Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto

The book tells a story that is funny, sad and poignant. Imelda is the mentally challenged wife of Augusti. To their son and daughter, their mother has always been 'Em' and their father 'The Big Hoom'. Their's is a childhood  hazy with the smoke of their mother's beedi and haunted with frequent visits to the hospital as Em repeatedly tries to kill herself. 

But Em wasn't always like this. She was a beautiful teenager head-over-heels in love with the handsome Augustine. Their's was an old-world romance full of charm. On one hand runs the story of the courtship of Em and the Big Hoom, on the other hand is the present-day Em—funny, whimsical, brutal. She has her entertaining highs and depressing lows, and there is The Big Hoom—steadfast, loyal and supportive.

The beauty of the story lies in the way the author reveals the emotional ties of love, loss, guilt, helplessness, pain and the myriad shades of other emotions that the members of the family share.

It is also a very subtle and sensitive approach to a subject like mental illness. Even today largely people like Em are not considered 'ill', they are just 'mad'.

A special mention must be made of the way the book looks. The design is spectacular and owning the book is a great pleasure. This is a must-read.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Title: Purple Hibiscus,   Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

On a sultry hot day at the Oxford Bookstore, in Park Street, a friend recommended this book to me with the words "It's a beautiful story. Sad. But beautiful." Right now, I do not disagree.

A purple hibiscus is neither red nor white, it is rebilliously and proudly purple. Bravely defying the norms it blooms and survives ...

Purple Hibiscus, is narrated by fifteen-year-old Kambili who lives in Nigeria with her parents and her brother Jaja. Her father owns a newspaper and is a devout catholic. He is an eminent and well-respected member of the society, but that is outside the four walls of his house, inside he is a tyrant. The author vividly portrays the way Kambili adores and is in awe of her father.

Kambili's father, Eugene, is a man who disowns his own father because he refuses to convert to Christianity and insists on being a pagan. A visit to their grandfather's home, for Kambili and Jaja, is always a fifteen-minute affair where they are not allowed eat or drink anything.

It is very apparent that Eugene is a man who being an abject worshipper of the colonisers, their language and their religion, is now acting as their representative. A theme explored by Chinua Achebe, the author whom Adichie adores and is inspired by. The very first line of the novel pays homage to Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

 Kambili's childhood has been one of material comfort, strict routines, long prayers, and punishments, which for her is the norm. Silence and the singular aim of never letting her father down has filled her days. But a crack appears in this picture when Kambili and Jaja go to stay in their aunt's house. Her aunt Ifeoma is a widow who teaches at the university and stays with her children. The atmosphere in that house is radically different from what Kambili has ever seen or known. People there do not have the material comfort that she takes for granted  ... but they laugh, they speak, they are devoid of any fear. It is here that she meets Father Amadi who stirs her feelings. And it is here that she and her brother get a glimpse of their origins, and of the persons they truly are.


The story is told in a simple non-overwhelming tone. The pace never slackens and the narrative is beautiful. It effortlessly portrays the dynamics of the relationship between the coloniser and the colonised and shows how a colonised person who internalises an intense feeling of inferiority towards his own origins can often be the most powerful weapon of the coloniser. It is a book of self-discovery, of traditions and of love.Adichie's is a voice that brings alive her world, and the voice is a confident one which I'd love to hear again.

Hutoom strongly recommends this book!

We come from the Geese

Text: Ruby Hembrom, Illustrations: Boski Jain, Publisher: adivaani, Price: INR 90

How did we come into being?

Many answers to that question exist.

We come from the Geese tells you a different story of creation, a story of creation that the Santals have grown up hearing for generations—a story that has now found its place amidst pages. Pages that have been beautifully and thoughtfully designed. We come from the Geese tells the story of Hās and Hāsil, the geese from whom the adivasis came into being.

In recent times few independent publishers have published some beautiful illustrated books for children. Tara Books has been a frontrunner and they have come up with stunning creations like I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail on their list. The narrative of adivaani’s latest offering also unfolds in a similar manner as some of Tara’s books—short crisp sentences, and full page black and white visuals. The result is a stunning book that tells a story compellingly.

The illustrations by Boski Jain are captivating and complement the story perfectly. Be it the menacing eyes of the supreme creator Thakur Jiv or the massive Sin Sadom, the day horse—they are given a visual form that engages the reader’s mind. Through an exciting interplay between words and visuals a new world unfolds before the reader.

Today our kids don’t read. If they do, it is almost always English texts (if not textbooks). In such times books that tell us about the hitherto untold and unknown traditions and folklore, are the need of the hour.  

The copyright page says that the book was ‘written to rescue one of the many oral stories of the Santal people’. adivaani through this wonderful effort tries to preserve the stories that have passed on from one generation to another. We could do with more such creations. Looking forward to their new releases.



Hutoom gives a claws up to this book. High Five!