Mary Anne Mohanraj

I cannot speak for how accurately this book depicts Sri Lankan culture, but I can say that I could barely put it down. The book is a series of vignettes from a couple of Tamil families. It depicts the relationships between parents and children, aunts and nieces, and romantic and sexual partners. There is a lot of concern with how women support each other and make compromises to sustain both their own sexuality and their traditional culture. You might consider this somewhere between "chick show more lit" and "literary fiction."

A number of the vignettes have sexual content, but nothing prolonged; it's a passionate book, perhaps even an arousing book in places, but not a masturbatory book. Mohanraj also writes about food, clothing, weather, all of the things of daily life, in dense but brief detail. One gets the impression of a lush, damp mind, full of biodiversity.

Highly recommended. Some sexually explicit parts. show less

I'm in two minds about this book. On the one hand the author is a keen observer of humankind, men and women both, and catches sexual desire in that larger human context. Written by a woman it doesn't have that frothy, lacy interpretation of female sexuality that is sold in sugar coated form to appeal to an idealised woman that lives only in the minds of ad-men. It is, rather, earthy and honest and truthful and all the more erotic because of that. On the other hand the prose is somewhat show more stilted, the set-ups obvious. This is a pity and it's odd because the prose sections are interspersed with poems - and these poems are lyrical and powerful. That the prose should lack this lyricism then is the oddity. The poetry is tantalising, its eroticism implied for the main, quite beautifully evoked. The prose - earthy - is far more lustful. The sex is hotly described and is genuinely arousing. It's just the set-up. I wouldn't mind but the plot lines are strong and the author has clear characterisations well portrayed. show less

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

This is one of the most user-friendly cookbooks I've ever had the pleasure of owning. Mohanraj provides just enough context and tells just the right stories to situate the recipe within the cultures this book represents, and then moves right along to the nitty gritty of the recipe itself. When we encounter uncommon ingredients, equipment, or techniques, there are plentiful tips on what can be fiddled with or worked around, and we're given a heads up when show more something is indispensable to the integrity of the recipe. There are helpful notes throughout about consistensies to aim for, or the stages of browning to watch for, or how to make sure your patties hold together. This is not a cookbook that will leave you feeling like you're being tested by Mary Berry in the GBBO tent! No, this book holds your hand and assures you that things will turn out fine.

And they do! Truly! Because the claim that Mohanraj makes which she delivers most thoroughly on is one that appears quite early in the book, in the introduction IIRC: that cooking these things isn't *difficult*. With the right guide - and she is it! - even neophytes will find some level of success.

I am a south Indian myself, so I was very familiar with the idli-dosa-poriyal section of this cookbook. But I'm still a noob at the other two thirds of the book. So far I've tried my hand at the curry buns and the milk toffee, and the results were surprisingly good for a first attempt. My kids made "yellow" ginger-garlic chicken (after I had helped with the chopping up of ingredients) - and they loved the results. I'm going to try the chinese rolls next. Wish me luck! show less

OK, so I'm a bit biased. I follow the author on social media & am a fan of pretty much everything of hers that I've read (not yet read everything she's written, but I'm working on it). On the other hand, I'm not really much of a reader of erotic fiction, finding most of it generally unsexy and eye-rollingly bad. This? Is not most erotic fiction. There's enough variety that just about anybody should find something appealing. And the characters are all warmly and realistically drawn.

Granted, show more all of the stories didn't work for me, but that's to be expected. We don't all find the same things intriguing or sexy in real life, either (thank ye gods and leettle feeshes, because otherwise this would be a rather boring world!) Those bits that did work for me? Wowza. /ahem/ Did it suddenly get warm in here?

One of my favorite things about the book, though, is the care that went into it. I've gotten so used to awful ebook editing, that it is a genuine pleasure to read one that doesn't have a million tiny errors of spelling, punctuation, spacing, grammar, etc. show less