Lil Bahadur Chettri

This 122-page novel is set in eastern Nepal. Though it has a rather basic plot centered on a young farmer’s efforts to provide for his wife and infant son and to help his younger sister get married, this book is ultimately not about the story line. For those familiar with Giovanni Verga, it resembles that author’s gut-wrenching House by the Medlar Tree, another tale of poverty and bad luck. But even its Chettri rejected the simple view, writing that the book “might not entertain its readers, because that is not its aim. In it I have simply tried to give a picture of the villages in the hills of Nepal. Life in the hills -- the joys and sorrows of the villages and the events that happen there -- is the essence of [the book]. From a literary point of view, the standard of this novel is not high, because I have based it on reality.” Indeed, the author is at pains to be even-handed. The protagonist makes some unwise decisions, he has a run of bad luck, and—certainly—there are those willing to take advantage of him. But the book is not about the exploitation of the peasants by the wealthier land owners—a topic understandably common in many national literatures. Eventually, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the family loses everything and the book ends as the family leaves their former home and village, headed they know not where to do what they can. Indeed, the ending is left open. The strength of the book is in its portrayal of what the author says he aimed to do: offer the reader a detailed picture of rural life in Nepal. You learn how the village functions, how people of different classes (and sexes) deal with one another, how life proceeds. The writing is straightforward and unadorned. But I think that, perhaps unlike other works struggling to make a “statement,” this one succeeds in part because of its approach, its simplicity, and its fairness to all. Recommended.… (mehr)