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emmkayt's review against another edition
2.0
I was really looking forward to this, based on the ecstatic reviews, and am left wondering nervously if I'm simply too shallow to appreciate it - but it didn't grab me. For me, it had a certain monotony and sameness of tone (despite the intended panoply of voices in the different stories).
nealadolph's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of intertwining short stories is a strong exploration into the challenges faced by Indian immigrants moving to North America - particularly the United States (Canada's place in these stories is only cursory-at-best, and Mexico doesn't figure in them at all). To this end, they are mostly convincing. The characters are heavily conflicted about North American culture and the ways that it is impacting them and their families, forcing them to leave many of their traditions behind. With deep regret, and a deeply romantic sense of the order of things in a classical Indian family. The characters are dense with notions of who they are, what the world around them is like, and where they want to go. They never feel at home anywhere - even once some of them start returning to their homecountry in later life, they are aware of the changes that are taking place in India. Money is everywhere. Slums are replaced with towering condos for the rich who have come back. Not surprisingly, infidelity in all of its forms is a major theme here.
The writing is also quite fine. In most places it is precise and carefully constructed. In some places the reader wonders if the editor was hoping to go in for another kick at the can - the sentences don't read with the same pleasure. And very rarely is a sentence constructed with absolute precision - the sort one expects from masterful authors. No, this is a work that could have gone for another edit just to sweeten the reading a bit more.
The weakest story precedes the strongest - the first and the second. The first is only weak because it feels contrived and cliche. It is a story that I think many of us have read - the kind that hopes to convince the reader that the characters are not cliche by directly addressing the cliches that the character does not present. That said, after the first five pages it improves dramatically. For a weak story, it is still quite strong.
The second story is a far more interesting work, though it is presented as a sequel-of-sorts to the preceding one. Told from the perspective of young, genius child living in America and refusing to go back to India with her family. She is sleeping with her figure skating coach - one of a string of affairs between pupil and teacher. She is pleased by it, even though it constitutes child molestation. She is also the female character that is most convincingly written.
All of the other stories are really quite interesting. And they are all connected - reading them out of order would not be recommended as information revealed in one serves to buttress part of another story (even if the characters don't mention each other). I don't struggle recommending this story collection. It is good. Even more than good. And it is informative of the human experience that so quickly gets pushed towards the stereotypes constructed by public sociologists and political scientists. I like it for that. But there are better writers and better collections out there - and when time is so limited on reading the best available, I just don't think that Clark Blaise adds up.
Who knows, though. Perhaps I will be challenged by this work for months to come.
The writing is also quite fine. In most places it is precise and carefully constructed. In some places the reader wonders if the editor was hoping to go in for another kick at the can - the sentences don't read with the same pleasure. And very rarely is a sentence constructed with absolute precision - the sort one expects from masterful authors. No, this is a work that could have gone for another edit just to sweeten the reading a bit more.
The weakest story precedes the strongest - the first and the second. The first is only weak because it feels contrived and cliche. It is a story that I think many of us have read - the kind that hopes to convince the reader that the characters are not cliche by directly addressing the cliches that the character does not present. That said, after the first five pages it improves dramatically. For a weak story, it is still quite strong.
The second story is a far more interesting work, though it is presented as a sequel-of-sorts to the preceding one. Told from the perspective of young, genius child living in America and refusing to go back to India with her family. She is sleeping with her figure skating coach - one of a string of affairs between pupil and teacher. She is pleased by it, even though it constitutes child molestation. She is also the female character that is most convincingly written.
All of the other stories are really quite interesting. And they are all connected - reading them out of order would not be recommended as information revealed in one serves to buttress part of another story (even if the characters don't mention each other). I don't struggle recommending this story collection. It is good. Even more than good. And it is informative of the human experience that so quickly gets pushed towards the stereotypes constructed by public sociologists and political scientists. I like it for that. But there are better writers and better collections out there - and when time is so limited on reading the best available, I just don't think that Clark Blaise adds up.
Who knows, though. Perhaps I will be challenged by this work for months to come.
tumbly_weed's review against another edition
5.0
What an incredible book and genius author. I read this for class with a professor who has some personal experience with Blaise and we all loved the book. But we also appreciated it deeply for its literary qualities, as Blaise is a master of compression. I am so excited to read more of his work now.
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