The stories in Too Asian, Not Asian Enough are brilliant. The whole vibrant collection is published by the estimable
Tindal Street Press and I am currently exploring the insides of people's houses with the intrepid Mrs Sharma - a pensioner who has turned cat-snoop (as opposed to cat-burgler) to while away the lonely hours. She has just discovered (she's hiding under his bed) that the builder opposite, who has come home unexpectedly, trapping her inside his house, is a transvestite...
In her introduction, editor Kavita Bhanot laments the way that mainstream representations of South Asian immigrants and their descendants offer '...the same few narratives again and again, stories about generational and cultural conflict...'. She describes the cliched perspective which has bred the idea that all Asian parents force their children to wear suits, have arranged marriages, abstain from alcohol and avoid the pleasures of western life. In publishing terms many Asian writers have been held back and they all have stories of agents and publishers who frame rejections of their work in the words used by the book's title.
It has been a while since I read a work of fiction published with such a thoughtful and intelligent introductory essay. I hope it catches on. Anyway, as I began by saying - the stories are brilliant. The authors are: NSR Khan, Gautam Malkani, Divya Ghelani, Niven Govinden, Kavita Jindal, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Madhvi Ramani, Bobby Nayyar, Nikesh Shukla, Ishani Kar-Purkayastha, Harpreet Singh Soorae, Reshma Ruia, Sushayl Saadi, Dimmi Khan, Azmeena Ladha, Anoushka Beazley, Amina Zia, Kavita Bhanot, Bidisha, Rohan Kar. And that is the order the stories appear in the book. Just buy a copy and read them. I have not read them in that order. I began with the one by Kavita Bhanot and then allowed the titles to dictate which I read next. And now, finally, I am reading about the foolhardy, the agile and the undeniably intrepid, Mrs Sharma... sounds are coming from behind the half open bathroom door. The door opened and...
The stories in Too Asian, Not Asian Enough are brilliant. The whole vibrant collection is published by the estimable Tindal Street Press and I am currently exploring the insides of people's houses with the intrepid Mrs Sharma - a pensioner who has turned cat-snoop (as opposed to cat-burgler) to while away the lonely hours. She has just discovered (she's hiding under his bed) that the builder opposite, who has come home unexpectedly, trapping her inside his house, is a transvestite...
It has been a while since I read a work of fiction published with such a thoughtful and intelligent introductory essay. I hope it catches on. Anyway, as I began by saying - the stories are brilliant. The authors are: NSR Khan, Gautam Malkani, Divya Ghelani, Niven Govinden, Kavita Jindal, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Madhvi Ramani, Bobby Nayyar, Nikesh Shukla, Ishani Kar-Purkayastha, Harpreet Singh Soorae, Reshma Ruia, Sushayl Saadi, Dimmi Khan, Azmeena Ladha, Anoushka Beazley, Amina Zia, Kavita Bhanot, Bidisha, Rohan Kar. And that is the order the stories appear in the book. Just buy a copy and read them. I have not read them in that order. I began with the one by Kavita Bhanot and then allowed the titles to dictate which I read next. And now, finally, I am reading about the foolhardy, the agile and the undeniably intrepid, Mrs Sharma... sounds are coming from behind the half open bathroom door. The door opened and...
