Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag

Translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur

Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi

Sakina's Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag | Translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur

Author: Vivek Shanbhag

Translator: Srinath Perur

ISBN: 978-0670098835

Genre: Literary Fiction

Length: 194 Pages

Publication Date: 9^th October 2023

Publisher: VINTAGE (An Imprint of Penguin Random House India)

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3ZIzOzl

About the Author: Vivek Shanbhag (Author) VIVEK SHANBHAG is a Kannada author, editor and playwright. He founded the pioneering literary journal Desha Kaala, editing it for seven years. His works include the widely translated Ghachar Ghochar. Although his stories are regularly translated and anthologised, Sakina’s Kiss is only his second complete work to be translated into the English. He is a Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the Ashoka University. He is an engineer by training and lives in Bangalore.

Vivek Shanbhag

X: @vivekshanbhag0

About the Translator: Srinath Perur (Translator) SRINATH PERUR writes about science, travel and books among other things and translates from Kannada to English. He is the author of the travelogue If It's Monday It Must Be Madurai and the translator of This Life at Play and Ghachar Ghochar.

Srinath Perur (Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

Disclaimer: This review is only intended to initiate discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author.

REVIEW

Vivek Shanbhag’s Sakina’s Kiss—translated with graceful precision by Srinath Perur—masterfully sketches a portrait of Venky, a man caught between the comforts of his patriarchal conditioning and his ideological certainties falling flat slowly. Through Venky, Shanbhag explores a multitude of societal themes, from patriarchal family dynamics to the inescapable influence of politics, all without the novel feeling heavy-handed.

Almost instantly, we are introduced to Venky’s characteristic indecision and passive approach to life. A man steeped in self-improvement books and TV news debates, Venky’s thoughts on women, relationships, and family are shaped more by societal influence than by personal understanding. His relationship with his wife, Viji, has become one defined by unspoken tensions. The irony of Venky’s character is central to the novel. He is, in many ways, a man bound by his own contradictory beliefs.

But what stands out most in Sakina’s Kiss is the way Shanbhag explores larger socio-political undercurrents through the lens of Venky’s middle-class existence. Shanbhag weaves in topics like rural land grabs, farmer peasantry, and the rise of Naxalism, seen through the figure of Venky’s uncle, Ramana, who becomes radicalized. Venky, on the other hand, is caught in a tug-of-war between the pressures of fatherhood and the weight of his own insignificance in a rapidly modernizing world.

His thoughts about his daughter’s budding independence and rebellious streak are shaped more by his fears than any genuine understanding of Rekha’s needs. At its core, Sakina’s Kiss delves into Venky’s journey of confronting—and often suppressing—his own vulnerability. His life, shaped by the male-dominated social structures of his upbringing, leaves him awkwardly negotiating his encounters with people with higher or equal authority and the weight of his role as a father. In the novel’s climax, Venky is forced to reckon with this fragility when a break-in at their home occurs—a metaphorical and literal invasion that throws his carefully managed life into disarray.

The brilliance of Shanbhag’s storytelling lies in its restraint. There are no grand resolutions, only the slow unravelling of Venky’s beliefs and the deeply personal yet highly political choices his family faces. This open-endedness mirrors the reality of living in a world where politics, personal relationships, and identity are constantly in flux.

Sakina’s Kiss offers no easy answers, but it poses necessary questions about modern India’s grappling with its past and future. Shanbhag’s ability to tackle multiple themes—from rural struggles and urban anxieties to generational conflicts—without losing the novel’s intimate tone is what makes it a deeply compelling, nuanced read.

Happy Reading!

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