Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories

by Shashi Bhat

From the Governor General’s Award-shortlisted author of The Most Precious Substance on Earth comes a breathtaking and sharply funny collection about the everyday trials and impossible expectations that come with being a woman.What would have happened if she’d met him at a different time in her life, when she was older, more confident, less lonely, and less afraid? She wonders not whether they would have stayed together, but whether she would have known to stay away. A writer discovers that her ex has published a novel about their breakup. An immunocompromised woman falls in love, only to have her body betray her. After her boyfriend makes an insensitive comment, a college student finds an experimental procedure that promises to turn her brown eyes blue. A Reddit post about a man’s habit of grabbing his girlfriend’s breasts prompts a shocking confession. An unsettling second date leads to the testing of boundaries. And when a woman begins to lose her hair, she embarks on an increasingly nightmarish search for answers. With honesty, tenderness, and a skewering wit, these stories boldly wrestle with rage, longing, illness, and bodily autonomy, and their inescapable impacts on a woman’s relationships with others and with herself.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, Feminism, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club

216 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2024

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of short stories about women in negative dating or relational experiences with men. I think one of the strengths of this collection was some of its variety and contemporary verve, like interrogating the modern dating scene and dating apps as well as the AITA Reddit trend. That said, I found the prose a bit too dry for my taste. While the stories presented interesting scenarios, I also wanted them to reach for something more, like some sort of deeper meaning, resolution, or emotional impact that I didn’t quite get. As someone who’s gone on some pretty mediocre dates with men though, I can relate at least in that sense!

[Jillian B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still picking my jaw up off the floor. These stories were so beautifully written and yet not at all pretentious, dealing with subjects like bad Bumble dates and the Am I the Asshole subreddit. Some of them absolutely broke my heart and others made me laugh out loud. This author is a true master of her craft and I can’t wait to read more from her.

[em ✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What did it say about her, if he was the love of her life?”

Have you ever read a book that feels like reading your own diary? Where you question how the author was able to read your mind because that is the only explanation for how relatable it was?

So yeah this made me want to throw up, which is the highest compliment I can give a book. Death by a Thousand Cuts is a stunning collection of short stories exploring sides of womanhood that are sadly all too relatable, from first dates that remind us of how unsafe we are in the world, to never being taken seriously by doctors.

The story “Giantess” is genuinely unlike anything I have ever read. “Indian Cooking” left me sick to my stomach by the last few paragraphs. In “Am I the Asshole” a woman quarantining with her boyfriend during the pandemic takes to Reddit after he repeatedly gropes her. Their relationship deteriorates after he reads her post, and comes to terms with the fact that he has sexually assaulted another girl in his past. This story was a sharp reminder that our consent is constantly up for debate, often by anonymous strangers; a horrifying reality that it even has to be a question.

Not only was every story beautifully written, they covered varied topics that all managed to hit hard. My favorite stories were “Am I the Asshole” and “Her Ex Writes a Novel”.

Shashi, I don’t know who your ex is, but I’m very proud that I’m reading your book and not his.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of seeing Shashi Bhat read from her new collection DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS at Upstart & Crow at the end of February and I loved her reading! It made me so excited to read this book and luckily for me the lovely Anita Chong surprised me with an advance copy. I loved these stories!! I was hooked into this book and read most of it in one day. The first story Dealbreaker gripped me with the intense foreboding as the main character encounters the danger of online dating. All nine stories feature such well written and compelling female main characters. They all have to deal with the expectations put upon them as women. I loved so many moments in these stories from the humour in My Ex Writes a Novel, the Giantess who works in a library, and the references of Redditors and T&T Supermarket. My fave story is What You Can Live Without which is set in Vancouver. This story is about Aarthi whose parents live in Surrey and they go to Metrotown Mall to meet one of the potential suitors they’re trying to set her up with. It’s hilarious how one of the eligible bachelors listed one of his interests as “reading fiction novels”. Oh boy is right LOL! I loved this book and it’s one of my faves this year!

Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy!

[Robyn Covell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shashi Bhat's writing always feels so real to me. Her characters resonate so closely with my own thoughts and experiences I want us all to be friends. This short story collection is filled with so many familiar moments, I feel like we've all been these women 100 times over. Big thanks to Penguin Random House for the advance copy.

[lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A painfully relatable collection of short stories. The author did a great job of conveying the experiences of young women as they navigate life, the dating scene, and casual misogyny. My only critique is that a couple of the stories did not fit together cohesively in the collection as a whole. Despite this, I still enjoyed each individual story. I also thought that some stories, particularly the first one, would have made great full-length novels.

Overall I enjoyed this & will be keeping up with the author's work going forward! Their writing has a perfect balance of wit, relatability, and intrigue, which allowed me to fly through the book in a few days. I highly recommend picking this up when it releases!!

[Allie Lane Sandu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read a collection of short stories since high school, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I found this so sharp and well-written and engaging and I really enjoyed it!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

*arc provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

everyone that knows me knows that i’m not big on short story collection. they’re hard for me to get into and i get annoyed when i can’t connect to each one. so i was so surprised by how captivated and endeared i was with this collection! each story unpacks the ways women navigate the world with some larger theme in each one. i could really see a couple inspiring a movie - there was a cinematic quality to it for sure. would recommend!

[Paige Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

This book is a collection of incredibly sharp, eloquent, painfully relatable short stories (or cohesive-yet-standalone chapters in a novel about the horrors of being a woman). If I could make it mandatory to read this, I would. I would stand at the top of a very tall building and project its lines onto entire cities, grab society by the collar and say “hey you. you need this”, and while everyone sat heavily with the glaring weight of being known on a level which we barely understand ourselves, I will be able to breathe again. This is likely the greatest collection I will read in my 20’s. I will hand-sell the s*** out if this.

[Anuja Varghese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shashi is a modern master of the short story. Following in the footsteps of Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri, this collection speaks with such sharp precision of language to so many nuanced experiences of womanhood, domestic life, fractured relationships, and each series of small choices that amount to an identity and a life. I especially appreciated the layered portrayals of brown women in these stories - South Asian readers will find much that resonates (and maybe cuts quietly into our softest places). I cackled and I cried and I will be recommending this collection to every woman I know.

[Gina Murdoch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn’t a bad book by any means, but none of the short stories resonated with me very much and I feel like there were no significant takeaways that stuck with me. This is one of those “take it or leave it” collections where I’m sure if you dug deep enough, there would be some moral lessons in there somewhere.

[Sagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can tell the author has mastered the short form

[biz · Rating 4 out of 5]

such an incredible compilation of short stories, required reading for all self-conscious women who second guess their own experiences

[Pelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories make me think that Shashi has lived a thousand lives and lives to tell them all. Her writing gets so specific with subtle and not so subtle challenges women, specifically Indian Vancouverite women, may have lived through. I had to take a step back to remind myself that each story was fiction written by the same author and not a compilation of non-fiction stories written by different people. Overall a recommended read, because how can you not when it goes by so quickly?

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her Ex Writes a Novel - so I guess we all date the same guys, huh? lol. I remember an ex of mine being so enamored with some Nordic author who was apparently a pretty awful person, then instead of apologizing to the people in his life who he harmed, published his writing about the situations and said people could judge him based on his writing/retelling of the stories if they wanted. Anyways, I found this particular story cathartic lol.

I also quite enjoyed the Am I the Asshole story.

[Daniel Pojda ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐

[Sally Elhennawy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a lovely collection! Some of the stories were misses for me but the ones that hit were so moving and rendered the deeply personal universal in a way that was both disconcerting and reassuring.

[Liz Mc2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Shashi is my colleague, and though I don't know her well, I wouldn't have posted a review here if I hadn't liked the book. But I did! A collection of wry, funny stories about being a young single woman of color, particularly dating and your relationship to your body. In the vein of "Cat People" by Kristen Roupenian or Carmen Maria Machado. "Her Ex Writes a Novel" is a hilarious and squirmy take on the Bad Art (Ex-Girl)Friend and you can read it online.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first short story collection I’ve read that actually made me care about the characters. I resonated with some of these themes so much that I think I was meant to find this book when I did (shout out to Libby).

[Harla Lazaris-Receno · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars 🌟

I may have to re-visit this review as there are a lot of complicated emotions (sadness, disgust, shock, anger) that still need to be processed.

At a surface level, these are relatable stories about women and dating. However, it is the themes of self-loathing, insecurity, inferiority complex, internalized/externalized racism, and assault triggers an uncomfortableness that made it a difficult read. I had to put it down at times to allow some breathing room as it was quite heavy.

Also, I kept thinking about how writers say that the best, well-written stories are about what they know and their experiences - if that is true than I hope the author has a strong support system in place.

[Allisha Granger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know if short stories aren’t for me, if I should have read the book instead of listened to the audiobook, or if I was just too annoyed with the things the women had to put up with in these stories but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Some of these stories I couldn’t resonate with and I wanted more but maybe I’ll gain a greater perspective after discussing it at book club!

[Miki · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

The short stories in Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories were enjoyable and well-written short stories: Bhat can write! However, there was something missing, and I believe that I would prefer to read a novella or novel by Bhat. I'm very interested to read whatever Bhat publishes!!!

[Physical and audiobook, borrowed from library]

[cozycornernovels ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible collection of short stories! Shashi Bhat's writing style completely captivated me from the first story. I had the pleasure of meeting Shashi Bhat earlier this year, and listened to her read a part of her story "Am I The Asshole?". After hearing her reading, I knew I had to grab a copy and read this collection of short stories.

These stories capture different moments in life in such a real, raw and authentic way. I think there's many aspects of these characters/stories that anyone could relate to, especially women. There were many times throughout these stories where I paused and thought to myself, "I've thought this" or "I know someone who went through this", and that was part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much!

My rating:
4⭐️

[Alian · Rating 4 out of 5]

relatable and very well-written

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every minute of this

[Rmgowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful! the writing was exceptional and the themes were so consistent and well explored. I loved it so much

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, enjoyable short story read. Favourites: Indian cooking, we’re all in this alone, her ex writes a novel, am I the asshole.

[Keisha Maloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this on audible, and listened to a short story while walking the dog. The authors writing is measured and careful. You get the sense that some stories resemble the authors own experiences, or just that she has this ability to write about what it’s like to be a woman in the world in a deeply personal but universal way. The audible recording was annoying as heck though. So many times two tracks would overlap, meaning I missed a solid portion of some stories.

[serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe this is fiction. It felt so real and relatable. I’m usually not a fan of short stories and I felt immersed in every one. The writing was beautiful. I could not stop reading and have been recommending it to my friends. The topics covered in the different short stories are so important and felt so real to me in terms of being a young woman and the social challenges that can come with that, from medical neglect to navigating interpersonal relationships, to everyday thoughts and activities. I loved the South Asian Canadian cultural context. Probably one of the best books I have read this year.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this collection of shorts stories. Evoked so many emotions about womanhood and relationships.