That Long Silence
My rating
4 / 5
Self-Purchased copy
Author
Shashi Deshpande
Publisher
Penguin Books
Genre
Womens' Fiction
Number of Pages
196
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Goodreads Blurb
Jaya's life comes apart at the seams when her husband is asked to leave his job while allegations of business malpractice against him are investigated.
Her familiar existence disrupted, her husband's reputation in question and their future as a family in jeopardy, Jaya, a failed writer, is haunted by memories of the past.
Differences with her husband, frustrations in their seventeen-year-old marriage, disappointment in her two teenage children, the claustrophobia of her childhood—all begin to surface.
In her small suburban Bombay flat, Jaya grapples with these and other truths about herself—among them her failure at writing and her fear of anger.
Shashi Deshpande gives us an exceptionally accomplished portrayal of a woman trying to erase a 'long silence' begun in childhood and rooted in herself and in the constraints of her life.
Top Quotes from That Long Silence
“‘I have given you knowledge. Now you make the choice. The choice is yours. Do as you desire.’”
“‘Trying to find oneself’–what a cliché that has become. As if such a thing is possible. As if there is such a thing as one self, intact and whole, waiting to be discovered. On the contrary, there are so many, each self attached like a Siamese twin to a self of another person, neither able to exist without the other.”
“‘Now I knew better. We didn’t have to wait for another life for our punishment. It was all reserved for us right here”
“Women are the victims” theory of yours. It’ll drag you down into a soft, squishy bog of self-pity. Take yourself seriously, woman. Don’t skulk behind a false name. And work – work if you want others to take you seriously.
Yes, I have been scared, scared of breaking through that thin veneer of a happy family …
And if there is anything I know now it is this: life has always to be made possible.
Shashi Deshpande
Novelist and short story writer, Shashi Deshpande began her career with short stories and has by now authored nine short story collections, twelve novels and four books for children. Three of her novels have received awards, including the Sahitya Akademi award for `That Long Silence'. Some of her other novels are `The Dark Holds No Terrors', `A Matter of Time', `Small Remedies', `Moving On', `In The Country of Deceit' and `Ships that Pass'. Her latest novel is `Shadow Play'.Many of her short stories and novels have been translated into a number of Indian as well as European languages. She has translated two plays by her father, Adya Rangacharya, (Shriranga), as well as his memoirs, from Kannada into English, and a novel by Gauri Deshpande from Marathi into English.
Apart from fiction, she has written a number of articles on various subjects - literature, language, Indian writing in English, feminism and women's writing - which have now been put together in a collection `Writing from the Margin.' She has been invited to participate in various literary conferences and festivals, as well as to lecture in Universities, both in India and abroad.
She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.
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