The Lone Empress


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Name : The Lone Empress - A portrait of Jayalalithaa
Author : Vaasanthi
    Year of Publication : 2019
    Genre : Non-fiction
   Rating : * (1  star out of 5)


The subject of this biography had obtained an injunction against it's release and the book could get released only after the subject's demise. After reading the book, one wonders whether Amma had read the book at all as the tome is hagiography masquerading as biography. For a book running into 350 pages, the book lacks any original insight and all the author's interviews are with Amma's sympathizers or school friends. Almost all the criticisms of Amma's authoritarian rule are attributed as emanating from the Opposition while the people of TN are perpetually besotted with their favorite "Rosappu amma". The woman is in jail convicted for corruption and the author laments how the lady used to luxuries had to adapt to the spartan settings of a jail. If only the most "intelligent administrator" had read the book before getting an injunction against it!

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