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The Binding Vine by Shashi Deshpande is an ode to all those women who sacrifice their emotions , their feelings for the sake of society but want to break out of that suffocating mould.
It traces the journey of a woman who is away from her merchant navy husband for months at a time. Someone is forced to lock all her sexual desires in deep freeze till her husband returns again.
Urmi the main protagonist, is ashamed for having sexual urges when her husband is away. She feels disgusted by these urges and her need to feel satiate these urges. Her friendship with another man comes dangerously close to becoming an illicit affair but she checks herself on time.
At the same time she still grieving for her baby daughter who passed away a few years ago.
Urmi is a woman going through so many confusing emotions that it sometimes overwhelms her.
The book traces her friendship with other women and her relationship with her own mother.
Shashi Deshpande weaves a connecting thread between all the women characters , their life journey and the dilemmas they face in their everyday lives.
It has a very relatable middle class setting to it along with the day to day struggles of middle class and poor women.
It stirs emotions of unrest in the reader and forces the reader to confront some uncomfortable truths about the gender dynamics prevalent even today’s fast paced world.
An engaging read and a thought provoking book.
Image is the cover of the book
Born and brought up in Mumbai. A feminist and a voracious reader.
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