The Goat Thief is a compilation of short stories by Tamil writer – Perumal Murugan. The stories were originally in Tamil but have been translated (excellently) to English by Kalyan Raman.
There are ten stories in the book. The blurb indicates that these are ten of the author’s favorites, so I dove into them with great interest and high expectations.
Most of the characters in the stories inhabit a rural landscape. Even the city dwellers among them are villagers with an acute sense of displacement – such as the newlywed housewife afraid of the commode in the bathroom. All characters are Tamilians.
About the Book
Set in the arid Kongu landscape of rural Tamil Nadu, these tales illuminate the extraordinary acts that make up everyday lives.
My Review
I loved this aspect of the stories so much. All of them deal with the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, with a bit of spice to liven up the tale.
The opening story is The Well, which starts with a city man swimming with local lads in a nearby well. It was a very ordinary story until suddenly, it turned sinister. Or does it? I can’t quite make up my mind about what happened there.
I enjoyed An Unexpected Visitor, where a city boy staying temporarily in his grandmother’s village home falls in love with village life. Overall, it was a heart-warming story until the end, where Murugan surprised me with an ending that jolted me.
Another favorite story, The Night the Owls Stopped Crying, is about a security guard guarding a haunted house. It reminded me so much of the ghost stories I shared with my cousins during late summer nights.
Musical Chairs was about a couple squabbling over a favorite chair and the unspoken battles between them. I thought this story was a perfect depiction of marriage. We all have these long-standing petty battles in our marriages, right? Please don’t say it’s only me 😀 .
The main story, The Goat Thief, is action-packed about a night spent outdoors by a goat thief while people are hunting for him.
So, by now, you must understand what this book is about, right? It’s a lovely leisurely telling of everyday stories and occurrences, reflecting on the smaller things in life.
I knew that reading this book brought a renewed appreciation of some of my childhood joys and sorrows (oh! the thrill of jumping in cold water on a hot summer’s day) and the small disappointments in life (end of a doing-nothing summer holiday with my grandmom). More importantly, it brought back a renewed appreciation for my Tamilian roots.
And for that, I must thank Perumal Murugan and Kalyan Raman (for the excellent translation). This is my first experience with Murugan’s short stories, and I look forward to more translated works from him.
Huge thanks to Juggernaut Books for sending me this book for review consideration.
Summary of the short story, in the night the owls stopped crying.