Suki
In Suki, fabulist Suniti Namjoshi weaves a witty and delightful tapestry from threads of longing, loss, memory, metaphor, and contemplation. Suki is a lightly fictionalised memoir of one woman and her cat. Comparable to J.R. Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip, Nilanjana Roy’s The Wildings and Paul Auster’s Mr Bones, the book is full of tender wisdom and sharp insight into the unique relationship between human and animal.
“Let’s face it, “ I told her one day. “The reason we get on is because we’re a pair of murderous animals and we acknowledge it.” I had lapsed – once again – from being vegetarian and was trying to think profound and moral thoughts about the food chain. Suki wasn’t having any of it. “I don’t spend my time committing murder,” she told me. “I spend it sleeping.”
“Well, that’s a waste of time!”
“When I sleep, I dream.”
“What do you dream about?”
“About life,” she replied in a superior fashion.
2014 | 9781742198880 | Paperback | 132 pp
Reviews
From the moment I started reading, I could tell this was a novel I could potentially fall in love with. I related to many things as both a writer and a reader, and was left with a feeling of contemplation about life and art that not many other books can instill.
—H.B. Tully, Writer's Edit
This is non-fictional magic-realism at its most entertaining...Namjoshi’s light as a soufflé style—humour sparkles on every page...The cat, with her tart one-liners is perpetually trying to put her mistress in her proper place, or at least where she thinks she rightfully belongs...One thing is clear. Suniti Namjoshi was extremely attached to her beloved Suki and in this slim volume has paid her a tribute that makes us laugh, think and feel the longing of loss. Not to be missed.
—Ranjit Lal, The New indian Express
Unsentimental yet utterly moving, it is a remark that captures the essence of Namjoshi’s writing as well as that of the creature she remembers in this charming little tale.
—Somak Ghoshal, Live Mint
“Suki” is a warm and highly relatable tale that is well-paced and thoughtful. There are also some quaint pictures woven in amongst the symbolic writing and metaphors. Ultimately, this helps create a contemporary and intelligent story that will appeal equally to your heart and your head.
—Natalie Salvo, LOTL
Namjoshi draws on the cultures she has experienced to tell us an interesting fable that would be enjoyed by people who love their pets, those who are interested in the process of meditation and those who enjoy a read that is not difficult, but leaves them with deep questions to be pondered.
—Margaret McDonald, The Australian Writer
The human and animal attitudes that emerge from their dialogues and adventures are the essence of this book.
—Alison Broinowski, The Canberra Times
The second half of the novel abandons the real world altogether and twists the narrative into something more like the fables that the author/narrator writes; suddenly, the novel is taking place entirely inside S’s mind. The characters are all facets of S’s personality, the distilled essence of her greed, her insecurity, her love, and along with S and Suki the reader contemplates Buddhist teachings regarding detachment and enlightenment. It sounds heady, and although you might expect someone to take on such a significant subject in a dramatic way, Namjoshi’s approach is a quiet and subtle one that is ultimately more influential than a brasher take might have been.
—Laura Strickland, Lip
'One thing is clear. Suniti Namjoshi was extremely attached to her beloved Suki and in this slim volume has paid her a tribute that makes us laugh, think and feel the longing of loss. Not to be missed.'
—Ranjit Lal, The New Indian Express
At the same time, one knows that these conversations are fictional, that Namjoshi is imagining things about the cat’s inner life and rendering them into human language. And so, the book becomes as much about the author herself – it is a form of therapy, a way of examining her deepest feelings, including love, grief and regret.
—Jabberwock
Table of Contents
Part I A Memoir
1 A Fearful Wight
2 Days
3 Rules and Commandments
4 A Moral Animal
5 The Spaceship
6 Darwin
7 Analogies
8 The Summit of her Ambitions
9 Renaissance Entity
Part II The Vipassana Trek
10 The Menagerie
11 Gambolling on the Grass
12 The Mouse Hole
13 Fleas
14 An Indian Story
15 Clever Monkey
16 The Story Fest
17 The Return