Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love

I really really liked this collection of stories. I just really connected with the writing and found some of the scenarios relatable or...is there a word for "you've not necessarily experienced the thing but you grok it hard"...? That.

I loved how accessible, and yet lovely, the writing was, I enjoyed the theme of love and relationships, especially cross-cultural romantic ones and those centred around motherhood, and I didn't often feel like: "I need more of this story!!" which is a common short story con for me.

My favourites were Too Much and Summer.

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raitherabbit's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The writing is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, I loved how Huma Qureshi writes her scenes. Since it’s a short story collection, we get a lot of different openings and endings. I didn’t quite like some (low - 2/5) but there were stories that really hit me (high - 5/5). It is such a good read, and I want to see more of her work ASAP!

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verysillygoose's review

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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lidia7's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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yanaaxmaria's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book was compiled of 10 short stories, featuring a cast of predominantly women of Pakistani heritage with careers as writers or journalists. Many of these characters struggled with judgemental and overbearing mothers, patronising and unloving partners, or both.

These stories depict the experience of how constraining family life can be and how it feels to not quite fit into the norms of western culture.

I had first seen this book in July of 2021 and had been waiting to buy it since. I spotted the cover in a bookshop while travelling 2 weeks ago and immediately bought it, and to be honest, I picked it up mostly for the cover. Now, I wish I could have loved the collection as much as I hoped to.

Apart from 2 or 3 stories, I enjoyed this collection of short stories to an extent but I feel they lacked depth.

The writing in this book was simple and often felt like it was written for an English class creative writing task. This could appeal to others, but personally, I just felt like I was reading an assignment. I feel like the writing was able to tell what it needed to tell but it never went beyond that. I couldn’t find many lines or paragraphs that truly stood out to me.

The writing itself also seemed inconsistent. Some stories had a lot of realism while we experienced others that tried to be creepy or like fairytales but fall quite short of being either of those. Some stories, particularly “The Jam Maker”, struck me as random, aiming to be creepy but missing the mark. All in all, the stories didn’t particularly strike me as very original or creative.

The relationships explored in this collection were very repetitive in my opinion and it made me feel like I was reading a different version of the same story each time. Almost all of the daughters were reproachful and had a bad relationship with their mothers, they married bland white men who were wholly unaware of their privilege, and the women themselves were portrayed in a negative light, seeming moody, overly emotional, and petty. The repetitiveness of the stories made me uninterested after the fifth or sixth story. The characters, their backgrounds, the storylines, and pressure points all seemed to reoccur (stressful holidays, relationships becoming intolerable, complicated family lives, etc.).

The snippets we were given into the lives and thoughts of the characters also seemed inconsistent. For some of the short stories, I thought they ended extremely abruptly, leaving me confused and unsatisfied, particularly the second story. Other stories, I felt, dragged on for an unnecessarily long time, leaving me bored and uninterested. Mostly, I felt like they were too short to delve into enough detail to actually provide anything particularly satisfying, and a few felt more like they should be extracts from something longer rather than their own contained stories.

All things considered, I did enjoy the stories but unfortunately, a lot of them just felt a bit flat to me. The majority of my critiques are towards the writing style, the repetitiveness, and the lack of detail. The stories themselves I found interesting, I just personally don’t think Qureshi is the right author for me. I’m sure many other will read this book and be able to appreciate the writing and stories in a way I was unable to, but as of now, this definitely wasn’t a 5 star read for me.

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linguaphile412's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookswithhan's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love is a collection of short stories which exposes some harsh realities in different relationships whether it be lovers, spouses or between mothers and daughters.

I devoured this book within two sittings. It was lyrical, emotionally complex and dragged me in despite the shortness of each story. Huma Qureshi is the kind of writer you wish to be. Her words are impactful, realistic and leave you wanting more.

Romance is not something that interests me as I can't bear the cringe element or the obvious enemies to lovers. So when I saw this labelled as a romance by some, I was sceptical. However, it was everything I wanted. The real, gritty and difficult side of relationships that you can resonate with and have you deeply invested in the characters.

In particular my favourite stories were Firecracker, Too Much and The Jam Maker. Each story is perceptive and shows the raw emotions of relationships and how they can be full of passion and turmoil at the same time.

This will be a book I will re-read again and that has truly become one of my favourite short stories already. I implore you to read this book.

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