{"product_id":"the-toss-of-a-lemon-paperback","title":"The Toss of a Lemon - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePadma Viswanathan\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSivakami 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, a closeted gay man who is bound by a different caste's rules, becomes her public face. Their singular relationship holds three generations of the family together through the turbulent first half of the twentieth century, as India endures great social and political change. But as time passes, the family changes, too; Sivakami's son will question the strictures of the very beliefs that his mother has scrupulously upheld. \u003cem\u003eThe Toss of a Lemon\u003c\/em\u003e is heartbreaking and exhilarating, profoundly exotic yet utterly recognizable in evoking the tensions that change brings to every family.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eViswanathan . . . achieves something that is in many way more nuanced than the broad brushstrokes of an epic: a meditation on fate's workings in a family dominated by the quiet rule of one woman. \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSivakami was married at ten, widowed at eighteen, and left with two children. According to the dictates of her caste, her headis 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.\u003c\/p\u003eSivakami dutifully follows custom, except for one defiant act: She moves back to her dead husband's house to raise her children. There, her servant Muchamibecomes her public face. Their singular relationship holds three generations of the family together throughthe turbulent first half of the twentieth century, as India endures great social and political change. But as time passes, the family changes, too;Sivakami's son will question the strictures of the very beliefs that his mother has scrupulously upheld.Heartbreaking, exhilarating, and profoundly exotic, \u003ci\u003eThe Toss of a Lemon\u003c\/i\u003e is above allan evocationof the tensions that change brings to every family.\"Padma Viswanathan has real talent.\" \u003ci\u003e New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[An] exquisite debut novel. . . . [E]lectrifying.\"\u003ci\u003e Baltimore Sun \u003c\/i\u003ePadma Viswanathan is a fiction writer, playwright and journalist. Her writing awards include residencies at the MacDowell Colony and the Banff Playwright's Colony, and first place in the 2006 Boston Review Short Story Contest. Shelives withthe poet and translator Geoffrey Brock and their children in Fayetteville, Arkansas.\"\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 636\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.6 x 8 x 5.3 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 01, 2009\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45815160963269,"sku":"9780547247878","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0757\/6718\/5605\/files\/c2VTRkx1dWRtYTA2THo4MnpRbXhkdz09.webp?v=1771019070","url":"https:\/\/selloorium.com\/products\/the-toss-of-a-lemon-paperback","provider":"Selloorium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}