost stories I shared with my cousins during late summer nights.
Musical Chairs was about a couple squabbling over a favorite chair, and the unspoken battles between them. I thought this story was a perfect depiction of a marriage. We all have these long-standing petty battles in our marriages, don't we? Please don't say, it's only me 🙂 .
The main story The Goat Thief was action-packed about a night spent in the outdoors by a goat thief while people are out hunting for him.
So, by now, you must have an understanding of what this book is about, don't you? It's a lovely leisurely telling of everyday stories and occurrences, with a reflective emphasis on the smaller things in life.
I knew that reading this book brought a renewed appreciation about some of my childhood joys and sorrows (oh! the thrill of jumping in cold water on a hot summer's day), the small disappointments in life (end of a doing-nothing summer holiday with my grandmom). More importantly, it brought back a renewed appreciation for my Tamilian roots.
And for that I have to thank Perumal Murugan, and Kalyan Raman (for the excellent translation). This is my first experience with Murugan's short stories, and I look forward to more translated works from him.
Huge thanks to Juggernaut books for sending me this book for review consideration.
