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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have read other novels and short stories by Samrat U. And it is truly heartening to as a Nepali reader of English language books to find such well developed and complex characters. I could relate to so many of them in very convincing manner. The book and history capture a slice of Nepal I grew up with, and really enjoyed accessing that place/time through Samrat’s imagination.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay puts the reader into the minds and hearts of a hodgepodge of characters while examining the social and political issues that govern their lives. These snippets of life push the reader to think about life from different perspectives perhaps even questioning the conventions of life we often accept without a moment's thought. Mad Country delves into the raw emotions and the intense dogmas held by people that create division and destroy communication while pushing the reader to cheer for some characters, commiserate with others, and despise others and sometimes doing all three for the one character or the other. Upadhyay writes stories that feel like snapshots of his characters' lives and drawing parallels that remind the reader just how interwoven all our lives really are.
After reading the first story in this collection, I set the book aside, unsure of whether I would return to it. The story struck me as an undistinguished, quotidian tale with few redeeming qualities. Some some months later, I picked it up again and found the second story more engaging. It is a mixed collection. All the stories are set in Kathmandu, which I visited several times, so I was familiar with some of the landscape, though most of the stories were set against the unfamiliar background of the years of revolution and turmoil. Some stories were quite good: Beggar Boy, Freak Street, and Dreaming of Ghana were my favorite. Others seemed like filler. The title story, Mad Country, was interesting, but unfulfilling, a disappointment, since it was the story most clearly about the revolution.
The first couple stories were hard to get into and I almost gave up on this book. I'm really glad I didn't! The last three or four were really, really good.
3,5 Sterne zu dieser Kurzgeschichtensammlung eines nepalesischen Autors (der jetzt in Amerika lebt). Mad country bringt dem Leser Nepal und das Leben dort näher und das in sehr realistischen, teilweise sehr deprimierenden Geschichten. Die Lebensrealität der Nepalesen atmet aus jeder Story, vermischt mit Amerika (als Hippie-/Touristen oder in der Story "America the great equalizer", in der ein nepalesischer Student in Amerika lebt) und manchmal Afrika.
Einige der Geschichten sind sehr eindrücklich. Besonders beeindruckt haben mich die über Rassismus in den USA (mit sehr kritischen Zügen den Southeast-Asians gegenüber, die obwohl sie selbst Rassismus erfahren, in der Story fleißig mitmachen gegenüber den Schwarzen) und die einer politisch Gefangenen im nepalesischen Bürgerkrieg. Mit ein paar anderen konnte ich dagegen nicht so viel anfangen, wobei sie alle geholfen haben, das Leben in Nepal besser zu verstehen. Entsprechend würde ich die Lektüre auf jeden Fall empfehlen. Es ist jedoch nicht die leichteste Lektüre emotional - sprachlich für jeden, der auf Englisch liest, kein Problem. Einzelne nepalesische Ausdrücke werden immer erklärt oder können aus dem Kontext verstanden werden.
Einige der Geschichten sind sehr eindrücklich. Besonders beeindruckt haben mich die über Rassismus in den USA (mit sehr kritischen Zügen den Southeast-Asians gegenüber, die obwohl sie selbst Rassismus erfahren, in der Story fleißig mitmachen gegenüber den Schwarzen) und die einer politisch Gefangenen im nepalesischen Bürgerkrieg. Mit ein paar anderen konnte ich dagegen nicht so viel anfangen, wobei sie alle geholfen haben, das Leben in Nepal besser zu verstehen. Entsprechend würde ich die Lektüre auf jeden Fall empfehlen. Es ist jedoch nicht die leichteste Lektüre emotional - sprachlich für jeden, der auf Englisch liest, kein Problem. Einzelne nepalesische Ausdrücke werden immer erklärt oder können aus dem Kontext verstanden werden.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A solid 2 stars, maybe even 2.5. Mad Country contains eight short stories that center the experiences of Nepali individuals grappling with culture, intersection of identity, and ultimately, themselves. The stories take place within and outside of the borders of Nepal though the country as a thematic undercurrent to each one. I enjoyed this book because it exposed me to a place I know very little about from different perspectives. Freak Street, America the Great Equalizer and elements of Beggar Boy were among the most riveting in this collection. In Freak Street, Upadhyay skillfully addresses a situation in which a Caucasian girl comes to Nepal to find herself, her truth and most notably, a physical and spiritual home. He presents situations in which she asks to be renamed and wants to simply "blend in" while continuously coming into contact with resistance, skepticism, and unfortunately sexual violence because of her social identities. As a person interested in the complexities behind the "Eat. Pray. Love." narrative where (typically white) individuals leave their homes, visit another country and come back whole, it was an intriguing read with more nuance than I expected. While the author mentions colorism in nearly every story, its pairing with anti-Blackness in America the Great Equalizer was striking. I feel that story was the strongest in exemplifying inner turmoil, the internal strife of "people of color" narratives and how oppression can make the oppressed suspicious of one another rather than their oppressor. Compared to Dreaming of Ghana, a story I only appreciated for its commentary on anti-Blackness, America the Great Equalizer was steeped in truth and complexity. In comparison, Dreaming of Ghana was rooted in a confusing plot line, a non-agentic female character and a conclusion that gets lost in the pages. Beggar Boy has a similar flawed, detached protagonist of the other stories in the collection, but the nebulous commentary on queerness combined with the outcome kept me engaged to the end.