The Grip of Change, The Hindu, 4-Jun-06

THE first thing that strikes you about The Grip of Change? Author P.Sivakami's translation makes you forget it was written originally in Tamil. More remarkably, in dealing with life in a Dalit community, it deals with life itself. It is a work of literature, not a manifesto. Avoiding shrillness makes the novel more poignant and powerful.

About centuries-old injustice, and rank destitution, as seen by Gowri, the young daughter of Dalit leader Kathamuthu, the story refuses to drown itself in misery. It shows socio-political shifts bringing about changes, and the faint glow of better tomorrows afar. Not as roseate dreams, but realised in the author's own breaking free from some shackles, and in a cousin who refuses to kowtow to the cannibalising forces within and outside his community. >>>