fiction review

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Of women, rage, and what burns unseen

These stories subtly highlight how even within patriarchal structures, men, too, are shaped, sometimes twisted by the systems they benefit from.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A kaleidoscopic collection of stories by an outsider

Storytelling is not easy, especially when a few words portray a character with depth and just enough strokes to etch the social milieu for certain classes and creeds and the outcomes of political ideologies in post-independent Bangladesh.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Betwixt and between: Tales from a Nepali-Indian girlhood

Ravindra's prose is brisk, smooth, and detailed, with numerous stories from traditional Nepali and Hindu folklore chipped in, adding layers as the story unfolds.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A priceless fictional heirloom

There are any number of ways one can approach Rahat Ara Begum’s collection of short stories, 'Lost Tales from a Bygone Era: An Anthology of Translation of Urdu Stories', assembled, contextualised, and published in this book by her loving grandchildren and their siblings

BOOK REVIEW: COLLECTION / Reading Begum Rokeya, again and always

Begum Rokeya was once described as a “Spider Mother” (makar-mata or makarsha janani) in her biographical account but there is nothing sinister in this metaphor. The image of the spider here symbolises the quiet, patient, and selfless labour of an educator, caring for children who were not her own. Shamsunnahar Mahmud, her close co-worker, wrote: “Day after day in this way, with the blood of her own breast, Spider Mother began to revive hundreds of baby spiders into new life.”

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / A pantheon of parables

‘Fit for the Gods: Greek Mythology Reimagined’ (Vintage, 2023), edited by Jenn Northington and S. Zainab Williams, is a collection of classic myths with a twist

ESSAY / ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’: Fan service and repetitive themes weigh down ‘Hunger Games’ prequel

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series has captivated pop culture with its bold take on tyranny, sacrifice, and resistance, spanning Katniss Everdeen’s blazing defiance in The Hunger Games (2008) to her final stand in Mockingjay (2010) against Coriolanus Snow’s cold cruelty.

Book review: Fiction / A tapestry of traditions, joy, and growth

Beyond the celebration of Eid, this book also explores themes of love, loss, and the grief of spending a special occasion without a loved one.

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Rediscovering Reading: How ‘Fragments of Riversong’ helped me heal

Harvard killed my love for reading. When my advisor took me out for a celebratory dinner an hour after my doctoral defense in July 2012, I struggled to read the menu.

December 28, 2023
December 28, 2023

The ethics of ghostwriting in fiction

Ghostwriting is not new, and Millie Bobby Brown is not the first celebrity to hire a ghostwriter. But, soon after she published her book, she came under fire for using one.

December 28, 2023
December 28, 2023

Learning to let go

As the novel progresses, you peel back layers of history between Claire and her grandparents and realise that the Korea issue isn’t as straightforward as our protagonist imagined.

December 17, 2023
December 17, 2023

Discovering something not-so new with ‘The Turtle of Oman’

The melancholic, tuned nostalgia of finishing a journey was being caressed by the soft yet upbeat rhythm of the journey coming forth.

December 15, 2023
December 15, 2023

Human virtue questioned in the not-so-small things

At a time when everyone is grappling with financial instability while combating the icy spree, Bill is grateful enough to have survived another year with his wife Eileen and five daughters.

November 30, 2023
November 30, 2023

Keep your secrets close and your tech support closer

Addison Square is one of those hidden enclaves where well-heeled Londoners tuck themselves away to create bubbles of “civilised life” from which they can exclude the riffraff surrounding them in the mega-city they call home.

November 23, 2023
November 23, 2023

In search of lost eden

From the beginning we see Benjamin Honey, the patriarch of the island, longing to return to his past, in a garden, the Eden of his childhood where he reminisces about being with a woman who might or might not have been her mother.

November 23, 2023
November 23, 2023

Despair and death in ‘Truth or Dare’

Bangladeshi literature in English has had a considerably late start compared to its South Asian counterparts in India and Pakistan. A few exceptions aside, a consistency came to be seen only by the early 2010s.

November 16, 2023
November 16, 2023

A masterful portrait of normalised misogyny and sexism

Award winning Irish writer Claire Keegan is a master of short fiction. Her previous novel, Small Things Like

November 16, 2023
November 16, 2023

The complete works of Mahmudul Haque: The chorus of a unique sun

Mahmudul Haque was a writer who championed the modern and independent stream of Bangla literature.

November 2, 2023
November 2, 2023

Love, lies and loneliness

The very first time I came across a description of this book, previously published under the title The Nigerwife (Atria Books, 2023),