Customer Reviews

Song of the Cuckoo Bird: A Novel

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I just finished reading this book and just had to write a review. I read a lot of books by Indian authors and as an Indian there are times that I am disappointed and unimpressed, this is not one of those times. "Song of the Cuckoo Bird" is a truly fabulous experience as it takes you through the lives of people living in an ashram over a span of almost 50 years. This was an inspiring read. I especially loved the chapter about the ashram getting a television; I remember those times well.

Song of the Cuckoo Bird is a fascinating book portraying the different customs in Indian culture and how outcasts live by these customs.

Kokilia, a young Indian girl, comes to live in Tella Meda, an ashram, where she must wait to menstruate before she goes to live with her husband. She decides that she doesn't want to leave and lives there for the rest of her life amongst other people who are not accepted anywhere else, whether they are the daughter of a prostitute or a widow whose relatives do not want her. The relationships between the characters are very intriguing, and are slightly similar to the tight-knit environment of a small high school. The people in the ashram all have different morals, values, and beliefs, and this often leads to conflict. However, they all have one thing in common that binds them together; they have no other place to go.

It is amazing to read how the characters hurdle obstacle after obstacle and carry on with life despite their numerous problems. The chapters alternate points of view and show the differences between the characters' hopes and fears and how they think of each other. What I like the most about this book is how all of the characters still hold onto their aspirations despite their social situations. Also, I like how the author mentions what is happening politically in India while the residents of Tella Meda are carrying on their everyday lifestyles. Because they are so out of touch with the real world, these things do not affect the characters. It is interesting to see the differences of how the death of a prime minister is handled by an urban city dweller compared to how it is handled by a poor outcast in a small town. What seems like a big deal in the city seems like nothing in Tella Meda. The small sheltered environment is the only home the characters have, so they only care what is happening in that place.

The only problem I have with this book is that there are too many characters that have similar names, and it is easy to get them confused with one another. Some of these characters are even unnecessary; the author just eliminates them from the story entirely.

All in all however, this book is a great novel. So many different events happen, making the plot exciting and interesting, and with the different points of view on each of these events, it is possible to see all sides of the story.

I loved this book! I have read other books by Amulya and have liked them but this one is truly superior. The story is beautiful, the characters interesting and the writing remarkable. I recommend this book to everyone interested in India and who want to read a novel written not specifically for a "foreign" audience, but one that just tells a story without pretense.

Amulya Malladi's book Song of the Cuckoo Bird is one of my favorite books. The story is told in 3rd person, with Kokila, an orphan girl bought to an ashram (a religious home) at a very young age, as the center of the story. Over her 40+ years at the ashram in a small town called Bheemanipatnam in South India, she meets other characters, namely "the discards of society", who come to the ashram with no other home and the ashram's devotees. Among the people are a prostitute's daughter, an old man whose children do not want him, a widowed old woman, and Charvi, the girl whom the town believes is a goddess, and others. The story is also multigenerational, so the main character's sons and daughters reap the consequences of their parents' position in the little town in their attempt to construct a "normal" life outside the ashram and cast off their inherited reputations. Everyone in the ashram has hopes and dreams, and this story chronicles how some dreams were shattered and how some beautifully unfolded.

I loved this story because it is richly detailed with the women's lives in South India for the past 50 years, Hindu traditions, how small towns in India have developed, South Indian taboos and superstitions, and modernization. Malladi's storytelling style was also great because it's simple and to-the-point. A glossary of Telugu words would have been helpful. This story has all the elements of a lifetime: love, loss, hope, devastation, heartbreaks, death, and tradition, therefore it was a joy to read and learn about a lifestyle so different from mine.

Spanning over half a century, SONG OF THE CUCKOO BIRD is a fascinating journey of a bunch of social misfits living in an ashram in Southern India. The house they live in is called Tella Meda, the house with the white roof, and the inhabitants range from the Guru of the ashram to a woman who ran away from a husband, to the daughter of a prostitute, a man whose children won't support him and so on and so forth. The protagonist, Kokila (her name means cuckoo bird) stands in the centre of the story. Kokila came to Tella Meda when she was 11 years old, an orphan and a wife. When the time comes for her to leave for her husband's home (girls had to be mature before they could go to their husband's house), Kokila refuses and lives the rest of her life in Tella Meda itself. This book is about the decisions we make and how those decisions mould our lives. It is an absolutely stunning book and a very different direction for Amulya Malladi. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever been interested in the spiritual side of India and in the country in general.

An epic tale, SONG OF THE CUCKOO BIRD tells the story of the residents of an ashram called Tella Meda, "The House with the White Roof." Those who live there are poor and destitute and have no place to go. Established in the 1950s as a home for wayward people, it also houses a girl who is deemed to be a goddess. Charvi is that young goddess; when she's born her father declares her a deity. The people in the village bring her offerings, and in turn Charvi's family gives individuals a place to stay, food, and blessings from the goddess. No one ever doubts the veracity of the situation, and even Charvi grows up believing that this is her fate, never questioning what she has been told for as long as she can remember.

Tella Meda is an integral character in the book, as it changes from its early beginnings and ends its life in the new millennium. During the 40-plus years of its existence, people come and go. One of the main characters is Kokila, whose name means "cuckoo bird." It is mostly through her eyes that the reader will watch the changes happening there. Kokila is an orphan who is placed at Tella Meda upon her marriage at age 11 and is told to stay there until she experiences her first menses. At that point she will be allowed to live with her husband.

However, at the appointed time, Kokila rejects her spouse and states that she will never leave Tella Meda, thus changing the course of her life forever. Instead, Kokila has fallen in love with her caretaker's son, Vidura, who, along with many of the other inhabitants of Tella Meda, eventually will leave and never be heard from again. A majority of those who come to Tella Meda only stay for a brief while, as can be true with most people who remain in our hearts forever but physically may be a part of our lives for only a short time.

Another inhabitant is Chetana, the daughter of a prostitute, and she becomes good friends with Kokila. Kokila, Chetana and Charvi grow up together but have markedly different lives due to the choices they make or are made for them, yet all three live their lives out at Tella Meda. It is their stories that make up the bulk of SONG OF THE CUCKOO BIRD.

This is a remarkable tale of a family of misfits, while at the same time the book itself chronicles major events in India and changes that affect those who live at Tella Meda. I found it fascinating to see how much change actually does happen within the 40-plus years that Charvi lives her life as a goddess at Tella Meda. A very epic-like drama, one will walk away from this novel with a sense of awe and possibly a handful of tissues. A wonderful book for those who are in love with the literature of India, this is probably Amulya Malladi's best effort since her debut. She successfully describes the feel of what it is like to live in an ashram, the diverse people who come and go, and the poverty that engulfs those who reside there.

If one has to choose which book to read first by Malladi, SONG OF THE CUCKOO BIRD is the one I would recommend most.


--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton (Ratmammy@lofton.org)

My treasured mother recommended this book!!! There are so many things I love about this book the first of all that it is set in INDIA!!! Generally I find books set in India and written by Indian authors wonderful and this was no exception.

What else did I love? It is set in a Ashram with a female guru. The Ashram is run by the bizarre father of the guru and how he impacts each of the inhabitants is fascinating. Each woman is located at the ashram because of less than perfect circumstances and watching them grow as souls is delicious. I loved the depiction of Indian culture and relationships. The rich way the author describes all aspects of this book like feeling a complex fabric tapestry. Oh the depiction of different types of love soul opening!!

I read a good review of this book in The Boston Globe and was not disappointed. This is a very unusual book about India and I learnt something new about the ashram culture and the Indian society as a whole. In the beginning I was annoyed with the use of foreign words but as I read the book I was glad that the author had not translated everything and ruined the charming effect the words gave the entire book.

I recommended this book to my book club and we LOVED it!! It was such a fabulous read. Now we're planning to read all of Amulya Malladi's books.

I am not sure what the author means when she invites the readers to see the spiritual side of India by reading this book. There are Guru's ranging from the truly genuine to the fake like Charvi. This book is not about a typical ashram, it is more about the typical misfits and typical fake Guru's.

This book is not only the song of the cuckoo bird, but also equally the song of many others ( Charvi, Sastri, Chetana, Subhadra and many others ). Add to this the songs of these people's Children and grandchildren and/or their friends and/or their relatives and visitors to the ashram. There are just too many characters.

It was not Vidura who related the battle of Mahabharatha to king Dhritharashtra and Ugadi is not celebrated in January !.