The Abyss -

nRaw, tender, and darkly comic, The Abyss is widely considered a masterpiece from Jeyamohan, a writer whose body of work has shaped modern Tamil literature.n nPothivelu Pandaram is known as a successful, God-fearing man about town: he has a loyal wife, three daughters, and money to pay for their dowries. However, it's an open secret that his success is fueled by a trade that is as profitable as it is cruel: he owns--and breeds--a group of physically deformed beggars and places them outside temples to collect money.n n nThere is Mangandi Samy, with just one arm, no legs, and a little head on top, who only speaks in divine songs he himself invents; Ahmedkutty, an intellectual whose testicles hang to the floor like two great pumpkins; Muthammai, mother to eighteen children. To Pandaram, they are only items, to be bought and sold like cattle. But when he makes an impulsive trade, his luck turns. n nWritten with an unflinching eye and suffused with a deep existential longing, The Abyss is an extraordinary novel--for its terrain, its fundamental questions about humanity, and its depiction of human suffering and liberation.n