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Tilled Earth : Stories
In this, her first collection of short stories, Manjushree Thapa triumphs both as a confident innovator and a sensitive chronicler of small lives. Comprising perfectly crafted micro stories, and stories of conventional length, Tilled Earth offers glimpses into the private dramas of people caught midlife: an elderly woodworker loses his way in a modern Kathmandu neighbourhood; a homesick expatriate nurses a hangover; a clerk at the Ministry of Home Affairs learns to play Solitaire on the computer; a young woman goes to Seattle as a student, and finds herself becoming an illegal alien; and a retired secretary visits the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini, only to find his deepest insecurities exposed.
196 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2007
About the author
Manjushree Thapa
18 books97 followersManjushree Thapa is a Nepali writer.
She grew up in Nepal, Canada and the USA. She began to write upon completing her BFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her first book was Mustang Bhot in Fragments (1992). In 2001 she published the novel The Tutor of History, which she had begun as her MFA thesis in the creative writing program at the University of Washington. Her best known book is Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy (2005), published just weeks before the royal coup in Nepal on 1 February 2005. The book was shortlisted for the Lettre Ulysses Award in 2006.[3] After the publication of the book, Thapa left the country to write against the coup. In 2007 she published a short story collection, Tilled Earth. In 2009 she published a biography of a Nepali environmentalist: 'A Boy from Siklis: The Life and Times of Chandra Gurung.' The following year she published a novel, 'Seasons of Flight.' In 2011 she published a nonfiction collection, 'The Lives We Have Lost: Essays and Opinions on Nepal.' She has also written as an op-ed contributor to the New York Times.[4][5]
During the fall and winter of 2011, she was writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon.
She grew up in Nepal, Canada and the USA. She began to write upon completing her BFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her first book was Mustang Bhot in Fragments (1992). In 2001 she published the novel The Tutor of History, which she had begun as her MFA thesis in the creative writing program at the University of Washington. Her best known book is Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy (2005), published just weeks before the royal coup in Nepal on 1 February 2005. The book was shortlisted for the Lettre Ulysses Award in 2006.[3] After the publication of the book, Thapa left the country to write against the coup. In 2007 she published a short story collection, Tilled Earth. In 2009 she published a biography of a Nepali environmentalist: 'A Boy from Siklis: The Life and Times of Chandra Gurung.' The following year she published a novel, 'Seasons of Flight.' In 2011 she published a nonfiction collection, 'The Lives We Have Lost: Essays and Opinions on Nepal.' She has also written as an op-ed contributor to the New York Times.[4][5]
During the fall and winter of 2011, she was writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 8, 2019
Imagine you're planning a trip to Nepal, but know nothing about the country, other than the capital city Kathmandu, the famous Muktinath temple, the Pashupatinath temple, Pokhra and Chitwan. You don't know the terrain, the people or the language. Here's where books like Tilled Earth hold your hand, submerge you into its currents and take you through the nooks and crannies of the landlocked country.
~
I love authors who are immensely rooted in their culture and are proud of it. I love authors who go beyond the stereotypes associated with their country and dare to show a different picture of it. Here's where Tilled Earth by Manjushree Thapa shines.
~
Tilled Earth is a collection of short stories which revolve around the Nepalese common folk, people like you and me. At a glance, the stories seem like any other common man's story, but Thapa has given it just the required cultural twist.
Through these wonderful stories, we are taken through the hilly terrain of the country to the average Nepali persons heart. It introduces us to a Nepal, very different than the hippie trail, different from the tourist brochures. With a prose so beautiful, we see the changing dynamics of the country in all senses.
This book, along with The Gurkha's daughter by Prajwal Parajuly, is a good place to start if you want a taste of Nepali culture, history and politics.
~
Thapa's writing has such potency and it's evident in the way she has etched out her characters, paying attention to tiny details, which add so much flavour to the stories.
Of all the stories, I particularly enjoyed Sounds that the tongue learns to make, Friends, Three hundred rupees, Tilled Earth and The eldest son thinks of home a tad bit more than the rest. Thapa has a gift of description and she brings out subtle quirks in her stories. I've been to Nepal only twice, and it does seem like a hard country to write about, but Thapa did a wonderful job. Go read.
4.5⭐
~
I love authors who are immensely rooted in their culture and are proud of it. I love authors who go beyond the stereotypes associated with their country and dare to show a different picture of it. Here's where Tilled Earth by Manjushree Thapa shines.
~
Tilled Earth is a collection of short stories which revolve around the Nepalese common folk, people like you and me. At a glance, the stories seem like any other common man's story, but Thapa has given it just the required cultural twist.
Through these wonderful stories, we are taken through the hilly terrain of the country to the average Nepali persons heart. It introduces us to a Nepal, very different than the hippie trail, different from the tourist brochures. With a prose so beautiful, we see the changing dynamics of the country in all senses.
This book, along with The Gurkha's daughter by Prajwal Parajuly, is a good place to start if you want a taste of Nepali culture, history and politics.
~
Thapa's writing has such potency and it's evident in the way she has etched out her characters, paying attention to tiny details, which add so much flavour to the stories.
Of all the stories, I particularly enjoyed Sounds that the tongue learns to make, Friends, Three hundred rupees, Tilled Earth and The eldest son thinks of home a tad bit more than the rest. Thapa has a gift of description and she brings out subtle quirks in her stories. I've been to Nepal only twice, and it does seem like a hard country to write about, but Thapa did a wonderful job. Go read.
4.5⭐
January 3, 2008
This was a gift from a good friend from Nepal who visited us in Budapest. It was given in the hopes that it would help us to learn a bit about the life and spirit of Nepal. I absolutely loved this book and couldn't recommend it highly enough.
True to our friend's intention, the book gives glimpses through many windows into life in Nepal, a so-called "third world" country having emerged from war, in the midst of political and social reform, and unavoidably affected by globalization. The lives represented come from different genders, ages, ethnicities, nationalities, castes, classes, religions, education, and experience, presenting a pointillistic picture of present-day Nepal.
However, far from being just an illuminating armchair-traveler's survey of Nepal, Tilled Earth is also a masterpiece of creative writing. It is a collection of short stories, some of them micro-stories no more than a paragraph long. It is nothing short of astonishing how the author is able to create and evoke a universe of emotions, experience, and history for a character in just a few short lines. Within a short paragraph or two of these micro-stories, the reader is able to imagine volumes about the life of the character featured. And in the longer stories, the author expresses as much -- or more -- in what is left unsaid or untold, as in what is explicitly revealed.
Highly recommended. (If you can find it, however... It's not on Amazon, and since my copy came all the way from Nepal, I'm afraid i'm of no help...)
True to our friend's intention, the book gives glimpses through many windows into life in Nepal, a so-called "third world" country having emerged from war, in the midst of political and social reform, and unavoidably affected by globalization. The lives represented come from different genders, ages, ethnicities, nationalities, castes, classes, religions, education, and experience, presenting a pointillistic picture of present-day Nepal.
However, far from being just an illuminating armchair-traveler's survey of Nepal, Tilled Earth is also a masterpiece of creative writing. It is a collection of short stories, some of them micro-stories no more than a paragraph long. It is nothing short of astonishing how the author is able to create and evoke a universe of emotions, experience, and history for a character in just a few short lines. Within a short paragraph or two of these micro-stories, the reader is able to imagine volumes about the life of the character featured. And in the longer stories, the author expresses as much -- or more -- in what is left unsaid or untold, as in what is explicitly revealed.
Highly recommended. (If you can find it, however... It's not on Amazon, and since my copy came all the way from Nepal, I'm afraid i'm of no help...)
November 24, 2019
If I ever have to pick a version of Nepal I want to remember, it would be hers. Through simple and realistic stories, Tilled Earth managed to capture my attention and kept me engrossed the entire time. As a reader, I enjoy stories that are brought to life by characters and nuanced observations that finally form a picture that is fascinating.
-
The book starts with relatively shorter stories, giving us glimpses of the kind of storytelling that is to be expected. As 'Thapa' moves towards the complexities of a country, the rough terrain, the variegation in people and cultures, she already has the reader’s attention.
-
Detail-oriented writing is what impressed me the most. In ‘Heera Mahajan loses his way’, 'Thapa' talks about the notion of mother Earth, something very important to the local people and what is in grave danger due to industrialization and development. In ‘Friends’, two contrasting people have a conversation over time- one native to Nepal and looking for an escape, while the other wanting to connect back to his roots after a life abroad. But eventually, they develop a strong bond.
-
In ‘The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture’, the religious side of Katmandu(Lumbini)- the place where Buddhism took shape has been narrated by a man impassive to the religious practices and stories without evidence. Similarly, each story has something to offer, be it perspective or information.
-
Thapa brings Katmandu to life and not just the glorious bits but the dirt-filled roads, the mean and unyielding men you would come across very often, tourists full of stubborn excitement, their hearts, and smiles bubbling with tales, the confined lives of women and a land that a few people want to abandon due to its every-shifting political scenario. The stories focus more on what can be seen and felt, rather than speculative stories. She breathes life into her characters, simultaneous recreating a land that deserves to be read and remembered.
-
The book starts with relatively shorter stories, giving us glimpses of the kind of storytelling that is to be expected. As 'Thapa' moves towards the complexities of a country, the rough terrain, the variegation in people and cultures, she already has the reader’s attention.
-
Detail-oriented writing is what impressed me the most. In ‘Heera Mahajan loses his way’, 'Thapa' talks about the notion of mother Earth, something very important to the local people and what is in grave danger due to industrialization and development. In ‘Friends’, two contrasting people have a conversation over time- one native to Nepal and looking for an escape, while the other wanting to connect back to his roots after a life abroad. But eventually, they develop a strong bond.
-
In ‘The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture’, the religious side of Katmandu(Lumbini)- the place where Buddhism took shape has been narrated by a man impassive to the religious practices and stories without evidence. Similarly, each story has something to offer, be it perspective or information.
-
Thapa brings Katmandu to life and not just the glorious bits but the dirt-filled roads, the mean and unyielding men you would come across very often, tourists full of stubborn excitement, their hearts, and smiles bubbling with tales, the confined lives of women and a land that a few people want to abandon due to its every-shifting political scenario. The stories focus more on what can be seen and felt, rather than speculative stories. She breathes life into her characters, simultaneous recreating a land that deserves to be read and remembered.
November 7, 2012
If you want to get a sense of culture, society and recent history in Nepal Manjushree Thapa's stories are a good place to start. They are, too, in their own right gorgeously written stories and sketches.
This collection of highly compressed, evocative stories is a delight. Individual struggles, moments of transformation, personal windows opening onto social and political shifts in a changing Nepal are all captured beautifully.
You'll reread many of these stories again and again, experiencing that tiny charge of surprise and delight each time.
This collection of highly compressed, evocative stories is a delight. Individual struggles, moments of transformation, personal windows opening onto social and political shifts in a changing Nepal are all captured beautifully.
You'll reread many of these stories again and again, experiencing that tiny charge of surprise and delight each time.
July 23, 2020
This didn't reveal as much about Nepal as I had expected. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the stories, although some were incredibly short and left me wondering what the point was. Many of the stories reminded me of other books I have read about India, with characters unsure about themselves. The story I enjoyed the most was in fact the title story, 'Tilled Earth', about a Nepali woman in America.
February 22, 2020
Quick read but wow! I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology of short stories. Manjushree captures contemporary Nepal with such care and sensitivity... her characters are simple people living complex lives, her settings exude realism, and her stories make you empathize, laugh and feel endearment. I felt like I'd already visited all the locations while reading the stories because of how well they're described-- no pretense or embellishment had to be used to bring them alive. I also loved the subtle social commentary running through this collection and loved even more that it wasn't overanalyzing or fussy. The nonchalant tone conveyed acceptance and compromise by the characters, but also their hidden frustrations and passions. I truly savored this book and look forward to reading many more pieces by the author. Highly recommend!
~My favorite pieces were "Sounds that the Tongue Learns to Make", "Friends", and "The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture".
~My favorite pieces were "Sounds that the Tongue Learns to Make", "Friends", and "The Buddha in the Earth-Touching Posture".
October 30, 2014
My first time trying Nepali literature and I can say I love it.
The stories vary in length and in nature, though they all involve defeated characters with some hidden potential inside them. Thapa manages to show the Nepali culture and nature through her stories. I think I'll read her collection once again, once I go through other Nepali writers' works to get her and her characters more. Nepal seems to be a hard country to write about, but she did a good job.
The stories vary in length and in nature, though they all involve defeated characters with some hidden potential inside them. Thapa manages to show the Nepali culture and nature through her stories. I think I'll read her collection once again, once I go through other Nepali writers' works to get her and her characters more. Nepal seems to be a hard country to write about, but she did a good job.
January 28, 2011
While I enjoyed reading Nepali fiction while in Nepal, I generally found Thapa's writing to be kind of bland and the characters in most of the stories not particularly engaging.
Read
March 27, 2023De paginalange verhalen die door het boek heen gestrooid zijn, en waarmee de bundel opvallend genoeg ook begint, waren niet direct heel indrukwekkend. Een uitzondering hierop is "The Secretary of the Student Union Makes a Career Choice", maar dat is alleen omdat de karakterschets naadloos aansluit bij mijn eigen besluiteloze overmoed.
De langere verhalen hebben logischerwijs meer ruimte om de personages en sfeer te ontwikkelen, en dat loont. Je krijgt een veelzijdig beeld van Nepal (niet dat een Nepali auteur per se haar hele nationaliteit moet vertolken, maar daar adverteert de achterflap mee). Thapa benoemt graag de ongelijkheid en armoede die het land teistert, maar het is veelal vanuit het perspectief van de intellectueel: de marxistische boekenhandelaar, de universitair docente of de gepensioneerde ambtenaar die zich stoort aan de weelde van Boeddhistische tempels. Er zijn enkele uitzonderingen, zoals "Ta'angzoum amongs the Cows", en dat verhaal is dan ook een welkome afwisseling.
Veel van de verhalen spelen met de gespleten identiteit: een Nepali-Amerikaanse journalist die Nepal zijn thuis wil maken maar duidelijk nog niet weet hoe, de Amerikaanse vrouw die in het taalverschil met haar Nepali vriend de afstand merkt, de Nepali vrouw die illegaal in Amerika woont en daar een nieuw mens probeert te worden. Thapa zelf leeft tussen Seattle en Kathmandu, en het verhaal Tilled Earth voelt daarbij erg autobiografisch aan, wat het voor mij extra lading geeft. Sowieso voelt dit element het meest doorleefd.
Oh ja, en de wereld verandert heel snel!! Ook al gaat zo'n 80% van alles wat ik lees voor mijn "lees een boek uit elk land van de wereld"-project over de spanning tussen traditie en moderniteit, het eigene en het andere, toch blijft dit thema boeiend, ook in Tilled Earth.
Hoogtepunt: "Friends"
De langere verhalen hebben logischerwijs meer ruimte om de personages en sfeer te ontwikkelen, en dat loont. Je krijgt een veelzijdig beeld van Nepal (niet dat een Nepali auteur per se haar hele nationaliteit moet vertolken, maar daar adverteert de achterflap mee). Thapa benoemt graag de ongelijkheid en armoede die het land teistert, maar het is veelal vanuit het perspectief van de intellectueel: de marxistische boekenhandelaar, de universitair docente of de gepensioneerde ambtenaar die zich stoort aan de weelde van Boeddhistische tempels. Er zijn enkele uitzonderingen, zoals "Ta'angzoum amongs the Cows", en dat verhaal is dan ook een welkome afwisseling.
Veel van de verhalen spelen met de gespleten identiteit: een Nepali-Amerikaanse journalist die Nepal zijn thuis wil maken maar duidelijk nog niet weet hoe, de Amerikaanse vrouw die in het taalverschil met haar Nepali vriend de afstand merkt, de Nepali vrouw die illegaal in Amerika woont en daar een nieuw mens probeert te worden. Thapa zelf leeft tussen Seattle en Kathmandu, en het verhaal Tilled Earth voelt daarbij erg autobiografisch aan, wat het voor mij extra lading geeft. Sowieso voelt dit element het meest doorleefd.
Oh ja, en de wereld verandert heel snel!! Ook al gaat zo'n 80% van alles wat ik lees voor mijn "lees een boek uit elk land van de wereld"-project over de spanning tussen traditie en moderniteit, het eigene en het andere, toch blijft dit thema boeiend, ook in Tilled Earth.
Hoogtepunt: "Friends"
December 26, 2017
Tilled Earth af nepalesisk-canadiske Majushree Thapa er en fin, stilfærdig novellesamling med glimt af levede liv og drømme i Nepal og andre steder.
Læs hele anmeldelsen på K's bognoter: https://t.co/x2eYCiBSsL
Læs hele anmeldelsen på K's bognoter: https://t.co/x2eYCiBSsL
January 29, 2024
Beautiful short stories from the inside perspective of a Nepali citizen that both confirmed and broadened my understanding of the experience I got while living there. Well written and wonderful to read.
April 23, 2025
Good collection of strong sad stories of life in Nepal.
December 12, 2025
one decent thing this degree made me read this year
February 27, 2017
Some of the very short stories surprised me at first but as I kept on reading, I discovered beauty & quirks. I finished the book with great relish. Savoring it now...
December 3, 2016
The thing about Manjushree Thapa is she seems to know what I'm thinking, my hidden fears, and bring them all crashing to the surface. She is therefore an incredibly talented as a writer and I hate it, and greatly dislike reading her books because she makes me feel things I don't want to. Give me a nice monsters-attack-from-space story anyday, give me vampires, give me zombies - but please for god's sake take Manjushree Thapa away. It is easier to fight a literal monster than it is to face my past all over again through her insightful, all-too-familiar prose and feel my heart break knowing too well how her characters feel. I would therefore consider her books to be a part of the horror genre, and I would not recommend them to anyone. Unless you're the kind of masochist who enjoys feeling emotions.
February 10, 2014
I enjoyed this collection of stories very much. I found Sounds that the Tongue Learns to Make, Love Marriage and Tilled earth particularly good. The Newly Appointed Chemistry Professor was beautiful too, it didn't need the hard-hitting rape factor to hit the message home. A woman knows her place in a man's world under normal circumstances.
Engaging narratives. I didn't warm up to a few, but then again, that's my personal view. But on the whole, a good read.
Engaging narratives. I didn't warm up to a few, but then again, that's my personal view. But on the whole, a good read.
December 12, 2014
A nice collection of short stories showing many of Nepal's faces in a time of upheaval and social change. I really enjoyed these glimpses into such different lives. The author has a gift for description and subtlety.
March 15, 2018
Short stories from Nepal! I was quite excited - there is a touch of "reporting" in the style. As if the stories are transcribed from jottings.
The stories are all slightly sad.
NGO work/offices/employees form an almost constant background.
The stories are all slightly sad.
NGO work/offices/employees form an almost constant background.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews