The story relates the life of a fisherman in a poor fishing community in Kerala (the far south of India). The story is very dependent on--and illustrative of--the customs, taboos, beliefs, and the day-to-day life of the community. I had a rough time for quite a while because the edition I read assumed a lot of knowledge that I don’t have and was also less than fluent. Even so, the story simply became irresistible; the characters were brilliantly drawn…a great piece of storytelling that resonated far beyond the surface of the story itself. (It is no surprise that Chemmeen won the Sahitya Akademi Award, a very prestigious prize, in 1957.) ( )