3 Review(s)

Considered one of the finest works in Malayalam literature, The Book of Exodus is a poignant and, at times, harrowing portrait of a rural community living in the backwaters of Kochi, Kerala. The protagonist, Kunjootty, is struggling to write a book of the same title, aiming to capture the stories of the natives of his village, Potta Thuruthu, the Isle of Reeds, untouched by the forces of modernization. As the mystery and tragedy of Kunjootty’s own life become clearer, the narrative attains the proportions and complexity of an epic, where myths and legends are intertwined with reality, and where the past and present become indistinguishable from each other. Soon, all the intersecting stories of Kunjootty’s friends and acquaintances start converging into the inexorable flow of time, characterized by the nameless river that runs alongside Potta Thuruthu. Originally published twenty-fifive years ago, this was V.J. James’s debut novel, which won the DC Books Silver Jubilee Award in 1999 and garnered a wide readership in Malayalam over the years. This lucid and elegant translation by Ministhy S. brings it for the first time to an English readership, opening a window on a timeless classic of modern Malayalam literature that was more than twelve years in the making