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Two Virgins
Saroja lives in a village with her parents, aunt and beautiful elder sister Lalitha. Saroja's life is uncomplicated, and simple things give her joy like the birth of a calf or a taste of one of Chingleput's sweets. Lalitha, on the other hand, believes she is too good for the village. Ambitious and spoilt, she has dreams of being a movie star that are fulfilled when a film-maker casts her in his documentary on village life. Overnight Lalitha becomes the talk of the town; her latent sexuality manifests itself and she uses her elevated status to her advantage. Basking in Lalitha's reflected glory Saroja tries to imitate her womanly wiles, which results in confused ideas about sexuality and ambition. But when the family is faced with a scandal, Saroja emerges with a practical outlook on life.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1973
About the author
Kamala Markandaya
19 books114 followersPseudonym used by Kamala Purnaiya Taylor, an Indian novelist and journalist. A native of Mysore, India, Markandaya was a graduate of Madras University, and afterward published several short stories in Indian newspapers. After India declared its independence, Markandaya moved to Britain, though she still labeled herself an Indian expatriate long afterward.
Known for writing about culture clash between Indian urban and rural societies, Markandaya's first published novel, Nectar in a Sieve, was a bestseller and cited as an American Library Association Notable Book in 1955. Other novels include Some Inner Fury (1955), A Silence of Desire (1960), Possession (1963), A Handful of Rice (1966), The Nowhere Man (1972), Two Virgins (1973), The Golden Honeycomb (1977), and Pleasure City (1982/1983).
Kamala Markandaya belonged to that pioneering group of Indian women writers who made their mark not just through their subject matter, but also through their fluid, polished literary style. Nectar in a Sieve was her first published work, and its depiction of rural India and the suffering of farmers made it popular in the West. This was followed by other fiction that dramatized the Quit India movement in 1942, the clash between East and West and the tragedy that resulted from it, or the problems facing ordinary middle-class Indians—making a living, finding inner peace, coping with modern technology and its effects on the poor.
Known for writing about culture clash between Indian urban and rural societies, Markandaya's first published novel, Nectar in a Sieve, was a bestseller and cited as an American Library Association Notable Book in 1955. Other novels include Some Inner Fury (1955), A Silence of Desire (1960), Possession (1963), A Handful of Rice (1966), The Nowhere Man (1972), Two Virgins (1973), The Golden Honeycomb (1977), and Pleasure City (1982/1983).
Kamala Markandaya belonged to that pioneering group of Indian women writers who made their mark not just through their subject matter, but also through their fluid, polished literary style. Nectar in a Sieve was her first published work, and its depiction of rural India and the suffering of farmers made it popular in the West. This was followed by other fiction that dramatized the Quit India movement in 1942, the clash between East and West and the tragedy that resulted from it, or the problems facing ordinary middle-class Indians—making a living, finding inner peace, coping with modern technology and its effects on the poor.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 5, 2015
An unabashedly feminist novel from Markandaya. I already loved her work, and this moved her even higher in my estimation. Saroja is a wonderful narrator, and her often-unusual insights into the world around her resonate. The final chapter drags a bit--and it is a bit reminiscent of the Mysore sections of Nectar in a Sieve--but even then, the interactions between characters, particularly Saroja and Lalitha, jumps out.
Also, the village scene and the city scene Markandaya creates make me imagine that there's an entire rich world here--we're just seeing a fragment. From the beginning, even, she darts around to Chingleput and the Manikkams before settling in on Saroja's family. And in Chennai, we meet Curly, who clearly has more going on than his conversations with a teenager.
Also, the village scene and the city scene Markandaya creates make me imagine that there's an entire rich world here--we're just seeing a fragment. From the beginning, even, she darts around to Chingleput and the Manikkams before settling in on Saroja's family. And in Chennai, we meet Curly, who clearly has more going on than his conversations with a teenager.
January 21, 2022
Just lovely.
Read
March 25, 2013it is a good book.
February 13, 2015
Innocence. Wonder. Beauty. These words come to mind when I think about the story, the characters and the setting. Reading this, I regressed back to childhood. It was good feeling.
May 23, 2026
i devoured this one!
in this book we follow saroja as she becomes a teenager, learning about the world around her as her rose-tinted glasses are lifted. she lives in a village with her family, including her amma, appa, grumpy aunt, and beautiful sister lalitha. saroja seems to grow up in lalitha's shadow, and the two sisters are described how one is and another is not. reading about their relationship pained me as an only child. their parents only make the situation worse by treating each child vastly different, including sending them to different schools, favoring one over the other, and other subtle comparisons. but also this book is set in 1950s india so take that with a grain of salt.
i liked the characterization of the village. we meet chingleput (the local sweet seller), manikkam (their lower caste neighbor with a brood of children), jaya (the town gossip and saroja's bff), and miss mendoza (the teacher at the christian school which lalitha attends). there are overt discussions of caste, sexuality, politics, empowerment, and the definition of success in the novel. lalitha's actions annoyed me to no end, but also she was a child who was taken advantage of. the adults in her life should have better protected her. i felt bad for saroja increasingly as the book went on, i think she just slowly realizes that everyone sucks. she learns about the dual-sided nature of sexuality, patriarchy, and expectations for women in her community.
overall, i guess the moral of the story is that men are trash? except for saroja's dad he's chill i like him minus when he's mean to aunt alamelu.
anyways here are some cool quotes:
"Aunt Alamelu had nowhere to slink to. She said it was the state her feet were in that foiled her. Saroja mulled it over, saw it wasn’t that at all, it was her sex. Appa and Anand could stride off to the coffee shop, Manikkam had his bhang hideout, Bundi’s liquor store was always crammed with men. Women had no bolt-holes. There was no escape for them, they had to stand where they were and take it"
"They became very close talking about it, at times like these Appa and the boys were very close indeed. It made Saroja shiver to think of the times when men were not, when they opened their
mouths and tore each other up. Men are like that, Aunt Alamelu said: that is why creation has been entrusted to women."
"Appa overheard, stalked in and asked the company out loud what one called women who had
their board and lodging laid free in their laps like a gift. It’s the blood tie, Brother, said Aunt Alamelu with dignity, but you could see she was hurt. She had nothing, no husband or children, and she lived with them for nothing. Her only contribution was cooking vessels, and even these were wearing out, if you held them up you could see light coming through their bottoms. They had to go for tin linings twice each year to save them all succumbing to lead poisoning. Amma said Appa ought to be ashamed, and he was, he was nice to Aunt Alamelu the rest of the day, but he was a man, he could not grovel and apologize to her."
in this book we follow saroja as she becomes a teenager, learning about the world around her as her rose-tinted glasses are lifted. she lives in a village with her family, including her amma, appa, grumpy aunt, and beautiful sister lalitha. saroja seems to grow up in lalitha's shadow, and the two sisters are described how one is and another is not. reading about their relationship pained me as an only child. their parents only make the situation worse by treating each child vastly different, including sending them to different schools, favoring one over the other, and other subtle comparisons. but also this book is set in 1950s india so take that with a grain of salt.
i liked the characterization of the village. we meet chingleput (the local sweet seller), manikkam (their lower caste neighbor with a brood of children), jaya (the town gossip and saroja's bff), and miss mendoza (the teacher at the christian school which lalitha attends). there are overt discussions of caste, sexuality, politics, empowerment, and the definition of success in the novel. lalitha's actions annoyed me to no end, but also she was a child who was taken advantage of. the adults in her life should have better protected her. i felt bad for saroja increasingly as the book went on, i think she just slowly realizes that everyone sucks. she learns about the dual-sided nature of sexuality, patriarchy, and expectations for women in her community.
overall, i guess the moral of the story is that men are trash? except for saroja's dad he's chill i like him minus when he's mean to aunt alamelu.
anyways here are some cool quotes:
"Aunt Alamelu had nowhere to slink to. She said it was the state her feet were in that foiled her. Saroja mulled it over, saw it wasn’t that at all, it was her sex. Appa and Anand could stride off to the coffee shop, Manikkam had his bhang hideout, Bundi’s liquor store was always crammed with men. Women had no bolt-holes. There was no escape for them, they had to stand where they were and take it"
"They became very close talking about it, at times like these Appa and the boys were very close indeed. It made Saroja shiver to think of the times when men were not, when they opened their
mouths and tore each other up. Men are like that, Aunt Alamelu said: that is why creation has been entrusted to women."
"Appa overheard, stalked in and asked the company out loud what one called women who had
their board and lodging laid free in their laps like a gift. It’s the blood tie, Brother, said Aunt Alamelu with dignity, but you could see she was hurt. She had nothing, no husband or children, and she lived with them for nothing. Her only contribution was cooking vessels, and even these were wearing out, if you held them up you could see light coming through their bottoms. They had to go for tin linings twice each year to save them all succumbing to lead poisoning. Amma said Appa ought to be ashamed, and he was, he was nice to Aunt Alamelu the rest of the day, but he was a man, he could not grovel and apologize to her."
January 2, 2014
it was ok ok book is what I felt ....
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews