Welp, I just picked up The Handmaid’s Tale this afternoon, and finished it in one sitting. Not because I couldn’t put it down, but because I absolutely refused to stop, let it percolate, and dare to wonder at what could be coming. Honestly, it’s too believable. I knew that it would be; you can’t avoid talk of the story these days. But it’s strikingly real, and for that reason, downright horrifying. I never caught myself picking apart the believability, or the potential. This is dystopian fiction […]
A gorgeous series of novellas on the clash between old and new India
This collection of three novellas by, arguably, the greatest living Indian writer was a revelation for me. I have never read Desai’s works before and was blown away by the gorgeous tapestry of colors, smells, textures and sights she evoke with her writing. In this collection, she draws on the same themes of art and culture clash to draw out different but overlapping messages about change and stagnation, without necessarily championing one over the other. In the novella of the title, we are introduced […]