Cover attraction is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. This is what she has to say…’I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by.’
I feel the same way. This past weekend I was browsing around Amazon.ca and came across a cover that caught my eye right away~The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan . I went on to read the description and from that decided to order the novel. I must mention also that the US Amazon cover of this novel is much different from Canada’s and I like the Canadian version much better so that’s the one I’m using. I did notice though that at Amazon.com I only ran across the hardcover and this is the paperback cover that I’ve used here so that could be the reason. The reason I love this cover so much is the simplicity of it, like the woman in the picture is reaching back to catch the lemon. This week’s cover attraction is…
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
Release Date: March 10, 2009
Product Description from Amazon.ca…
In a fiction debut to rival The God of Small Things, Padma Viswanathan gives us a richly detailed and intimate vision of an India we’ve never seen.
Inspired by her family history, Padma Viswanathan brings us deep inside the private lives of a Brahmin family as the subcontinent moves through sixty years of intense social and political change. At the novel’s heart is Sivakami, a captivating girl-child married at ten to an astrologer and village healer who is drawn to her despite his horoscope, which foretells an early death–depending on how the stars align when their children are born. All is safe with their daughter’s birth, but their second child, a son named Vairum, fulfills the prophecy: by eighteen, the child bride Sivakami is a widow with two young children.
According to the dictates of her caste, her head is shaved and she must don the widow’s white sari. From dawn to dusk, she is not allowed to contaminate herself with human touch, not even to comfort her small children. She dutifully follows custom, except for one act of rebellion: she insists on a secular education for her troubled son. While her choice ensures that Vairum fulfills his promise in a modernizing India, it also sets Sivakami on a collision course with him. Vairum, fatherless in childhood, childless as an adult, rejects the caste identity that is his mother’s mainstay, twisting their fates in fascinating and unbearable ways.
The Toss of a Lemon is heartbreaking and exhilarating, profoundly exotic and yet utterly recognizable in evoking the tensions that change brings to every family’s doorstep. It is also the debut of a major new voice in world fiction.
I think this novel sounds amazing and I can’t wait to read it. How about you, did you find any great covers this week and like me, it prompted you to add it to your wishlist or even purchase the book?
I love both covers! And I’ll be sure to get this book! 🙂
It’s a beautiful cover. Very simple but nicely done.
This book is on my TBR list and just like you I was very attracted to the beautiful cover!
This cover makes me hungry!!!!
Wow, this book sounds very intense!
I keep forgetting that you’re in Canada, you seem so close to me! LOL
Well I guess you are not really that far from NY.
Just hop down here for a visit will ya?
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistpostingonline.info
That cover is gorgeous.
Beautiful cover! Thanks for sharing!
That sounds like a great book and it is definitely a very very beautiful cover.. I am from a Brahmin family in southern India myself and I guess that adds to the attraction of the book! I really want this book right away!!:)
I agree, this novel sounds fascinating. It’s something different. Thanks for the heads up.
P.S.
Stop by when you get a chance, I gave you an award.
Well, I’m Canadian too and I’ve had this one on my library list as a future read for some time now. The cover though, doesn’t look anything like the one you show here. Hope you find this one as good as it sounds; I’ll be waiting for your review…
I almost bought this book the other day! I decided to wait on it, but am really looking forward to reading your review of this one!
well the comment box seems to be working for me…but I can’t see some of your images in your posts..ugh..LOL Ah well…I’ll look at the photos later.
LOL!! I marked this book to read based on the cover only!! love it and can’t wait to see what you think about it!!
**sidenote: I had no idea that CA covers were different than US ones!!
Wanted to let you know that I have an award for you at my blog, Unmainstream Mom Reads if you want to go pick it up.
Also, I am running 7 different book contests right now – you’ll find links on the righthand sidebar at the top 🙂
beautiful cover and it sounds like a great book!
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
Thank you for posting a Cover Attraction this week. Not only is the cover intriguing but so the the story line and I’ve added it to my wish list. You’re right the US cover isn’t one that would have caught my attention. I like the Canadian cover much better.
Dar, I got a chance to hear Padma at a reading at Johns Hopkins in the fall, and that brief excerpt made me want to read the book too. She really captures the Indian culture’s complexity. If you’d like to know more about her, here’s an interview we did on Read Street: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/2008/12/padma_viswanathan_the_toss_of.html
I’m with you in coveting this book! Yes, the Canadian paperback cover is eye-catching!
Dave, thanks for posting the link to your interview. Love to read (and hear) interviews.
Thanks everyone for stopping by my cover attraction. The book came in the mail yesterday and it looks just as lovely in person.
Wendy, a visit would be lovely but it would definitely take more than hopping to get there. lol.
Sheela, thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I do hope you will visit often and thanks for leaving a comment. I really appreciate all readers and all comments.
Ramya, yes this book would be right up your alley I’m sure. I really can’t wait to get to it but other priorities call right now.
Wanda, the library likely has the hard cover and it is quite different. I don’t like it as much at all.
Zibilee, I didn’t have that much self control. lol.
Staci, I was thrilled to find that the book sounded as good as the cover looked. Oh book covers can really differ between countries. I like to look for the one I like best.
Dave, thanks for popping in again. I’m definitely going to take a look at the interview you did. I always love learning more about the author behind the book. Thanks.