Customer Reviews

The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tamil Pulp Fiction is an extremely interesting and entertaining set of stories, translated for the first time from Tamil into English. These detective, suspense, romantic, and supernatural stories are great fun to read, and they represent an eclectic and interesting set of cultural perspectives. I'd recommend to both pulp fiction enthusiasts and to anyone interested in modern Indian culture.

I will admit I am biased towards this book. This is the first time, pulp novels written in my native language tamil have been translated into English. For that alone, this book was a definite purchase for me. What makes it all the more interesting is the diverse set of authors covered. Ranging from thrillers to almost soft porn like mysteries, it has all. Strongly recommended.

An omnibus of freakin' awesome short pulp stories that crosses cultural borders and packs plenty of humor, mystery, action, and sexy-strong gals. If you have an interest in Indian/Tamil culture, traditions and social norms, this collection is a delight to read. Granted, it is fiction and takes a few liberties, but without a modicum of reality and truth, fiction wouldn't be enjoyable.

This is a varied selection of tales from popular magazines. The stories include detective fiction, romance fiction science fiction and strange tales of ghostly retribution. Each tale is interesting in it's own right and taken as a whole they provide a window into the popular reading tastes of average Indians.

The book also includes copies of the very lurid covers of some of the popular magazines from which the tales were taken. Pulp fiction indeed.

This is a rather uneven collection of crime fiction, sci-fi, satire, social commentary. There are two or three absolute sparklers, but the rest are somewhat pedestrian and obvious. I loved the brilliant wit and repartee of Pattukotai Prabakaran's `Sweetheart, Please Die' and the innuendo and bonhomie of Subha's `Hurricane Vaij', which were possibly the best stories in the book. Some of the stories are overtly preachy - offering a defence of a woman's sexual rights, say, or urging honesty in a politician - and some involve mad scientists and that old favourite of Indian films, reincarnation and revenge. I guess this is not surprising: they must appeal to the lowest denominator, and so become obvious and forced. Still, it's heartening to see that the remarkably prodigious authors of the stories (some of whom have written thousands of tales and novellas) are often capable of superb and sophisticated imagination, refusing to pander to the base, and, fortunately for us, Pritham Chakravarthy has located several gems of the genre, and published them here.