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Distributed for Zubaan Books

Suki

In Suki, Suniti Namjoshi weaves a witty and delightful tapestry from threads of longing, loss, memory, metaphor, and contemplation. Taken as a whole, the picture she draws is a stunning evocation of the love and friendship shared between herself and her super cat, Suki, a lilac Burmese. Suki suggests that she could be a goddess, and Namjoshi her high priestess. Namjoshi declines, but as they discuss the merits of vegetarianism, the meaning of happiness, war, morality, or just daily life, it becomes clear that the bond between them is a deep and complex one. Namjoshi figures the days of Suki’s life as leaves, which fall vividly but irrevocably into time’s stream and are recollected with a wild tenderness by a grieving Namjoshi, who learns through the discipline of meditation how to lose what is most loved.
 
One of the most distinctive lesbian-feminist voices of the late twentieth century, Suniti Namjoshi, best known for her many poems and fables, is highly respected as one of the pioneers of women’s writing in India. This beautiful narrative, both memoir and elegy, offers solace and celebration to everyone who has felt the trust that passes between a person and a beloved creature.

136 pages | 5 x 8 | © 2013

Fiction


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Reviews

"[O]ne of this summer’s most affecting pieces of writing..."

The National

Table of Contents

Part I: A Memoir
1. A Fearful Wight
2. Days
3. Rules and Commandments
4. A Moral Animal
5. The Spaceship
6. Darwin
7. Analogies
8. The Summit of her Ambition
9. Renaissance Entity
 
Part II: The Vipassana Trek
10. The Menagerie
11. Gambolling on the Grass
12. The Mouse Hole
13. Fleas
14. An Indian Story
15. Clever Monkey
16. The Story Fest
17. The Return

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