Book Review: Eden Abandoned – The Story of Lilith, by Shinie Antony

 Did God intend women to be subservient to men? Did God want Man to be on top or did the missionaries place him there? Didn’t God create Eve from out of Adam’s ribs, with the intention that she would always follow her man, obey him and bear his children? Then why did God create Lilith first? Did God make a mistake with Lilith, which he rectified by creating Eve?

Shinie Antony’s Lilith, doesn’t give a damn about the expectations of others. She seeks, or rather demands, parity with Adam. She asks nicely at first and when Adam doesn’t concede, she uses her fists and claws, before walking away from Adam. Adam didn’t give her any children of his own accord, but Lilith does bear a brood of children. Please read this book to find out how Lilith manages that feat.  

Lilith is the archetypal bad woman that our ancients warned us about. Adam is goody two-shoes who obeys God to the letter and is even scared of him. After having walked away from Adam, Lilith goes about cavorting with Shamael, fulfilling her wants in the ways she finds best. Shamael really indulges Lilith, especially her evil thoughts and desires. When they see Lilith enjoy life, they urge her to return to Adam and fulfil her duties. Lilith refuses. She becomes a serpent that tempts Eve. I’m not going to disclose more and give away the story.

Is there a bit of Lilith in all women? Is there a bit of Lilith in all men too? If so, Antony unleashes the Lilith in her readers even as launches a furious assault on patriarchy. If you haven’t heard of Lilith, here’s Wikipedia to the rescue.

As usual, Antony’s writing is subtle, explosive, sensual and once in a while, bland. Much of the beauty in Antony’s writing is on account of her placement of words and sentences. She leaves a lot to one’s imagination and then, after one’s imagination has run wild, takes one on a wild ride in a different direction altogether. I read this book once around two weeks ago, got busy with work and then re-read it again a second time just now and found myself sinking into an abyss of thoughts and confusion, though it is a slim volume of just 135 pages, one which fits into my trousers’ pocket.

I can’t recommend Eden Abandoned – The Story of Lilith, by Shinie Antony highly enough. It’s possibly Antony’s best book to date.