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livsliterarynook 's review for:
Panty
by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Panty by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay (tr. from Bengali by Arunava Sinha)
"By now she knew that very few people possessed the kind of penis that could reach as far as a woman's desire, her womanhood."
A short, provocative and disorienting story that follows the journey of one unnamed women who arrives in Kolkata. She has an unknown history, apparently cut off from all friends and family. She is awaiting some form of unknown surgery as she stays in this flat without light bulbs and minimal belongings. On arrival she finds a pair of leopard print panties in the flat on her arrival and then her world begins to overlap with another woman in almost dream-like experiences.
The unnamed women's main interactions are with the other women she seemingly becomes and the man that lets her stay in the flat. Their relationship entirely undetermined or labelled throughout the book. These moments were interesting as I felt the author attempted to parallel the women's experiences, sexuality, but also confusing as the women almost became one. The moments their sex lives overlapped and she felt a brush of lips on her skin and nobody else was with her. It was entirely elusive style of writing.
Reading Panty had an almost fever-dream, hazy-like quality as there was so much uncertainty about what the woman was experiencing, what her relationships actually were, and what she was doing. The book poses many questions and provides no answers keeping you off balance throughout.
The exploration of women's sexuality felt very hetereonormative and even in that did not dig deep enough into the erotic and metaphorical realms I felt it was trying to. Although there were some really unsettling and absorbing lines that make the narrative haunting.
"you fit your mouth to her right nipple and suck out all her suffering”
It's really short so I didn't necessarily feel disappointed, I just wanted more from this book. It felt on the edge of being really brilliant in it's style and approach which is certainly innovative, but it didn't pay off entirely for me.
"By now she knew that very few people possessed the kind of penis that could reach as far as a woman's desire, her womanhood."
A short, provocative and disorienting story that follows the journey of one unnamed women who arrives in Kolkata. She has an unknown history, apparently cut off from all friends and family. She is awaiting some form of unknown surgery as she stays in this flat without light bulbs and minimal belongings. On arrival she finds a pair of leopard print panties in the flat on her arrival and then her world begins to overlap with another woman in almost dream-like experiences.
The unnamed women's main interactions are with the other women she seemingly becomes and the man that lets her stay in the flat. Their relationship entirely undetermined or labelled throughout the book. These moments were interesting as I felt the author attempted to parallel the women's experiences, sexuality, but also confusing as the women almost became one. The moments their sex lives overlapped and she felt a brush of lips on her skin and nobody else was with her. It was entirely elusive style of writing.
Reading Panty had an almost fever-dream, hazy-like quality as there was so much uncertainty about what the woman was experiencing, what her relationships actually were, and what she was doing. The book poses many questions and provides no answers keeping you off balance throughout.
The exploration of women's sexuality felt very hetereonormative and even in that did not dig deep enough into the erotic and metaphorical realms I felt it was trying to. Although there were some really unsettling and absorbing lines that make the narrative haunting.
"you fit your mouth to her right nipple and suck out all her suffering”
It's really short so I didn't necessarily feel disappointed, I just wanted more from this book. It felt on the edge of being really brilliant in it's style and approach which is certainly innovative, but it didn't pay off entirely for me.