At Play and Other Stories by Amita Basu

 

Illness and violence, fair-weather friends and dysfunctional families, trauma and rapid cultural shifts – girls and women in contemporary India deal with the spectrum of life’s challenges and rewards.

These fifteen  stories feature Indian women – and, occasionally, nonhuman females – as they grapple with family and friendship, miscarriages and runaway children, rapid sociocultural shifts, love and sex, work and ambition, physical and mental illness, aging and coming of age, and the struggle to make a living. Several stories feature working-class characters and examine how class shapes our psychological reality. 

 

Amita Basu’s At Play and Other Stories examines the struggles and joys of life for women and girls in contemporary India. 

RRP Paperback £11.00 

Kindle £2.25 

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'Told in prose that’s whimsical and sincere, the language is vivid and visual, filled with a poetry of description. The narrators in the stories vary between men and women, young and old, and one story that’s even told from the perspective of a dog. The narratives peel back the layers of surface-level normality to reveal the hidden thoughts and impulses that drive the characters—sometimes impulses they act upon, and sometimes ones they ignore. '

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Diverse stories reflecting issues & psyche of a young, modern India. Interesting, worth a read

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this bouquet of 15 contemporary Indian short stories, one of them being 'At Play', revolving around Indian women. A fresh, curious, intriguing and poignant point of view. The language is approachable, with the author experimenting with different narrative styles of narrative I would certainly recommend this to both new and experienced readers. Ciao!