A hypnotically beautiful collection of stories by a literary master.
A collection of translated stories by Debi, one of the greatest Bengali writers of the 20th century.
Debi is virtually unknown outside of India despite her prolific and celebrated career—in fact, very little of her considerable body of work has been translated into English, an unfortunate oversight observed by Jhumpa Lahiri’s brilliant introduction to this collection. This assemblage of Debi’s short fiction, translated with great clarity and subtlety by Gupta, constitutes an important literary event. The nearly two dozen stories are exemplary of Debi’s body of work—set in her native Calcutta, they focus on the emotional trials of domestic life with a perceptive eye trained on the complex relationships between men and women, particularly husbands and wives. In the book’s titular story, “Brahma’s Weapon,” Ronobir has been out of work for 17 months, and as a result, the household has been reduced to penury. He asks his wife, Oshima, to ask Debobroto (a successful businessman), an old friend of hers, for a job—it’s a humiliating request because she hasn’t seen him in 11 years and once “there was a degree of intimacy between them.” Debi artfully probes the profound shame felt by both and the acrimony between the two it engenders, especially under the morally pulverizing weight of poverty: “Scarcity destroys character.” In the haunting tale “Entering the Underworld,” 16-year-old Aroti is forced to beg on behalf of her shameless mother and greedy father, both of whom are unemployed. She despises her parents for compromising her respectability but learns, through the experience of hunger, the tenuousness of one’s dignity. Debi seamlessly combines a sociological precision with a lighthearted touch. For those new to Debi’s work, this is a remarkable introduction, one that showcases her deep reserves of literary radiance.
A hypnotically beautiful collection of stories by a literary master.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781492162216
Page Count: 296
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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