Marriage and Mutton Curry

by M. Shanmughalingam, Sultan Nazrin Shah (Foreword)

A kimono-clad Tamil woman greets Japanese soldiers at the door while her Anglophile husband cowers in his Jaguar. Two sisters share a husband when one fails to produce a child for the longest time. An American diplomat's urgent inquires about the Malaysian treasury’s facilities are hilariously misunderstood. A daring civil servant proposes to a lady in his Ceylonese hometown mere minutes after meeting her, breaking a thousand years of marriage protocol.

M. Shanmughalingam's debut collection paints, with gentle wit and humour, the concerns and intrigues of the Jaffna Tamil community in Malaya. Satirical yet deeply empathetic, these fifteen stories explore what happens when we hold on to—and choose to leave behind—our traditions and identities in a changing world.

Genres: Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2018

About the author

Dato' Dr M Shan's short stories and poems have been published in over 30 international and national anthologies in France, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and the US. A winner of the British Council Short Story Prize and editor's choice for the Fish International Short Story Prize, Shan has been an international and current affairs interviewer, film critic and member of several national advisory panels for media and the arts. Marriage and Mutton Curry is his first collection of short fiction.

Reviews

[Syazwanie Winston Abdullah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a total bore. Felt the book title should be renamed "The Wonderful World of VI Boys"! Victoria Institution ni lah, tu lah, that lah. Over glorification of VI it was. I thought these were short stories but most of them were related. I like Rasamah and Chelliah's stories but after sometime, I felt like smacking Rasamah. I was looking forward to reading this with glee, only to be left with a bland after taste and a total waste of 3 nights of my life. Would have given it a 2, if not for that last story in the book. You go, Rani!

[Murugasu Shanmughalingam · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.star2.com/culture/2018/10...
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https://youtu.be/FjvpGBmpwzc
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‘Marriage And Mutton Curry’: Heart-making chortle on Malaysia’s Jaffna Tamil community
October 6, 2018 Book Reviews, Books, Culture By Lawrence Pettener (https://www.star2.com/culture/2018/10...)

Like Malaysia itself, this book is a melting pot of story settings and situations. Played out as satire, the action occurs mostly within one Malaysian community at the turn of this century and the second half of the previous one. High finance, the Japanese Occupation, family and work life combine with views from outsiders.

What brings unity to this varied collection is the author’s Jaffna Tamil community and its preoccupation with status (plus food and matrimony, of course). Crucially, there is also plenty of humour.

Not only that, the protagonists themselves vary across racial and gender boundaries, putting paid to the spurious notion that authors should only write what they know.

M. Shanmughalingam doesn’t have a go at any particular group more than the others; OK, perhaps his own Jaffna Tamil enclave gets a little extra lovingly critical attention, with “rice-bowl Christians” for example, being reprimanded for failing to appreciate their own culture, in “Victoria And Her Kimono”. There are other such fond episodes.

'Marriage And Mutton Curry' is set in the Tamil Jaffna community and revolves around familyLike a poet, the author has worked his story titles to chime ironically with their satirical contents. The reader is often rewarded at the end of the story, as in “Victoria And Her Kimono”, in which the final phrase adds an ironic something extra to the story’s title. A similar effect occurs in “Half And Half”.

Preoccupation with status is dealt with humorously in several of the stories, pointedly revolving around culturally colonial Westerners’ misunderstandings of Malaysian life. This contrasts sharply with much joyfully ludic wordplay, which gets going nicely rudely in some ambiguous surnames and comes to a high point in “Naming Names”.

Fittingly, the author doesn’t get trapped in the overuse of adjectives or descriptions. Instead, he evokes family life and feeling via that ultimate Malaysian medium of cross-racial relations, food. Appam and coconut sambal chutneys are evoked by mere mentions, alongside his characters’ tangible delight in comforting staples such as kaya and Ipoh coffee. The importance of food to Malaysia is spelled out in literal terms in “Money Man” – as observed by its outsider protagonist once again.

Lives in this book’s world are firmly centred on duty: careers and family (especially in “His Mother’s Joy”). Sentimentality aside, there is no agonising over the finer feelings; necessity always cuts through. As befits a nation in rapid flux, clipped colonial speech patterns have morphed into the repressed feeling faculties of those who simply have to get on with everyday life under authoritarian regimes – Stockholm Syndrome, perhaps.

Like Irish lives stalled by stasis in James Joyce’s Dubliners, the thwarting of Asian ones (Rasamah’s elusive dream of teaching) is painful to read. Those that do still inhabit their own feeling faculty, and hence their integrity – the women, mostly – find ways to club together and offload; while those at the top of the tree (the men) appear to have attained their positions largely by locking themselves out of feeling entirely, and by compartmentalising their feelings. We rarely get what Kandasamy is feeling; as his career takes off exponentially, these things are only occasionally implied.

“His Mother’s Joy” begins with cordial interactions between Indian and Chinese neighbours. However, when it comes to furthering one’s lot in life, meaning soaring rapidly ahead of one’s peers and neighbours, horoscopes are mentioned in the same breath, comically, as “the magic word” spoken to those in authority (along with the ubiquitous bribe this implies).

Wordplay blossoms magnificently in “Naming Names”, in which the odd irony-laden line is dropped in as a welcome epiphany: “A thousand flowers bloomed”. With its terse humour, this story is well positioned after the heavier, power-wielding tropes of the diplomatic ones.

The darker stories of the book’s second half span several chapters, including the eponymous title tale. Separately, sometimes, characters also weave in and out of stories. As the sagas spiral into compellingly relatable domestic horror stories, one reads on, mortified at increasing levels of hateful behaviour and wondering which side to feel against least – their characters being almost equally odious and malevolent.

Kandasamy’s dealings with his wife, Rasamah, and her interactions with her neighbour, Chelvi, in the title story come to mind here, as well as troubled family episodes involving Rasamah and her sister, ­Thangachi.

As a proofreader and copy-editor, I have rarely seen a publication of any sort in the last 40 years which is at all consistent in its grammar, spelling and punctuation. Not only consistent, but clear and correct; this one stands head and shoulders above them all – from East or West – without exception, reminding this reader how a book’s flow can make for joyful reading.

Marriage And Mutton Curry is a heart-making chortle at the recent past in Malaysia’s Jaffna Tamil community, and its title brings its ingredients to simmer together nicely. The darkness of deeds outlined in the second half are bound to ramp up its chilli level.

Marriage And Mutton Curry
Author: M. Shanmughalingam
Publisher: Epigram Books, contemporary Asian fiction

8/10
Summary
Humorous tales with the spice of some chilli, set in the Malaysian Tamil Jaffna communit

Read more at https://www.star2.com/culture/2018/10...

[Sivasothi N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This were stories of Jaffna Tamils in colonial Malaya which spanned schoolboy exploits, family strategies under the Japanese Occupation of Malaya in WW2, the challenge of immigrants and the opportunities from Independence, through the changing aspirations and roles of women which emerge under duress with modernisation.

It's a lovely arrangement of short stories, set amidst some reminiscent practices which I could relate to - it was sweet to read the consistent practises in colonial Malaya which are gradually fading with a increasing options in a diversified economy – just think Cuticura powder and papadam kept in Cream Cracker tins! But you must be used to short stories as not everything you want will be played out.

The stories do also share their limits of their time, a lifetime away from the present. Shanmughalingam is light-hearted and empathetic throughout and some serious themes emerge in the latter half, but not without a glimmer of hope. I can see why he is well loved by the literary community, half of whom he thanks!

This is the sort of writing to glimpse into during a busy period as it transports you quickly and effortlessly to an alternate world. This as an NLB ebook read on Libby.

[Nadirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of stories centering around the Jaffna Tamil community in Malaysia, and I especially enjoyed the dry and satirical humour infused throughout the short stories. Some stories hit harder than the others, while some really left me hanging, which I suppose was the purpose of the stories--to remind us that life is not so clean-cut and that we don't always get a happy conclusion to everything.

There are truly some standouts here and some really cheeky humour into how Malaysians behave at times; really glad I picked this up!

[Dhevarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful mix of funny and sombre stories that evoke the memories of old Malaya just before and after Merdeka. The story of the Kandiahs gave me many chuckles.

[Jens Hieber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed collection of stories. Some were really excellent while others felt a bit repetitive. All authors have their favorite ideas, images, themes, etc. but reading these stories in such short succession made some of those feel repetitive. I did enjoy a lot of the descriptions (especially of food) and how well the characters' desires and motivations come across through their actions and dialogue.

[Paranjothy Muthu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book of short stories .Humorous and entertaining.Reflects the ethos of the Sri lankan Jaffna community in the 50s and 60s in the Brickfields area of Kuala lumpur.

[Jessie Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories depicted in the writings is an inspirational one. This book, particularly the Marriage and the Mutton Curry story - is about characters that have inspired me personally. Rasamah was one of the courageous Sri Lankan woman. She is someone who continually defended her beliefs that women should have the equal opportunity to work, and women’s role should not be limited to doing household chores. She continually lived out her beliefs, and values. Her unwavering belief on the importance of women’s empowerment-inspired me, even though she constantly faced setbacks from her husband, who insisted her to just be a housewife. What follows is, she pushed the envelop of her time, by being an influencer to her friend, Chelvi, to be an empowered woman. Rasamah was clearly determined to promote women’s empowerment within her own sphere of influence, and this is awe-inspiring.

[KT Chew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a prominent old boy of my Alma Mater, the Victoria Institution, I was compelled by the common bonds of school, society, cultural experience, and just plain curiosity, to pick up the book. I heartily recommend this wonderful collection of lighthearted humor and drama to anybody who’s interested to glimpse lives of another culture in stories about teachers and students, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, caught up in common and uncommon renditions of life, as comical “victims” of tradition, and other circumstances. There are the familiar rib-tickling local names and jokes; the gossiping housewives in their traditional lair, the kitchen, cooking up plans and cuisine at the same time; stories about traditions, marriage, the double-crossing “friend”, and the miscalculated outcome of a curious union! A jolly good experience or shall I say, experiences! Well done to the author, Dato’ Shan!

[mm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess I expected more from all the accolades that open the book, and also because I enjoyed the author's reading of an excerpt at SWF 2018.
Shan does capture the voice of the Jaffna Tamil community and tells the stories of a bygone era of Kuala Lumpur, of early Malaya. He paints the Brickfields of civil servants' quarters clearly.
But that was only the magic for me. After a while it becomes repetitive – Victoria Institute this, VI that, curries, nosey-parker older women, etc. I couldn't find the variation and the link between stories was tenuous, at best.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had gone in with less expectations. All in all, 'Marriage and Mutton Curry' is a time capsule of a small community of Malaya in one city, and that is its value.

[Gillian Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marriage and Mutton Curry is a collection of fifteen stories, but it’s more than that. Like R.K. Narayan’s Malgudi books and V.S. Naipaul’s Miguel Street, it’s a portrait of a community –in this case the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Malaya from the time of the Japanese occupation in World War Two to Merdeka –independence –in the late 1950s.
My full review in 'Asiatic', Volume 12 no. 2, December 2018.

[Ismim Putera · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting myself to be culturally enriched by this book but sadly it didn't. Stories are fine but descriptions are too verbose. Plotwise, some stories were too convoluted & confusing. I like the humour and subtle conflicts from Half & Half & The Barefoot Man from Malaya. Overall, it's a good effort by the author to uplift the cultural aspects of Tamil community.

[Lawrence Pettener · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Match of Two Halves: Of Marriage and Mutton Curry by M. Shanmugalingam, Epigram, Singapore 2018


Like Malaysia itself, this book is a melting pot of story settings and situations. Played out as satire, the action occurs mostly within one Malaysian community at the turn of this century and the second half of the previous one. High finance, the Japanese occupation, family and work life combine with views from outsiders.

What brings unity to this varied collection is the author’s Jaffna Tamil community and its preoccupation with status (plus food and matrimony, of course). Crucially, there is also plenty of humour.

Not only that, the protagonists themselves vary across racial and gender boundaries, putting paid to the spurious notion that authors should only write what they know.

M. Shanmugalingam doesn’t have a go at any particular group more than the others; OK, perhaps his own Jaffna Tamil enclave gets a little extra lovingly critical attention, with ‘rice-bowl Christians’ for example, being reprimanded for failing to appreciate their own culture, in Victoria and Her Kimono. There are other such fond episodes.

Like a poet, the author has worked his story titles to chime ironically with their satirical contents. The reader is often rewarded at the end of the story, as in Victoria and Her Kimono, in which the final phrase adds an ironic something extra to the story’s title. A similar effect occurs in Half and Half.

Preoccupation with status is dealt with humorously in several of the stories, pointedly revolving around culturally colonial westerner’s misunderstandings of Malaysian life. This contrasts sharply with much joyfully ludic wordplay, which gets going nicely rudely in some ambiguous surnames and comes to a high point in Naming Names.

Fittingly, the author doesn’t get trapped in the overuse of adjectives or descriptions. Instead, he evokes family life and feeling via that ultimate Malaysian medium of cross-racial relations, food. Appam and coconut sambal chutneys are evoked by mere mentions, alongside his characters’ tangible delight in comforting staples such as kaya and Ipoh coffee. The importance of food to Malaysia is spelled out in literal terms in Money Man – as observed by its outsider protagonist once again.

Lives in this book’s world are firmly centred on duty: careers and family (especially in His Mother’s Joy). Sentimentality aside, there is no agonising over the finer feelings; necessity always cuts through. As befits a nation in rapid flux, clipped colonial speech patterns have morphed into the repressed feeling faculties of those who simply have to get on with everyday life under authoritarian regimes; Stockholm Syndrome, perhaps.

Like Irish lives stalled by stasis in James Joyce’s Dubliners, the thwarting of Asian ones (Rasamah’s elusive dream of teaching) is painful to read. Those that do still inhabit their own feeling faculty, and hence their integrity – the women, mostly – find ways to club together and offload; while those at the top of the tree (the men) appear to have attained their positions largely by locking themselves out of feeling entirely, and by compartmentalising their feelings. We rarely get what Kandasamy is feeling; as his career takes off exponentially, these things are only occasionally implied.

His Mother’s Joy begins with cordial interactions between Indian and Chinese neighbours. However, when it comes to furthering one’s lot in life, meaning soaring rapidly ahead of one’s peers and neighbours, horoscopes are mentioned in the same breath, comically, as ‘the magic word’ spoken to those in authority (along with the ubiquitous bribe this implies).

Wordplay blossoms magnificently in Naming Names, in which the odd irony-laden line is dropped in as a welcome epiphany: ‘A thousand flowers bloomed.’ With its terse humour, this story is well positioned after the heavier, power-wielding tropes of the diplomatic ones.

The darker stories of the book’s second half span several chapters, including the eponymous title tale. Separately, sometimes, characters also weave in and out of stories. As the sagas spiral into compellingly relatable domestic horror stories, one reads on, mortified at increasing levels of hateful behaviour and wondering which side to feel against least – their characters being almost equally odious and malevolent. Kandasamy’s dealings with his wife, Rasamah, and her interactions with her neighbour, Chelvi, come to mind here, as well as troubled family episodes involving Rasamah and her sister, Thangachi.

As a proofreader and copy-editor, I have rarely seen a publication of any sort in the last forty years which is at all consistent in its grammar, spelling and punctuation. Not only consistent, but clear and correct, this one stands head and shoulders above them all – east or west – without exception; reminding this reader how a book’s flow can make for joyful reading.

Marriage and Mutton Curry is a heart-making chortle at the recent past in Malaysia’s Jaffna Tamil community, and its title brings its ingredients to simmer together nicely. The darkness of deeds outlined in the second half are bound to ramp up its chilli level.




Lawrence Pettener is a writer and editor living in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. This review first appeared in Malaysian online journal The Culture Review in September 2018.

[Baljit · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was some hype locally about this Malaysian collection of stories. I felt disappointed because the stories seemed to be over embellished and the dialogue peppered with too many Tamilian expressions, which seemed so unnatural. Some of the stories seemed be linked but the order and chronology is dubious.

[Wendy Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book, a collection of short stories from the Jaffna Tamil community in Malaysia and I read it on a long flight back to the UK from Malaysia. The short stories were perfect, some of them interconnecting, letting me read, nap and read again throughout the long 12 hours of flying.
They were entertaining, soothing, amusing and filled with love.

[Atiqah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. A collection of stories any Malaysian can relate to. What's not to love when women in those stories rock their own lives.

[NSM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that Malaysians can relate to and enjoy.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Asian fiction especially when it’s set in my country. This was a hilarious account of what happens in the Malaysian Ceylonese community. Laugh out loud funny!

[Supriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

well observed and recounted, humorous and telling stories that I enjoyed very much

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

However, far from the expected frugality, a procession of exotic dishes to appear before us. My concern that the driver-cum-butler was also the cook was clearly unfounded, and the Minister has sensible priorities for staff deployment. First, a chicken dish followed by fish in a sauce. Having read about potential ambush from Asian spices, I venture upon the more brightly coloured items with trepidation. Mess dinners and political high tables have nonetheles stiffened my culinary backbone, if not hardened my boiled cabbage palate. I soldier on, even with gusto. I am not deceived. As soon as the first of the sauces hits my mouth, I feel my face turning as red as the sauce and I begin to perspire from the top of my head. My host, courteous to a fault, orders his driver-cum-waiter to put the ceiling fan at maximum while I thankfully down my third glass of water. The fish dish is followed by a prawn one. I lean back and attempt inconspicuously to loosen my belt. The pièce de résistance is voluminous crabs cooked with a pungency due to, I am told, fermented shrimp paste, a Southeast Asian essential. Whatever the shrimps had been up to, their heat is incendiary. Under cover of my napkin, I undo my belt a further notch, hoping I will remember to re-tighten everything before I stand up, being understandably reluctant to expose my guests to any sight of the emperor's new clothes. Two helpings later, my hand hovers yet again near the belt buckle. The Minister asks if I have dropped anything. I reply that, on the contrary, I have gained immensely from this dining experience. He leans across and confides that this final dish is sago gula Melaka, a specialty of his historic home state, Malacca. I nod in the way I'd seen him do earlier that afternoon as I attempt to reassemble my midrift.
- Money Man : Marriage and Mutton Curry Stories by M. Shanmughalingam
.
.
I found many of his stories has a backdrop of Japanese Occupation, Malaya / Malaysia in The Making (right after Independence Day) & its way towards modernisation and Jaffna Tamil / Ceylonese Community and culture with a lot of social and historical commentary. The author’s stories are quirky and funny but the one that shifted my rating from 3 stars to 4 stars are the stories that revolves around Rasamah and Chelvi & Indra and Thangachi. I was not ready with the betrayal and pain faced by these women simply because they were shackled by the patriarchal values practiced by the community. In addition to that, It is not Malaysian Literature without mentioning food in these stories and i believe the author did well in demonstrating how food were abundantly filled up the space of ordinary Malaysians. The title of the book itself did mention ‘Mutton Curry’ which ultimately one of the famous local cuisines loved by many. Kolukattai, Dodol, Yong Tau Foo also were mentioned in some of the stories making my mouth watering that i decided to search for it the next day. I am glad Rani Taxis Away is placed as the last story from this collection. I was cheering for her liberation and independence - Go and live your life happily & More Power to you, Rani. The inconsistency of the stories can be seen, some were a novella with the same characters and some were short stories that were ended abruptly (BUT that was always the case with short stories collection). Overall, I am glad i read this on Malaysia’s 66th Independence Day. A suitable book befitting the special day specifically for Malaysians.

[Reading Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

112 🥘
Vellai sootu vellai karan! 🟤
✏️
Reading Kitty 🌟 3/5
Goodreads 🌟 3.41/5
✏️
As Sultan Nazrin eloquently put it, “History tends to be written by winners, so understandably their focus is on themselves and their viewpoints. Historical fiction broadens this record to include the many non-winners who make up the vast majority of us.” Dato’ Shan’s collection did write in the voice of the people, cooking up a melange of ‘our stories’. Personally, reading these 15 short stories feels like looking through frosted glass — as a Malaysian, I could vaguely relate to the Indian background; but as a Gen Y Chinese, the focus on Jaffna Tamil (Ceylonese or Sri Lankan Tamil) and time settings from the British colonial period, through Japanese Occupation and up to the early years post-Merdeka require more mental digestion.

Humour ebbs and flows throughout the collection, taking different forms: lighthearted jabs, clever puns, satirical takes at human nature, sarcastic pokes aimed at bureaucracy…… now I see why Dato’ Shan is known for his ‘signature humour’ 🎭 Aptly titled ‘MARRIAGE’ and Mutton Curry, most of the stories did central around women’s life: their struggles under suppression of; and strength of rebellion against the patriarchal society. We ride through mild to serious domestic episodes of restricted courtship, polygamous dispute to ‘son preference and daughter neglect’ pressure🙋🏽‍♀️ ‘Half and Half’, ‘Money Man’, ‘Rahman’s American Visitor’ and ‘Seek and Shall Ye Find’ branched out into the ‘man’s world’… perhaps his clever way of weaving historical facts into human-interest ‘fact-ions’? 🤵🏾

All in all, this pot of mutton curry intrigued me it’s nostalgic flavor of the good old days and surprised me with it’s daring dash of social taboos! 3🌟 for the interesting blend, not higher because one too many times the stories felt over-embellished and unnatural.

And now I am craving for mutton curry heaped over steaming white rice! 🤤

Reading Kitty 😽📚
https://www.facebook.com/readingkitty/

[Ravichandra]

In the Malaysian Short Fiction scenario, M. SHANmughalingam is probably the most prolific and consistent writer today. His tales range from reinterpreting the myths and legends to exploiting the rich alluvial of cultural matrix. In Marriage and Mutton Curry, he experiments with the English language as it is wielded by the Malayan Jaffna Tamil community of Malaysia. The stories display the writer’s sardonic wit, a native humour, and a critical eye for detail. The characters emerge as intimately as they do in an R.K Narayan story while they profile them with an equal mastery that one finds in Joyce’s short stories. The domestic context which forms a locus of most of his tales provides a rare insight into the shadow world of esoteric aspirations and social constrictions that constantly stymie them. There are stories that afford the reader a peep into the political class as in “Money Man”, where the satirical mode is tinged with an attendant admiration for the astuteness of the political masters of Malaysia. The reality of growing up in hard circumstances as well as the victim syndrome of a postcolonial is related with no rancour in tales like “Rahman’s American Visitor”. “Rani Taxis Away”, introduces the new, coming of age, Malaysian woman, independent and strong of will. The collection traverses a lot of Malaysian history from first generation migrant life through Japanese occupation to the present, allowing the reader a glimpse of Malaysia’s complex history. No Malaysian narrative can be complete without the three major races, the Malay, the Chinese and the Indian being represented. SHANmughalingam’s stories do certainly adhere time and again to that frame. The stories have for theme, deceit, survival, ambition, war, love, friendship, custom and modernity. The collection is engrossing and cannot be put down. It is an invaluable addition to any who is a keen student of Malaysian Literature as well as entertaining for the uninitiated reader who may casually pick up the collection.

[Hana (myjourneywithbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is made up of fifteen stories which I initially thought would hold no connection to each other but it soon became apparent that there were some recurrent characters and some of the stories had a thread of continuity from the one before. What connects this entertaining set of stories is the focus given to the Jaffna Tamil community in Malaysia.

Satirical and witty, these stories showcase the various members of this community in a humourous way along with a bit of keenly observed social commentary. I loved the way the author strung up his words though certain stories felt a little verbose.

My least favourite ones were those set in the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance but I loved most of the others. The ones I enjoyed best were Birthday, which captures the conversations taking place within the crowd gathered at the birth of a couple's first child and has a nice twist at the end, and the stories following Rasamah, a young girl who gets an unconventional marriage proposal that ends up being the beginning of a whole new life.

There is some dialogue that had me laughing out loud but which a reader who doesn't know the Tamil language will not understand. It won't detract from the enjoyment of the story but I do feel it's a pity to not be able to get some of the jokes.

[Richard F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim while living in Malaysia to see what the local fiction was like. I assumed that it would be heavily influenced by local culture and so would be a worthwhile break from Western fiction. I was correct - the pages are filled with what I assume are both historical and current cultural scenes... The transition from colonial power, the "dream job" of civil service, the reverence of British education, protective & proud mothers, favoured sons, preservation of traditions and of course food. Hardly a page is turned without a description of food or a comparison to it.

Unfortunately the stories are not as rich. The first half I found to be a bit samey and tended to stretch out a single theme, sometimes over multiple stories. The second half however gets a bit spicier with effectively the goings on of a couple of family generations across most of the stories which does bring some well needed depth to the collection.

I did however tire of the style... The food references wore thin and became forced, and the frequent punning is just as I've witnessed in the malaysian community... Simplistic but for some reason regarded as hilarious. But I'm still glad I read it... that is the beauty of diversity.

[Jacq Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could have actually breezed through the whole book in a day’s sitting as it’s a collection of 15 short stories. I left the last chapter of this book till last weekend. The last page flipped over ..... To me, finishing a book you enjoy is akin to saying goodbye to a dear friend.

If you wish to step out of your comfort zone ..... Away from the run-of-the-mill books..... If you allow yourself to be magically transported through the pages and typefaces to another place, another era, another culture - then, this is definitely the book for you.

Although the stories revolve around the Jaffna-Tamil community in Malaya/Malaysia (which was totally foreign to me until I dived into MMC), the essence of the characters in Marriage & Mutton Curry- the wit, their drive, their passion, their kindness- it’s something that you may be able to relate to. To laugh with. To empathise. To celebrate. The cultural boundaries tend to fade and we may even see a mirage of ourself in Ramanan, Mrs. Kandiah or Rasamah.

In conclusion - It’s one book which evokes such a rich tapestry of people and culture.

[Lyla Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marriage and Mutton Curry resonates with me for more than one reason. It abounds in candid snippets of life of the Jaffna Tamil community of the colonial, Japanese and post Merdeka era. Though episodic in nature, as a whole they capture vividly the social, cultural and even historical norms of a community at a time when the fledgling nation of diverse ethnicities was striving to forge its own identity.
The characters in many stories are memorable. We see the ambitious and confident woman in The Man from Malaya turn into a vicious first wife in Flowers for KK and the scheming sister and mother in the The Indra Quartet. Albert Ramanan, Chelvi and Thangachi have lookalikes in our life experiences that make them authentic --like the legendary Mamas and Mamees of yesteryears.
Humour is another ingredient that adds flavour to Marriage and Mutton Curry. In Naming Names one cannot but chuckle at the witty description of proliferating Kandiah “ having breached the two-digit barrier … galloped past family six-a-side cricket, full soccer and then even rugby teams.”
This and other delights are what Marriage and Mutton Curry has to offer!

[Ary アリ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5

This is the first book I have read depicting the local community of Jaffna Tamil. Containing 15 short stories set in various times across generations, some are related, while some contain inter-related characters.

The book touches common real issues in the community, from social status, gender inequality and tradition. It's the duties of the women to bear children, in charge of the house welfare and follow the husband. Overall, it is a mixture of well-written satirical humour and slice of life, like the mutton curry.

'If you go out to earn, our community will think I cannot support my own wife. It is below my dignity to let them think that of me. I cannot allow you to work for money.'

Thought provoking yet entertaining, I enjoyed the author's writings and humour.

[Ambrose Corray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories...... Dato Shanmughalingam weaves detail into the tapestry and captures memories of our childhood yesteryears in post-colonial Malaya. Interesting twists of the Ceylonese people and perceptions of the time in humorous anecdotes. I like the narratives because it portrays a nexus of the various characters, cultures, and influences of that era (influences of Japanese and British cultures infused in Malaysian civil service nuances) featuring the people and their linkages to their motherland. I found it an entertaining read and must commend the author for utilizing novel ways of describing the people's experiences in daylight colour without glossing over the sub-plots …..

[Ivershuriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read depicting the local community of Jaffna Tamil. Containing 15 short stories set in various times across generations, some are related, while some contain interrelated characters.
The book touches common real issues in the community, from social status, gender inequality and tradition. It's the duties of the women to bear children, in charge of the house welfare and follow the husband. Overall, it is a mixture of well-written satirical humour and slice of life, like the mutton curry.
'If you go out to earn, our community will think I cannot support my own wife. It is below my dignity to let them think that of me. I cannot allow you to work for money.'
Thought provoking yet entertaining, I enjoyed the author's writings and humour.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed reading this wonderful collection of short stories. The writing is done in such a way that it makes the reading effortless: witty, humorous and with fantastic pacing. The description is done with such discernment that it is all too easy to be entranced by the world populated with idiosyncratic characters, their thoughts and action.

I have enjoyed reading all the stories. My favourite are: Victoria and Her Kimono, Half and Half, The Barefoot Man from Malaya, Marriage and Mutton Curry, Flowers for KK, The Indra Quartet, Rani Taxis Away. I think the last one is my absolute favourite. It feels very uplifting and subtle.

There is much for me to learn from this book. Thank you.