Review

A Married Woman

By Manju Kapur

Published by Faber

In this unsparing but moving novel, Manju Kapur explores the institution of the modern Indian marriage.

In particular she focuses on a wife’s conflict between her obligation of traditional obedience to her husband and her need for personal self-fulfilment.

It is an uncompromising study of Astha, a middle-class woman who believes that life must have more to offer than the preordained role she is expected to fulfil.

With few words, Kapur evokes Astha’s teenage dreams and wishes, her father’s hope of freedom for his daughter, her mother’s ultimate, wheedling power over her destiny. After two unsuitable liaisons, Astha succumbs to fate and marries a suitor chosen for her.

Indeed, fate and destiny seem inextricably linked to all Astha’s subsequent troubles. Her husband is perplexed by – and angry about – her wish to have a life outside the home he works hard to provide for; when she persists, she cannot help feeling that punishment for her transgressions will follow in some form. Astha, confused about her desire for freedom, turns to a woman for emotional support and love, but discovers that there is a price to pay for this late-flowering happiness as well.

Kapur sets her story amid the upheavals of the recent communal uprisings in India, using the intractability of a centuries-old religious struggle to reflect the difficulties of Astha’s own life.

Kapur’s writing is spare and lucid, her commitment to understanding India’s troubles heartfelt and sincere, but she is also a good storyteller.

Reviewed by James Smith, Booktrust website editor 

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