[This is a translation of an article that was published by Jeyamohan in 2001 –Tamil Novelgal vimarsaganin sibaarisu (தமிழ் நாவல்கள் விமர்சகனின் சிபாரிசு) –http://www.jeyamohan.in/84) – ed.]

Jeyamohan

"As a critic, I would venture that I consider these to be the best of modern Tamil novels published till the year 2000. I have written a book ("Novel", 1992) that delineates the standards for the 'Novel' form. Only those works that meet those standards, or even emulate them, have made it to this list. Completed works from the Eelam region are not available as yet, so I do not have enough confidence to include them here. It is my wish that a good Sri Lankan critic compile such a list of best Eelam Tamil novels.

Literature relies on imagination as the tool to measure and describe life itself. For a work that aspires to achieving the Novel form, it has to provide an account of life from a historical and philosophical perspective. It has to use those wireframes to construct a narrative that is complete and whole within itself. That is the fundamental criterion underlying this list. Creative works that display structural and linguistic poise might yet have been classified only as 'Light Reading' if only because they failed to go beyond merely pleasuring the reader to a higher plane of original quest about life.

The fundamental strength of this list is the conviction I have about it. If required, I can provide pages of arguments professing the merits of each of the selected works. That is why I call them a Critic's Choice, not the Reader's."

— Jeyamohan, March 2001

Top Ten Tamil Novels – on the basis of merit

  1. Vishnupuram – Jeyamohan
  2. Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural – Jeyamohan
  3. Puyalile Oru Thoni – Pa.Singaram
  4. Oru Puliyamarathin Kadhai – Sundara Ramasami
  5. Moghamul – Thi.Janakiraman
  6. Poithevu – Ka.Na.Subramaniam
  7. Je.Je. Sila Kurippugal – Sundara Ramasami
  8. Thalaimuraigal, Neela Padmanabhan
  9. Krishnaparundhu – Aa.Madhavan
  10. Maanudam Vellum – Prapanchan

Best Tamil Novels over the years – Critic's Recommended List
(In chronological order)

Prathapa Mudhaliar Sarithiram,Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai (1879)

Usually referred to as the first Tamil novel, Prathapa Mudhaliar Sarithiram was a western style romance. Simple humor ("Let me know if you don't get this letter, I'll send you another one…") and narrative descriptions mark this story of a landlord told in an autobiographical form.
Kamalaambal Sarithiram,Rajam Aiyer (1896)

Rajam Iyer died young at the age of 24. He was a Vedantin, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda and the editor of the magazine Bharatham. Though Kamalambal Sarithiram lacks a unity in creativity and purpose, as a debut work it still merits a level of attention. The way in which the author describes the protagonist's muted lust during his childhood wedding stands evidence to the author's soft touch.
Padmavathi Sarithiram,Madhavaiah (1898)

The forerunner of 'social reform' novels in Tamil with the woman's poignant life as theleitmotif. Today, when we read the sections on Padmavathi's husband doubting her fidelity, we feel that the Indian society and its male attitudes have not changed much even a hundred years on.
Poithevu, Ka.Na.Subramaniam (1946)

Without a doubt, the first true novel in Tamil – the first literary work which was consciously written to the specifications of the 'novel' form.  Poithevu explores the meaning of life through the character Somu Mudhali. With roots in both Vedanta and Existentialism, this solid work stands on firm philosophical ground. The tolling bells that pursue Somu from his childhood introduced the Tamil literary world to the immense possibilities of poetic metaphor in the Novel form.
Oru Naal, Ka.Na.Subramaniam (1950)

More of a novella, Oru Naal traces the happenings on a day when a former solider returns to his native village for his wedding. The village's gossiping elders and widows have been captured particularly well. The novel ends on the note that the man who spent his entire life roaming the world is going to remain yoked to the girl who never left the kitchen. Oru Naal attains greatness through such subtle commentary.
Vaadivaasal, Si.Su.Chellappa (1959)

Just really a long story, but usually included in lists as a novel. Vaadivaasal is a fast-paced narrative of the thrilling lives of bullfighting youngsters of a Madurai district village. The young Pichi has to shed blood if he wants to the tame the bull that gored his father to death. The mysterious voice from the sky which warns him about pernicious anger is the soul of Rural Tamil tradition itself.
Moghamul, Thi. Janakiraman (1956)

A beautiful story but lacks the space and the intensity of exploration required of a novel. But with its languid style, feisty conversations, unforgettable characters and descriptions that draw one in, Moghamul has captured Tamil hearts like no other. The novel reaches orgasmic highs where its language touches its musicality. It's the story of young musician Babu's confused and one-sided love for the older Marathi girl Yamuna, the ideal woman that Janakiraman loved and worshipped endlessly in various forms throughout his writing life.
Amma Vandhaal, Thi. Janakiraman (1967)

…When the Freudian hammer fell on traditional Tamil morals. Alangaram tries to cover up for her sexual guilt by sending her son Appu to learn the scriptures. Appu realizes the pure love that lives beyond moral codes and marries the young widow Indu.  Janakiraman's women were beautiful and sensual, they seeded a new generation of daydreams in Tamil readers – seeds from which the likes of Balakumaran sprouted.
Oru Puliyamarathin Kadhai, Sundara Ramasami (1966)

One of the most important novels in Tamil. Beautiful descriptions, curiously interesting events and engaging style define this story of the life and fall of a Tamarind tree that stood in a town junction – which, at a symbolic level, also marks the end of an era of idealism in Indian history. One can see the Nehruvian attempts at industrialization in the way the gardener snips and 'disciplines' the breezy grove down into a flower garden. The novel holds up a textual mirror to the various dynamics that continue to drive Indian politics today.
Je.Je. Sila Kurippugal, Sundara Ramasami (1978)

A borrowed and tiringly foreign attempt in Tamil at portraying western existentialism and the western writer's life. The tedium just grows and grows with every character. But at the same time, intricacy of expression, artifice and a rarefied poetic vigor take the book to a level at which it cannot be ignored. The book's central issues may be relevant only in France, but the style is distinctly Tamil. Je Je was a creative achievement that exploited the Novel form to its fullest, one that could be truly described as a dialectic on art.
Goballa Graamam, Ki.Rajanarayanan (1976)

A novel that describes the evolution of the Karisal cultural region through an anthology of folk tales. Possibly the only common thread that links the different stories is that they are all being told by the bard. The folksy descriptions carry the flavor of the master cook at work. In all, an exceptional portrait of the emergence and shaping up of an agricultural community.
Nagammal, R.Shanmugasundaram (1942)

The novella that foretold the birth of the Naturalism genre in Tamil. Nagammal is the strong-willed widow in the village, and her love affair ends in murder. The author brilliantly creates the torrid Karisal atmosphere, the lilting Kongu dialect and the rather 'thin lines' that separates fields (and village relationships). Shanmugasundaram's has been a tough act to emulate for his successors in the genre.
Piragu,Poomani (1976)

The forebear of Dalit novels in Tamil. Packed with realistic detail, it avoids any preachy flavor but is consequently seen as lacking in vigor. The book meant to describe the story after Independence, but the title connoted, 'Even after…'
Naalai Matrumoru Naale,G.Nagarajan

A sensation in its day, Naalai Matrumoru Naale was a deliberate and steady presentation on the dark, shameful side of the psyche that the Tamil reader had ignored till then. Its sensationalism might seem rather dull these days, if only due to the far more scandalous stuff served up by tabloid journalism. But this book is yet important as it mocked and ridiculed every pillar of society, from magazines to respected doctors. The novel describes a day in the life of a rowdy as he feels the entire society ranging against him. There is a point when the author rises above his own gaze when he describes the rowdy Kandhan looking wistfully at the brightly framed houses as he passes by on the dark street.
Buddham Veedu, Hepsibha Jesudasan (1964)

A village love story told in a simple and direct style. One of the works that stood on its own, away from the hollow commercialism, and established the power of literature that seeks deep within itself. The unpretentious portrayal of Lizzy lends itself to examining rural social proprieties that confined young women.
Thalaimuraigal,Neela Padmanabhan (1968)

Thalaimuraigal gained attention and became popular as one of the first Tamil novels where the narrator spoke in the regional dialect. Today, its importance stems from its uncut description of life during that period when all that one could do was be a single node in a complex web of relationships. Neela Padmanabhan's strength was that he wrote of things that he knew; and his weakness was that he never used his imagination to venture beyond.
Pallikondapuram,Neela Padmanabhan (1971)

Pallikondapuram cuts deep with its portrayal of the cuckold Ananthan Nair's turmoil. Ananthan keeps roaming around the city of Thiruvananthapuram which blows up into a throbbing physical metaphor of his own heart.
Krishnaparundhu,Aa.Madhavan

For forty years, Aa.Madhavan has been writing about the same locality of Thiruvananthapuram Bazaar street, he owns a shop there. The novel's soul is the darkness of the Bazaar's street life, the fight for survival. We start looking at the novel from a completely different perspective when it starts describing the holy man and his pictures of naked women. Truly Aa.Madhavan's best work.
Padhinettavadhu Atchakkodu,Asokamithran (1978)

Asokamithran describes urban life in his sparse and measured style, and this is one of his most important creations. The narrator, a young boy, plays cricket and tries to watch movies even as the city around him is boiling due to religious tension and power struggles. The parallel worlds finally collide, and the boy matures into a man. Pathinettavadhu Atchakkodu becomes more brighter and expansive when read in conjunction with Asokamithran's other two beautiful short stories, 'Secunderabad' and 'Lancer Park'.
Thanneer,Asokamithran (1973)

Thanneer is psychologically related to two other Asokamithran novellas, 'Malathi' and 'Maarudhal'. A city under severe drought and water scarcity; plus the humiliating life of sexually exploited Jamuna.  When sewage starts coming out of the water taps, the stories merge – and Thaneer attains deep metaphorical significance.
Thalaikeezh Vigidhangal, Nanjilnadan

Nanjilnadan is a clever storyteller, and this is a book where the characters and environment are brought to life with brilliant observation, and then penetrated deeply with sharp satire. The agricultural Vellala community and its pride, its downfall, its prosperity and its miserliness are all served up in a mixture that stimulates our own memories buried deep. Sivathanu marries into money in aquid pro quo for a good match for his sisters, and feels humiliated as moves in with his in-laws. Nanjilnadan's pet theme of 'humiliating poverty' gets sharper and tougher.
Oru Kadalora Graamathin Kadhai, Thoppil Mohammad Meeran (1989)

Meeran is a bombastic rural storyteller in the mould of Ki.Rajanarayanan. The soul of village life that emerges from his sharp observation does not easily lend itself to physical descriptions. It is steeped in ignorance, slavery and exploitation on one side, and struggle for self-respect, unblemished curiosity, loving relationships ranged on the other. The unending struggle between these two makes up the village of Meeran. All of his stories are in fact stories of 'villages on the shore'.
Maanudam Vellum,Prapanchan (1991)

Ours was a society that believed that legends and myths equated with history. We took legends, re-created them and called them historical novels. Maanudam Vellum was the first novel in Tamil that was created out of a historical narrative made up of documented facts that balanced out each other. It is a novel that describes the absurdity of history, the singular lack of coherence in the way it happens, and the intense power struggles that accompany it. The way in which European order starts to both control and guide the Indian psyche becomes simultaneously visible in this novel. Also, the realization, that the men of history need not be 'supermen', was an important one for Tamil literature.
Kagidha Malargal,Aadhavan

A 'Delhi' novel that portrays and heavily satirizes the tedium of urban life and the mental tangles of its characters, their cowardice and their self-centered lives.
Helicoptergal Keezhe Irangivittana,Indra Parthasarathi

Indira Parthasarathy was an important leader in modern Tamil literature as his keen scalpel examined what lay between intellectualism and the absurdity of everyday life. The Intellectual acts out his part in everyday life. Or is he just acting the role of an Intellectual every day? Tough to say.

From one of the passages in the novel:

"…In the end, the wayward husband returns to his wife".

The lady says "So, that was his punishment?".

The unpretentious clarity of the Intellectual's dialogue was Indira Parathasarathy's strength. His succeeding generation of urban chroniclers never achieved his balance; the reason being the negative influence of Sujatha's flashy narrative style.
Abitha,La. Sa. Ramamirtham (1970)

A contemporary myth set to a dancing rhythm. We can appreciate the experience if accept to stay with the flitting style.
Oru Manidhan Oru Veedu Oru Ulagam, Jayakanthan (1973)

Jayakanthan sends the white character Henry on a quest towards that ideal state of non-religious asceticism.
Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal, Jayakanthan (1973)

Starting out as an examination of the women that are sacrificed for our sexual pretensions, the novel achieves completeness when it describes the Indian woman's loneliness that began with Sita. The narrative's intensity is its strength.
Thaagam, Ku.Chinnappa Bharathi (1975)

Marxist novel that describes the Kongu land and the men born there. It does great until the loud sloganeering commences in the second half.

But one of the all-time triumphs in Tamil novels occurs in the scene where the farmer sees rain in the town he's visiting, and hurries back to his village, checking the trees and smelling the earth, hoping for rain.
Saayaavanam, Sa.Kandasamy (1978)

This novel is just an intricate description of a Tamarind grove being razed down for a factory. But through its metaphor it describes a deep spiritual fall in India. Saayavanam, the Forest of Shadows, is a town near Mayavaram. When the novel links the grove with the god of the land, it expands to a much higher level.
Surya Vamsam, Sa.Kandasamy (1978)

A politician's rise and fall, told in the style of a Puranic Asura's story, with minimal description and in a subdued style. When such a big ethical decline is narrated in such an under-stated way, it acquires a majestic sweep.
Vaasaveswaram, Kiruthiga (1966)

Vaasaveswaram is supposed to be a village in Kanyakumari district, but the novel gives it a puranic feel that strips it off any specific regional identity while giving it a modern character. The novel describes the ethical and moral fall of the village with deep satire. It becomes important due to its curious premise and structure.
Puyalile Oru Thoni,Pa.Singaram

Pa.Singaram wrote only two novels. This is the story of a young man who goes to Malaysia on business during the World War and gets swept up in the historical currents of the day. While it's an adventure story, the sharpness of satire and the sweeping language that hits its mark on subtle emotional moments make it the best Tamil novel for many readers and critics.
Kadalukku Appaal,Pa.Singaram

A sort of sequel to Puyalile Oru Thoni, where the emotions that had welled up earlier are slowly subsiding and the author's worldview concentrates towards questions about the essential meaning of life. This short novella ends when it bumps into a Thayumanavar song and stops there.
Ninaivuppadhai,Nagulan (1972)

Ninaivuppadhai is Nagulan's personal, salacious diary where he himself has split into two, 'Nagulan' and 'Naveenan'. One goes mad, the other writes poetry about Suseela and mocks worldliness. What makes this book important are the rare poetic leaps of expression and the sharp satire.
Paadhayil Padindha Adigal,Rajam Krishnan

Rajam Krishnan's style is one based on field research, and it is this which makes many of her stories just shallow pools of details. But it is the same kind of detail which greatly enables turning a true life story (of the revolutionary Mani Ammal) into gripping fiction.
Sidharalgal,Paavannan (1990)

The story of the lives gradually impacted and crushed when the Rodier Mill of Pondicherry closed down. The labourers had entered the industrial era with their farmer's values intact; their mill was not just a workshop, it was the land they tilled. They had an emotional connection with it. The prevailing industrial-era attitude (of closing down unprofitable mills) was just not able to appreciate the farmer's spirit of going down with his land.

This is a story that describes the strained relationship between the Tamil/Indian psyche and the modern era, in poignant and simple terms. A story that happens again and again.
Matrum Silar,Subrabharathi Manian (1991)

Migrating to foreign lands is a fundamental character of the Tamil because his native means of livelihood, agriculture and weaving, have always been unreliable. Millions of such Tamils have migrated to lands across India and elsewhere. This is a simple and sincere story of one such man who seeks refuge in Hyderabad but is neither able to assimilate nor leave, and continues to long for his native land.
Thoorvai, So.Dharuman (1997)

Dalit novels usually have a defining aspect, that is, their propensity to project to the reader a livid anger about their poignant lives. This novel instead shines the light on their own carnivals, their satire of the upper classes, their own traditions and rituals. There are no chapters or sections, so reading the book feels like having listened to a Dalit bard storyteller for a few hours.
Koveru Kazhudhaigal, Imaiyam (1997)

A novel created and shaped by the American-style editors that directed the author. The resulting tightness is the strength of this novel. But it is also the same aspect that creates a type of non-believability; it increases the realism but cuts into the story's arc.  The novel's expression reaches poetic excellence in the segments on Laments.
Kallam,Thanjai Prakash (1997)

A chaotic jumble of badly cut narratives and events, this immature novel becomes important for one reason – it was the first work which tried to describe 'perversion' in the Tamil sphere.
Rubber,Jeyamohan (1991)

A novel that collates multiple individual narratives and weaves them into a cohesive framework that describes the historical, social and cultural transformations in the Kanyakumari district during a particular period. In this style, immediate history is shown as memories, the distant past as legends and the contemporary history as a game. The arrival of the rubber plantation in Kanyakumari is used as a metaphor for this kind of transformation. The critic N S Jagannathan called it the "best Tamil novel of the 1980-90s".
Vishnupuram,Jeyamohan (1997)

An effort to examine Indian history and philosophical traditions through mythological and archetypal approach. Praised heavily for its completeness, intensity of expression and poetic metaphor. Asokamithran rated it as "the single biggest literary effort to have happened in the hundred-year history of Tamil literature"
Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural,Jeyamohan (1999)

Contemporary history provides a basis to examine fundamental ethical questions in this expansive cross-genre novel. Though it was based on the break-up of Soviet Russia, its fundamental quest is to seek the relationship between ideology and violence. The critic Rajamarthandan called it "a political novel without equal" in Tamil.
Ubapaandavam,S.Ramakrishnan (2000)

A new kind of novel that intricately re-examines the Mahabharata and offers it many new poetic interpretations. It strongly underlines the essence of Vyasa through scenes like the one which describes the forest filling up with the silence of the dog whose tongue was cut by Ekalavya. While its occasional poetic excellence is its finest feature, its careless, tiringly artificial style and disjointed form are its faults.

Second List

List of novels that are important for a variety of reasons, but failed to achieve artistic consummation.

  1. Pasitha Maanudam – Karichan Kunju
  2. Jeevanamsam – Si.Su. Chellappa
  3. Idhaya Naadham – Ra. Chidambara Subramanian
  4. Puthra – La.Sa.Ramamirtham
  5. Nithya Kanni – M.V.Venkatram
  6. Velvithee – M.V.Venkatram
  7. Verottam – Ku.Pa.Rajagopalan (Incomplete)
  8. Sembaruthi – Thi.Janakiraman
  9. Malar Manjam – Thi.Janakiraman
  10. Anbe Aaramudhe – Thi.Janakiraman
  11. Goballa Gramathu Makkal – Ki.Rajanarayanan
  12. Kuzhanthaigal Aangal Pengal – Sundara Ramasami
  13. Satti Suttadhu – R.Shanmugasundaram
  14. Vekkai – Poomani
  15. Kurathi Mudukku – G.Nagarajan
  16. Punalum Manalum – Aa.Madhavan
  17. Uravugal – Neela Padmanabhan
  18. Karaindha Nizhalgal – Asokamithran
  19. Kadalpurathil – Vanna Nilavan
  20. Midhavai – Nanjilnadan
  21. Enbiladhanai Veyil Kayum – Nanjilnadan
  22. Sadhuranga Kudhirai – Nanjilnadan
  23. Saaivu Naarkali – Thoppil Muhammadu Meeran
  24. Samanan Thoppu – Thoppil Muhammadu Meeran
  25. Vaanam Vasappadum – Prapanchan
  26. Mahanadhi – Prapanchan
  27. En Peyar Ramaseshan – Aadhavan
  28. Thanthira Boomi – Indira Parthasarathy
  29. Suthanthira Boomi – Indira Parthasarathy
  30. Panjum Pasiyum – Raghunathan
  31. Theneer – D.Selvaraj
  32. Malarum Sarugum – D.Selvaraj
  33. Visaranai Commission – Sa.Kandasamy
  34. Avan Aanadhu – Sa.Kandasamy
  35. Idaiveli – Sambath
  36. Muppadhu Varusham – Thu.Ramamoorthi
  37. Netrirundhom – Kiruthiga
  38. Pugai Naduvil – Kiruthiga
  39. Dharmakshetre – Kiruthiga
  40. Mounappuyal – Vaasanthi
  41. Plum Marangal Poothuvittana – Vaasanthi
  42. Kuruthippunal – Indira Parthasarathy
  43. Thikkatra Parvathi – Rajaji
  44. Aathukku Poganum – Kaveri
  45. Nalla Nilam – Paavai Chandran
  46. Eeram Kasindha Nilam – C.R.Ravindran
  47. Maanavari Manidhargal – Suryakanthan
  48. Uppu Vayal – Sridhara Ganesan
  49. Kokku Pootha Vayal – Mohanan
  50. Nizhal Mutram – Perumal Murugan

It is also essential to compile a list for best Tamil novels in the Popular category. In strict terms, these are not Novels, just Romantic fiction or Fantasies.

In Tamil, these could be of two types. Re-creations of historical legends could be called Historical Romances. The others could be termed Social Romances.

Best Historical Romances – First List

  1. Ponniyin Selvan – Kalki Krishnamurthi
  2. Sivagamiyin Sabatham – Kalki Krishnamurthi
  3. Mannan Magal – Saandilyan
  4. Yavana Rani – Saandilyan
  5. Kadal Pura – Saandilyan
  6. Veerapandiyan Manaivi – Aru.Ramanathan
  7. Aaalavaai Azhagan – Jegachirpiyan
  8. Thiruvarangan Ula – Sree Venugopalan
  9. Vengayin Maindhan – Akilan
  10. Manipallavam – Naa.Parthasarathy

Best Historical Romances – Second List

  1. Parthiban Kanavu – Kalki Krishnamurthi
  2. Jaladeepam – Saandilyan
  3. Kanni Maadam – Saandilyan
  4. Moongil Kottai – Saandilyan
  5. Raja Muthirai – Saandilyan
  6. Kayalvizhi – Akilan
  7. Vetrithirunagar – Akilan
  8. Ratham Ore Niram – Sujatha
  9. Gopura Kalasam – S.S.Thennarasu
  10. Rani Mangammal – Naa.Parthasarathy
  11. Romapuri Pandiyan – Mu.Karunanithi
  12. Thenpandi Singam – Mu.Karunanithi
  13. Pathini Kottam – Jegachirpiyan
  14. Nandhipurathu Nayagi – Vikraman
  15. Thiruchitrambalam – Jegachirpiyan

Best Social Romances

  1. Thyaaga Boomi – Kalki Krishnamurthi
  2. Prema Haaram – B.S. Ramaiah
  3. Alai Osai – Kalki Krishnamurthi
  4. Malaikkallan – Namakkal Kavignar
  5. Thillana Mohanambal – Kothamangalam Subbu
  6. Kaetta Varam – Anuthama
  7. Uyiroviyam – Naarana Duraikannan
  8. Azhagu Aadugiradhu – Ku.Rajavelu
  9. Mullum Malarum – Uma Chandran
  10. Kallukkul Eeram – Ra.Su.Nalla Perumal
  11. Anaiyaa Vilakku – Aarvi
  12. Kallo Kaviyamo – Mu.Varadarasan
  13. Kangal Urangavo – Mayavi
  14. Chinnamma – S.A.P Annamalai
  15. Malargindra Paruvathil – S.A.P Annamalai
  16. Pirantha Naal – S.A.P Annamalai
  17. Koonthalile Oru Malar – P.V.Ramakrishnan ('PVR')
  18. G.H –  P.V.Ramakrishnan ('PVR')
  19. Kurinji Then – Rajam Krishnan
  20. Valaikkaram – Rajam Krishnan
  21. Inba Puthaiyal – B.M.Kannan
  22. Padagu Veedu – Ra.Ki.Rangarajan
  23. Professor Mitra – Ra.Ki.Rangarajan
  24. Oru Oodhapoo Kan Simittugiradhu – Pushpa Thangadurai
  25. Kurinji Malar – Naa.Parathsarathy
  26. Pon Vilangu – Naa.Parthasarathy
  27. Samudhaya Veedhi – Naa.Parathasarathy
  28. Paavai Vilakku – Akilan
  29. Chithira Paavai – Akilan
  30. Pen – Akilan
  31. Kallum Mannum – Ka. Rathnam
  32. Panimalai – Maharishi
  33. Arakku Maligai – Lakshmi
  34. Kanchanayin Kanavu – Lakshmi
  35. Tharayil Irangum Vimanangal – Indumathi
  36. Paalangal – Sivasankari
  37. Oru Manidhanin Kadhai – Sivasankari
  38. Nirka Nizhal Vendum – Vaasanthi
  39. Jaipur Necklace – Vaasanthi
  40. Washingtonil Thirumanam – Saavi
  41. Aayirthoru Appusami Iravugal – Bakkiam Ramasami
  42. Mister Vedantam – Devan
  43. Karaiyellam Shenbagapoo – Sujatha
  44. Anitha Ilam Manaivi – Sujatha
  45. Priya – Sujatha
  46. Mercury Pookal – Balakumaran
  47. Karaiyora Mudhalaigal – Balakumaran
  48. Panthayappura – Balakumaran
  49. Adhu Oru Nilakkaalam – Stella Bruce
  50. Vazhvenum Mahanadi – Kannan Mahesh

*****

Tamil title: Tamil novelgal vimarsaganin sibaarisu(தமிழ் நாவல்கள் விமர்சகனின் சிபாரிசு)

First Published: March 18, 2001

Translated by: Madhu S

*****