Fiction
Read it
S. Hareesh is a new author for me. I actually picked this up due to the cover - it's very nicely done. I've mentioned many times that authors from different places have different flavors. This is the first one I've read with a Keralite author and it was delightful.
The novel is set in the backwaters of Kerala in small villages. By chance, an idle youth is pulled into a play in which he is made to wear a mustache and be a policeman. He plays his role so well, and scares quite a few audiences. When the play is done, he decides to keep it. The novel follows all of the antics and legends that build around this one normal person who grows an epic mustache. One cannot quite decide what is real and what is legend after a while. As lore often goes, people hear things about themselves that are absurd. But they rarely correct these ideas - as does our main character. He spends much of his time running from both law enforcement as well as unruly mobs who blame him for all manner of things.
I truly felt sorry for the main character as he obviously has become enamored with his identity and likes it, though it keeps him from leading a normal life. He has a love interest, but is kept away from her tragically for a long time.
S. Hareesh involves the reader to quite some detail on cast politics and social norms between them. While it's uncomfortable to read and shameful that such things happen, he doesn't pull punches and describes things just so. The author employs two very distinct and different tones. There are conversations between a father and son about the legends of the Mustach Man, and then there are the the exploits themselves. The author has done a masterful job of making them sound very different.
I found myself getting slightly frustrated by the pace occasionally, but the author simply refuses to be rushed, and there's something to be said for that. Read this if you want some historical context on Kerala, caste, and of course legends.
~Becky~
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