A Discovered Diamond
Family Drama
20th
century
India
I first read Kurinji Flowers, by Clare Flynn, a
couple of years ago, and hugely enjoyed it. This time around, I was a little
anxious to see if it would retain its appeal. Happily it did, and moreover new
features emerged from its pages with the re-read.
The story
straddles much of the twentieth century, and in particular, much of the
turbulent history of India through the final years of British Empire and the
early years of independence and self-rule. But while these great events are
constantly in the background, our focus is firmly on the lives of individuals.
We first meet Ginny, the main character, as a rather spoiled and self-absorbed
young teenager in London. She moves to southern India and marries in haste, in
an attempt to avoid embarrassment and disgrace. The book ends with her in
middle age, having largely come to terms with the circumstances of her life,
and found resolution for many of her hurts and pains.
But Clare picks
out highlights from Ginny's life, and skips over spans of intervening time, so
we are drawn into something which is not a diary. Instead, the ways in which
these key moments illuminate people's lives helps us to enter into their
diverse cultures. I came away with a keen sense of how human life so easily
slips into mundane and empty habit, whether through force of circumstance, or
through fear and anxiety. We are given glimpses into the emotional life of each
of the key players - some more guarded and secretive than others - and witness
the long-lasting sorrow of men and women bound up in habits and attitudes that
divide them from one another. People here are occasionally selfish and cruel,
but, more often, and more destructively, are simply uncaring, unable to
empathise with each other.
Ginny herself
experiences only brief moments of joy in an otherwise barren life. The waste of
human potential - hers and that of so many others - is sobering. This waste is
seen in Ginny's own life, in the expatriate colonial culture she is part of and
yet despises, and indeed in much of the interaction between Britain and India
through these years. Occasionally individuals do succeed in lighting up the
narrative of the lives around them, but all too fleetingly.
Something I
picked up very strongly this time was a recurrent theme of people (including
Ginny herself) making snap judgements about others on first encounter. These
judgements are almost always wrong, but the process of realising and correcting
these first impressions is slow and difficult.
The kurinji
flowers of the title bloom in an extraordinary way only every twelve years,
covering the mountain sides of Kerala in a short but splendid spectacle. This
natural phenomenon is mirrored by the rarity of times of happiness and
fulfilment in the protagonists' lives, and it is easy to want so much more for
the characters than they actually receive.
I very much
enjoyed rediscovering Kurinji Flowers.
If I had a criticism, it would be that the ending feels a bit rushed. The
realisations and adjustments that Ginny is forced into are altogether larger
than those she has faced before, yet comparatively little narrative space is
given to them. I would have preferred a bit more exposition here. That said, it
remains a fine book which will, I am sure, appeal to those who appreciate
stories of personal struggles in relationships, where the characters do not
find easy answers to the difficulties of life.
© Richard
Abbott
What a lovely review, Richard, thank you. I remember the first time you read it. It has such a lovely title, too.
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