Review

The woman who is not living by the rules of society, the woman who has attained the impossible, the woman who fought for the right- She is the unsuitable woman. The anthology Unsuitable Woman is a collection of stories by renowned writers. The book has a strong feministic proclamation without crossing the thin line between feminism and female chauvinism. 


The readers can start off with a poem by Mani Rao which is emotional, followed by the story of Meenakshi. Meenakshi has been one of the most beautiful women before she was deformed by the man whom she loved. Now the world knows her as Surpanakha. Author Anand Neelakantan has shown a different viewpoint on the whole scenario in Ramayana.
Sher-Gil My Inspiration by Anjolie Ela Menon, Aurat Vakeel Aayi by Leila Seth, The Woman With No Breasts by Manu.S.Pillai, A Tomboy Queen by Jaishree Misra and A Single Mother’s Battle by Mitra Phukan are the accounts of real women who had been painted in a different light. The women with no breasts and Tomboy queen are the stories of Nangeli and Rani Laxmibhai respectively. While Nangeli has been portrayed as a symbol of a middle-class woman who fought for the right of covering the breast, in reality, her cause was different. The same applies to Ran Laxmi Bhai who had always tried to avoid war while she has been portrayed as a fighter woman. Both stories try to picture the real women and the real cause that they fought for. The rest of the stories are emotional melodramas that delve deeper into the desires and emotions of women and also tell us about the women who lead different and unacceptable life as per the standards of society.


Some of the stories have a strong feministic indulgence, and some of them have tried to inculcate the male version as well. Most of the stories were serious while that by Sampath.G. is hilarious and with the quirky narration, tickles the funny bones. All the stories do not fall in the same meter but excluding one or two glitches, the book is a price-worthy piece of art.

Verdict

Price-worthy and interesting read for those who like read women’s fiction