Short Stories - Mar
One moment you're existing like a ray of sunshine and the next moment you're typing out sentences like 'welcome to the third installment of the short stories review'. Life comes at you fast. I didn't get to read a lot this month. There were, shall we say, other preoccupations that were taking up all of my time.
In the end, I read 14 stories where one of them was a bit long at a length of 200+ pages. Let's jump to the recap:
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas - Ursula K. Le Guin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wow. Just wow. Le Guin describes a beautiful city by the sea named Omelas, a city that by all accounts sounds like a wonderful place to live. Its inhabitants are happy; there are no kings, armies or stock exchange; it sounds like nothing short of a utopia. Le Guin has a lovely writing style and around the halfway mark changes the tone of the story so that you go from perplexed to horror to shocked. I enjoyed the roller-coaster ride.
One line summary: You can live in a utopia but it comes with this one small realization, do you accept?
Year Published: 1973
Do I recommend: Absolutely
The Royal Game - Stefan Zweig
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the first half when the writer was subtly criticizing one of the main characters, I was smirking and whispering to myself “get his ass”. Once again the story takes a complete 180-degree turn when you meet the other main character. Zweig’s story is about a young and formidable chess player from Yugoslavia, who after catching some early success, is now the poster child of what happens when you’ve never smelled a whiff of defeat. This person is on his way from New York to Buenos Aires and during the journey is unexpectedly challenged to a game of chess by a mysterious traveler.
It is quite an exhilarating read and having studied a few things about mania and other maladies in college, I believe that the narrator of the story was the real MVP.
One line summary: How’d you feel about flirting with disaster one more time?
Year Published: 1943
Do I recommend: Yes
The Story Of An Hour - Kate Chopin
⭐⭐⭐⭐
First short story where the ending actually made me laugh out loud. Chopin’s protagonist is a woman who has just received the news of her husband’s death and the rest of the story follows how she deals with the aftermath.
One line summary: Don’t be hasty.
Year Published: 1834
Do I recommend: Yes
Justuju Ka Safar - Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani
⭐⭐⭐
I like true grit, started-from-the-bottom-type stories. If you do too then this one's right up your alley. Our protagonist, Abdullah, hails from a small village in rural Sindh in Pakistan and through the dint of hard work, perseverance and scholarships gets a Ph.D. in computer science and ultimately builds a life for himself and his family.
A recurring theme in the story (novel, really!) is Abdullah's reliance on God whenever feeling lost. There's also the oh-so-familiar commentary on societal ills— corruption, bureaucracy, nepotism, jealousy — you name it. Having found a stable job and a successful marital life, Abdullah realizes, to his dismay, that sharpening his technical skills or acquiring more knowledge isn't going to give him what he's looking for. Instead he concludes that peace comes from realizing the blessings and privileges in life and softening up as a result of those blessings in a tree-that-bends type of fashion.
Justuju Ka Safar is a moving story about grit, hard work, remembering where you came from and giving back to others.
One line summary: It's like what Fort Minor said: this is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain...
Year Published: 2012
Do I recommend: Yes
Dante And The Lobster - Samuel Beckett
⭐
I hate to say it but this ain’t it chief. It’s better to steer clear of this one unless directionless rambling is your thing. There are maybe one or two good sentences in this one, the rest is a bit of a mess.
One line summary: Imagine you spent a lot of time describing some food item and what your plans are for the day but then… nothing happens.
Year Published: 1934
Do I recommend: No
Guts - Chuck Palahniuk
⭐⭐⭐⭐
It’s not like I’ve never heard of accidents involving masturbation before, though not in this much graphic detail. It's quite fun to have a favorite first cousin who also happens to be a physician when gossiping about sexual misadventures that causes people to end up in the ER at weird timings. Palahniuk is one hell of a writer and you should read this if you can stomach grizzly details.
One line summary: It will get weird but first it will be funny.
Year Published: 2003
Do I recommend: Yes
Signs & Symbols - Vladmir Nabokov
⭐⭐⭐⭐
First thing I did when I got to the ending was double check if I had the wrong copy because the ending was so sudden and cryptically vague. The story is about a young boy suffering from referential mania who has made several attempts to kill himself. If that isn’t grim enough for you, it’s told from the perspective of his parents who are trying to get him a birthday present. I think I read one of the saddest sentences ever while reading this. One of those stories where I had to gave it four stars while cussing out the author.
One line summary: Who is the manic one really?
Year Published: 1948
Do I recommend: Yes
Bloodchild - Octavia Butler
⭐⭐⭐
"Octavia Butler, you're sick for this!!", I murmured this like five times when reading this story (obligatory Silver Linings Playbook gif). The whole story felt manipulative and like watching someone being forced to submit by holding their family hostage. It's creepy, let's just leave it at that. Props to Butler because I usually do not get disgusted or angry easily.
One line summary: Brace yourselves for we're about to see some predatory grooming and graphic description of sickly, loathsome creatures.
Year Published: 1995
Do I recommend: No (but not as a Hater. I'm just grossed out)
The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is a great speculative fiction novella and reminded me of the sci-fi movie The Island that came out eons ago. The story is about an unnamed boy living on a villa in a distant planet with a mechanical caretaker, a younger brother and a father obsessed with genetic experiments. As the story progresses we find ourselves wading through the protagonist's relationship with his father, and topics of teenage friendships, personhood, slavery, and dark-coming-of-age.
To me, one of the most interesting characters was the protagonist's mysterious aunt. Every time when she was around, her eccentric mannerisms and interactions with the boy were so fun to read. Those of you who do not mind slightly complicated narratives with dark undertones, you'll enjoy this one.
One line summary: You found out some things about your true identity and are about to confront you dad.
Year Published: 1972
Do I recommend: Yes
Reasons To Be Cheerful - Greg Egan
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was a GREAT read! We meet the protagonist, Mark, a young 12 year old who has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. He gets treated but following the treatment becomes unable to feel any pleasure in regular activities. Don't let this dissuade you because after a while he gets contacted to be offered an experimental procedure that could potentially make him whole again. But will he? And if so, will he be his former self?
This one felt like reading a Reader's-Digest-style-long-read on an experimental surgery which focused on the doubts, anxieties and other emotions of the patient. Imagine my surprised laugh when I found out that his doctor had the same name and research interest as me! (ok not exactly but 'biochemical engineering' is kind of close to neuroscience/ biochemistry).
One line summary: You are offered a chance to not remain anhedonic anymore but the aftermath of the procedure is unpredictable.
Year Published: 1997
Do I recommend: Yes
The Finest Story In The World - Rudyard Kipling
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Second story after Kate Chopin's where I laughed out loud at the ending. The story is told from the POV of an unnamed narrator who meets Charlie Mears, a 20 year old bank clerk who is an aspiring writer and poet. While the narrator is not really convinced with Charlie's poetry chops, he does think that the story he's currently toiling on could become something big. Charlie's vivid descriptions of the events happening in the sea voyage story makes the narrator wonder if he was at the sea in a past life. The narrator discusses this with another friend who warns him that Charlie's interest in the story would dwindle if he falls in love.
I really enjoyed Kipling's prose in this one and the narrator's annoyance and resignation with Charlie's preoccupations were very amusing to me. I don't believe in reincarnation theory but despite that this was a fun, entertaining read.
One line summary: You come across a story that could earn you a handsome amount but the writer is young and scatterbrained.
Year Published: 1900
Do I recommend: Yes
Zima Blue - Alistair Reynolds
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I remember picking this one up, being mildly interested but not hooked, and then resumed reading it four stories later. Point being: stick with it. It becomes so much more compelling in the second half.
Zima is a cyborg artist in a distant future famous for his larger-than-life paintings and murals around the galaxy. He has invited a skeptic journalist to the viewing of his final artwork and that is where the readers get a first glimpse of his origins and the intent behind some of his work. I was pretty amazed at the ending and respected his decision. Seriously, this and TARS is how robots of the future should look and behave like.
One line summary: Yes, nostalgia is powerful but lemme tell you about perfectly imperfect recall and how it influences our behavior.
Year Published: 2006
Do I recommend: Yes
A Perfect Day For Banana fish -J.D. Salinger
⭐⭐⭐
I had to Wikipedia some things after reading this one and then it sort of clicked. This story is a metaphor for how people in a hyper consumerist society are obsessed with using consumption as a means of self-expression and how veterans feel alienated in reentering such society. A lot of the times people closer to someone dealing with PTSD symptoms of war choose to ignore the details that clearly indicate that a person is suffering which often leaves the affected person feeling like there's no way out. Short but sobering read.
One line summary: You are a veteran living in a materialist, postwar world and are struggling with reentering society.
Year Published: 1948
Do I recommend: Yes
The Wall - J.P. Sartre
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was all braced for a doom-and-gloom, utterly dejected, bitter-as-hell story but I was wrong. The protagonist is a person sentenced to death and the story follows him and other sentenced inmates in the final hours before the execution. The prose is vivid yet accessible, the pacing is consistent throughout and it ends on a completely unexpected note.
One line summary: Unintended consequences, damn!
Year Published: 1939
Do I recommend: Yes
Big-Brain-Introspection Time
I sometimes complain about stories centered around nihilism, weird horror or badly devised plots and a question could be asked that if I dislike these things then why not get rid of stories with similar themes altogether from the reading list? I think the slog is bearable because you don't really wanna write off an entire category forever. Moreover, sometimes arguments made by authors of a less-enjoyable genre have legs so you have to power through it. We need to bring back the concept of reading things you don't agree with! How else are you going to address something you dislike if you don't understand it in the first place?
Some classic literature (looking at you Urdu lit. and Russian lit.) does feel like an assault on upbeat mood at times and makes you wary of exploring more of the same category. If you feel the same, I wanna tell you that it's probably fine. If you only read things that paint a rosy picture or ideas that agree with you then you start thinking that the world feels like that to everyone when that's not usually the case. Reading validating, optimistic bits is fun. Reading somber, gritty and realistic things is necessary — both for your sanity and thinking.
Until next time!
PS: I realized that I never really explained the key behind the rating system so here it is for reference:
5-star: excellent stuff
4-star: great story but I may have a minor quip
3-star: good story but there's one major flaw somewhere: ending not good / pacing too slow/ language too arcane/ kind of a slog to wade through/ too much time spent talking about a setting, a scene or one specific character.
2-star: really, bro?? this ain't it
1-star: give me my time back!