Book Review Title: Hangwoman Author: K R Meera Translated from Malayalam by J Devika The hangman’s noose is a symbol of power. The hangman experiences a sense of power when he pulls the lever to strangle the victim: the power to allot death to a human being. Chetna Grddha Mullick, the protagonist of K R Meera’s novel, Hangwoman , experiences the exotic sensation of that power as she sends a condemned convict to his death by enacting her duty as the hangwoman. But there is a greater sensation awaiting her: that of the symbolic power she has acquired over all men, especially those men who have played the role of patriarchal subjugator in her life. K R Meera The novel is really about woman-power. It is about how women have been subjugated in various ways through centuries by men who took pride in the power they wielded over people for centuries. Even Phanibhushan Grddha Mullick, Chetna’s father and 88-year old hangman, is proud of his p...
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