Hangwoman: Everyone Loves A Good Hanging
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Average rating3.5
The Grddha Mullicks take pride in the ancient lineage they trace from four hundred years before Christ. They burst with marvellous tales of hangmen and hangings in which the Grddha Mullicks figure as eyewitnesses to the momentous events that have shaped the history of the subcontinent. In the present day, Chetna, the youngest member of the family, is appointed the first woman executioner in India. Thrust suddenly into the public eye, Chetna's life explodes under the harsh lights of television cameras. As the day of her first execution approaches, she breaks out of the shadow of a domineering father and the thrall of a brutally manipulative lover, transforming into a charismatic performer in her own right. Meera's spectacular imagination turns the story of Chetna's life into an epic and perverse coming-of-age tale. Will the ardent young woman be able to escape the love that binds her? Will she add lustre to the illustrious name of Grddha Mullick? Or will she succumb to the dazzle of celebrity and the thrill of power over life and death? The lurid pleasures of voyeurism and the punishing ironies of violence are kept in agile balance as the drama hurtles to its inevitable climax.
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Death | Woman-power | Criticism of mass media
Death is spread out in this story like fog; that gets thicker towards the end.
The fear, uncertainty and inevitability of it, is portrayed through the eyes of someone with a heart of steel.
Do women have hearts of steel? Aren't women too emotional? Do they have the presence of mind to kill a man, like men?
Feminism is a touchy topic, so I am not going there. The white dot appears whiter when the dark background is made darker. Chetna stands apart, grabs our admiration quickly, because all men are stereotypically bad in this book; except maybe one. That is probably necessary, to justify the presence of mind this woman has. Circumstances and experiences changes a person (woman/man) to help them survive. In a world that worked largely against woman, where women are lesser beings (as have been so explicitly mentioned) she had no other way than to rise to the stoic state that she is in. You'd rarely see a man afraid when looking at a woman(if not for the gynocentric laws!). When men in this book see her with a noose, when she mentions how easy it is to kill a man - her calm composure and constant smile seems to give them a fear for life. Imagine sitting near her in real life. The power and presence of mind would make me feel insignificant, small.
Oh and there's media with it's devil face, grinning with it's shiny pointy teeth full on display.
Media is dark comedy, in here.
There are too many stories from her history - that was exhausting. Not much of a plot and a little too long.
A one time read, if you are ready to invest time.
Feminists will love this.