Intemperance
A Novel
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- ¥2,400
発行者による作品情報
In this follow-up to the critically-acclaimed The Laughter—winner of the Washington State Book Award—a middle-aged woman starts a firestorm when she holds a contest, based on an ancient Indian ritual, in which men must compete to win her affections.
A woman who has left two husbands announces she will celebrate her 55th birthday by holding a swayamvar. Drawn from an ancient custom in her Indian culture, this is an event in which suitors line up to compete in a feat of wills and strength to win a beautiful princess’s hand in marriage. The woman, a renowned and respected intellectual in an American town who had once declared she was “past such petty matters as love,” knows she is now setting herself up for widespread societal ridicule, but her self-esteem and sexual libido are off the charts even as her body withers from disability, fading beauty, and her appetite for cake.
To her surprise, a cast of characters shows up to support her call—a wedding planner looking for the next enchanting thing, a disability rights activist making a documentary film, and even, begrudgingly, her own young adult son. The Men's Rights Movement protests her project, angry at her objectification of men. She is waylaid by visitations from goddesses and princesses past, who either try to slap sense into her or cheer her on. She must also reckon with a brutal love story in her ancestry that was endangered by the caste system—a story that placed a generational curse on those in the family who show an intemperance of spirit. As her whole plan spirals into a spectacle, the woman embarks on a journey to decide what feat her suitor must perform to be worthy of her wrinkling hand. What feat will define a newer, better masculinity? What feat will it take for her to trust in the tenderness of love?
Intemperance is at once a satirical feminist folktale and a meditation on how we might reach past all sense and still find love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the jaunty latest from Jha (The Laughter), a twice-divorced feminist scholar decides to celebrate her 55th birthday by throwing herself a swayamvar, a traditional Indian ceremony in which a woman invites potential suitors to compete for her hand in marriage by performing various feats. The unnamed narrator's novelist son is skeptical, as are social media users, who debate the feminist merits of her online invitation to the swayamvar. A distant cousin from India warns her via email against the event, claiming that a curse was placed on their family that dooms the women's marriages. Jha interweaves mystical Hindu elements throughout, as with the narrator's series of encounters with mysterious women who might be goddesses, such as a woman she meets on a bus who gives her encouraging and whimsical advice: "Meet new people. Eat more cake. Meet old stories. Hydrate. Ask for what you want." The narrator receives help from an enthusiastic young wedding planner, a wedding dress designer, and a sophisticated dance teacher with an air of "old Indian wealth," each of whom contribute to a successful party at which the narrator defies her haters by attracting a wide array of suitors. Jha adds depth to the brisk story with hints of the narrator's troubled family history and sticks the landing with a surprising and rewarding conclusion. It's a fresh and sassy take on romantic comedy conventions.
