Deepti Gupta and Vikas Adam beautifully narrate the frustrations, joys, disappointments, and hopes of Muslim women and their families in 1990s India. In a dozen short stories, the characters deal with the pain of childbirth and the sweetness of motherhood, with romantic love and patriarchal oppression. Gupta effusively voices a variety of distinct and nuanced characters, female and male. Adam's lively performances deliver emotions ranging from irritation to tenderness and shame. Both narrators are clear and understandable throughout the stories, translated by Deepa Bhasthi into English with terms in Arabic, Urdu, and the original Kannada. Despite the profound themes, the performances and narratives include humor that makes them even more accessible.
Pub Date: June 24, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798228579484
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The narrators complement each other as they deliver these stories.
Seven narrators perform this short story collection featuring characters living in Philadelphia. Many of the characters deal with society’s fatphobia, navigating a landscape of diet culture and obsession with thinness. The ensemble cast highlights the unique qualities of every story, making each viewpoint character sound distinct. All the narrators possess a sense of emotional depth that teases out the best of Eisenberg’s prose. In “Beauty,” Samantha Desz perfectly captures the loneliness and emotional complexity of the protagonist as her sense of self fluctuates as she posts videos of herself on the internet doing makeup routines.
The narrators complement each other as they deliver these stories.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
Duration: 6 hrs, 6 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593908167
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
Tóibín empathetically describes characters in extreme moments, and the narrators bring their experiences...
Melancholy hangs like a low cloud over these powerful stories of displacement, adjustment, and self-revelation. Both Derbhle Crotty and Darragh Shannon deliver nuanced and persuasive performances, giving structure and meaning to the often spare and restrained prose. Their Irish accents add music to the proceedings. Shannon offers rich characterizations, and Crotty's pacing is thoughtful; she gets inside the protagonist’s head especially well in the novella-length concluding piece, “The Catalan Girls.” That story follows three sisters who spend most of their lives in Argentina before returning home to Catalonia. Two of the most affecting stories, “Sleep” and the title story, provide different takes on loss.
Tóibín empathetically describes characters in extreme moments, and the narrators bring their experiences eloquently to life.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 29 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797104768
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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