The Rice Mother (2002) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Lakshmi: A practical, hard-working woman who tries to keep her family together during Japanese occupation.
• Ayah: A dreamy, self-absorbed man who only wishes to love his family; taking care of them became his wife's job.
• Laskmanan: Oldest son, much like his father. Except he gambled and let his wife beat the children.
• Mohini: The first daughter in the story that became the dream for the family. She posessed all the physical good fortune for the family which was good luck to them but it became the families' undoing.
• Mui Tsai: The sister who is relegated to revealing her siblings' character.
• Anna: Add a description of this character.
• Sevenese
• Jeyan: Married Ratha.
• Lalita
• Rani: Wife of Lanksman. Woman with motives, did not conform to country life-style and was very jeolous of her own daughter, Dimple.
• Ratha: Married to Jeyan. She seemed great at the beginning but she really had a crush on Sevenese and married Jeyan to be close to his brother. She spends her life hating every moment but "wakes up" in her old age.
• Raja
• Dimple: Supposed by the family to be the reincarnation of Mohini. She was thought to bring luck also but in the end did not.
• Luke: The man who loved Dimple but had a dark side that became the last haunting tale of this story.
• Grandma Lakshmi
• Lakshmnan
• Bella
• Nash
• Papa
• Ramesh
• Nefertiti
• Mr. Murugesu
• Mommy
• Pani
• Rao
• Lara
• Bilal
• Rice Mother: I think it's like saying "patriarch". It's anyone in the family with the power to give life and protect it by nourishing the family.
• Mr. Vellupilai

Quotes edit see section history

• “"With his last breath, Father taught Mother the meaning of love, the way she had never known exitsted--a humble acceptance that does not want more than is given."”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• All my life I have been driven by the blind compulsion to walk barefoot down the difficult path.

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• Life had yet to teach me that a child’s love can never equal a mother’s pain.

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• I tell all my grandchildren never to build walls, because once you start, the wall takes over. It is the nature of the wall to build itself until it is so high that it cannot be scaled.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Ceylon
• Malaya
• Singapore
• Kuantan
• England
• Ama
• Malaysia
• China
• Penang
• India
• Seremban

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• "I have been more fortunate than Thiruvallar": In the string of stories that make the chain of Hindu legend, Thiruvallar was one of the greatest sages that ever lived. At his wife's deathbed, he grandted her a boon. "Ask, he said, Ask for anything your heart desire." She could've asked for the most precious thing every Hindu aspire to --moksha, release from the necessity of further births--but instead she asked for the reason why he had requested a needle and aglass of water with every meal when they were first married. He said that the needle would be used to collect every grain of rice spilled at meals and wash them before eating. His wife was so great that she never spilled the rice or had any waste at all in the family. A good wife, beyond reproach.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Rani Manicka (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2003: South East Asia and Pacific)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813

Notes for Parents edit see section history

This book has some very graphic and harsh passages. From the unhappy, arranged marriage of the main character, to the Japanese occupation and torture of males; repeated rapes of females. This book could be very depressing to a young person.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Mothers & Children
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Family Saga
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary