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Mad Country
Samrat Upadhyay’s new collection vibrates at the edges of intersecting cultures. Journalists in Kathmandu are targeted by the government. A Nepali man studying in America drops out of school and finds himself a part of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. A white American woman moves to Nepal and changes her name. A Nepali man falls in love with a mysterious foreign black woman. A rich kid is caught up in his own fantasies of poverty and bank robbery. In the title story, a powerful woman, the owner of a construction company, becomes a political prisoner, and in stark and unflinching prose we see both her world and her mind radically remade.
Through the course of the stories in this collection, Upadhyay builds new modes of seeing our interconnected contemporary world. A collection of formal inventiveness, heartbreak and hope, it reaffirms Upadhyay’s position as one or our most important chroniclers of globalization and exile.
Through the course of the stories in this collection, Upadhyay builds new modes of seeing our interconnected contemporary world. A collection of formal inventiveness, heartbreak and hope, it reaffirms Upadhyay’s position as one or our most important chroniclers of globalization and exile.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2017
29 people are currently reading
762 people want to read
About the author
Samrat Upadhyay
11 books109 followersSAMRAT UPADHYAY is the author of Arresting God in Kathmandu, which earned him a Whiting Award, and The Guru of Love, which was a New York Times Notable Book, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize, and a Book Sense 76 pick. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and teaches creative writing and literature at Indiana University. His eight-year-old daughter Shahzadi, is a published poet.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
March 5, 2017
After reading these seven stories and one novella, I want to reach out to all my reading friends and say, “THIS is how it’s done!” Samrat Upadhyay, a chronicler of Napalese fiction, creates fictional worlds so seamlessly that he makes short story writing look easy. And of course, it’s not.
The theme that binds all eight of these mini-works together is identity – identity that evolves and shifts as a result of changing landscapes and conflicts of self. Let’s start with Dreaming of Ghana, by far the longest in page count. Aakash – a young man who is a profound disappointment to his parents – begins to have strange dreams about Ghana, suspecting that “his dream was a lie, like the circus elephants.” That is, until a young, very dark woman appears, the personification of his dreams and a means of writing a new reality. The way the story plays out – the changes that the meeting evokes in Aakash and his roguish well-to-do friend – held my attention to the final gasp-worthy sentence.
The eponymous story Mad Country is my second favorite. In this one, a Type A Naalese businesswoman named Anamika inadvertently is held in detention by police after
attempting to discover the belongings of her neer-do-well son. At first put-out by being inadvertently labeled a political prisoner and forced to mingle with the riff-raff of society, Anamika values and identity undergo an astounding transformation.
Other stories also are compelling: Beggar Boy, for example, where a privileged young man named Ramesh develops an obsession with the poor, even donning filthy old clothes and taking on their identity. And America the Great Equalizer – the only story set in the United States – where a promising Nepali graduate student learns the reality of being a black man in America.
Truly, this is an impressive collection. Nepal itself becomes a character of sorts, permeating each of these brilliant stories.
The theme that binds all eight of these mini-works together is identity – identity that evolves and shifts as a result of changing landscapes and conflicts of self. Let’s start with Dreaming of Ghana, by far the longest in page count. Aakash – a young man who is a profound disappointment to his parents – begins to have strange dreams about Ghana, suspecting that “his dream was a lie, like the circus elephants.” That is, until a young, very dark woman appears, the personification of his dreams and a means of writing a new reality. The way the story plays out – the changes that the meeting evokes in Aakash and his roguish well-to-do friend – held my attention to the final gasp-worthy sentence.
The eponymous story Mad Country is my second favorite. In this one, a Type A Naalese businesswoman named Anamika inadvertently is held in detention by police after
attempting to discover the belongings of her neer-do-well son. At first put-out by being inadvertently labeled a political prisoner and forced to mingle with the riff-raff of society, Anamika values and identity undergo an astounding transformation.
Other stories also are compelling: Beggar Boy, for example, where a privileged young man named Ramesh develops an obsession with the poor, even donning filthy old clothes and taking on their identity. And America the Great Equalizer – the only story set in the United States – where a promising Nepali graduate student learns the reality of being a black man in America.
Truly, this is an impressive collection. Nepal itself becomes a character of sorts, permeating each of these brilliant stories.
January 9, 2024
As my first ever experience to start to read Nepali literature, I thought this book will give me pure Himalayan essences. With an expectation to have Himalayan flavor, I started to read this book, but the first one gave me different taste. That was an interesting story based on a Nepali powerful female journalist and his struggle against political leader and govt.; shows us the challenges of being an independent woman and press freedom . After reading first story I thought, may be next stories will give me Himalayan cultural flavor. But when I read the next stories one by one, I discovered that most of the stories of this book are based on the life of Nepali urban people, where most of them are rich, powerful, educated and elite with the theme of contemporary culture where Samrat try to make the stories leading by women. Some of the stories are connected with global affairs and crisis. After reading all the stories, I can say, these stories are the perfect example of globalization, modern-day anxieties and the crisis of human being.
Samrat Upadhyay is a very popular Nepali writer, who always write in English. In this 'mad country' the plots of the stories are very fine but in most of the cases, the way of the storytelling was not that much attractive except the first story 'First forward', 'Freak street' and 'America , the great equalizer'.
As a tourist i visited Nepal several time., where I experienced the Himalayan culture by meeting Nepali people and visiting some villages and cities. But here I found a different Nepal with different cities. Though this book couldn't fill up my expectation to know more things about authentic Nepali culture, but I enjoyed to read these stories. And this fictions are also pushing me to read more Nepali literature. Looking forward to read another fiction by Samrat Upadhyay with Himalayan cultural essences.
Happy reading
my rating 3.5/5
Samrat Upadhyay is a very popular Nepali writer, who always write in English. In this 'mad country' the plots of the stories are very fine but in most of the cases, the way of the storytelling was not that much attractive except the first story 'First forward', 'Freak street' and 'America , the great equalizer'.
As a tourist i visited Nepal several time., where I experienced the Himalayan culture by meeting Nepali people and visiting some villages and cities. But here I found a different Nepal with different cities. Though this book couldn't fill up my expectation to know more things about authentic Nepali culture, but I enjoyed to read these stories. And this fictions are also pushing me to read more Nepali literature. Looking forward to read another fiction by Samrat Upadhyay with Himalayan cultural essences.
Happy reading
my rating 3.5/5
March 20, 2017
Lately I've been reading a lot of short stories that target specific cultures and/or locations. Present in these collections is, given their contemporary nature, a commonality thanks to globalization. By taking the time to write interconnected stories, authors present a more vivid, encompassing view of the chosen area than would be in one long novel. Samrat Upadhyay is Nepali, and I can safely say, he is the first writer I've read from that country. Don't make the mistake as one character does in the searing story entitled America, the Great Equalizer, and confuse Nepal with India. Kathmandu, a city I will never visit, comes alive, more modern and closer to an American metropolis than I would've thought. In each story there is a reversal of status quo for the central character, a life changing situation or event. Unlike "slice of life" stories, these are mini-novels with complete arcs. Highly recommended.
July 3, 2018
Upadhyay's story collection incorporates larger themes of political unrest, class and race struggles, and personal and institutional freedoms (freedom of speech, free press, etc.) Through seven stories and one longer self-described novella, we see these notions in both Upadhyay's native Nepal, and his now-home, the US.
Many of the stories have a amorphous dream-like quality that made me question whether the events were truly happening. The novella "Dreaming of Ghana" was most notable for this. A Nepali man begins having vivid dreams of (what he believes is) Ghana. He soon meets a woman who he believes to be from Ghana and almost instantly falls in love with her. As readers, we question whether this woman is real, and wonder if the narrator is reliable. No definitive answers, but still a unique and compelling story.
Upadhyay's political stories ("Fast Forward", the eponymous "Mad Country", and "America the Great Equalizer") introduce a strong narrator and the events that surround them, unrest, struggle, and suppression. In "Fast Forward", we see a plot to suppress a reporter and a magazine from reporting on the government, "Mad Country" carries the weight of political dissidence and and imprisonment, and "America the Great Equalizer" follows a Nepali man living in Missori during the riots of Ferguson, Missouri after the murder of Michael Brown in 2014.
Mad Country is a strong collection, and I'd recommend it for short story lovers, and anyone wanting to learn more about Nepal.
**I talk about this one on Ep 123 of Reading Envy: Godlets and Forests. Check it out!
Many of the stories have a amorphous dream-like quality that made me question whether the events were truly happening. The novella "Dreaming of Ghana" was most notable for this. A Nepali man begins having vivid dreams of (what he believes is) Ghana. He soon meets a woman who he believes to be from Ghana and almost instantly falls in love with her. As readers, we question whether this woman is real, and wonder if the narrator is reliable. No definitive answers, but still a unique and compelling story.
Upadhyay's political stories ("Fast Forward", the eponymous "Mad Country", and "America the Great Equalizer") introduce a strong narrator and the events that surround them, unrest, struggle, and suppression. In "Fast Forward", we see a plot to suppress a reporter and a magazine from reporting on the government, "Mad Country" carries the weight of political dissidence and and imprisonment, and "America the Great Equalizer" follows a Nepali man living in Missori during the riots of Ferguson, Missouri after the murder of Michael Brown in 2014.
Mad Country is a strong collection, and I'd recommend it for short story lovers, and anyone wanting to learn more about Nepal.
**I talk about this one on Ep 123 of Reading Envy: Godlets and Forests. Check it out!
December 10, 2017
Mad Country is a collection of eight short stories by the award-winning author of Himalayan country Nepal, Samrat Upadhyay. The stories read like a dream like it was played in the writer’s unconscious mind and the next thing he did is write them down. The stories are ethereal beauty and characters are very familiar yet exclusive.
The cities, big and small and towns of Nepal are in the backdrop of the stories but there is nothing, in particular, to be said in respect to the country or its culture despite the names of the cities and streets he has taken in the stories. The protagonist of every story is a common citizen of Nepal. The stories are not written to teach a moralistic lesson or to convey a message or anything like. They are just stories. They come from the common people and their lives. They do not necessarily end on a good note or a happy ending. Do not expect an ending or closing of the story.
Walk the streets of Samrat Upadhyay’s Mad Country to hear the fascinating and delightful stories.
https://thereviewauthor.com/
The cities, big and small and towns of Nepal are in the backdrop of the stories but there is nothing, in particular, to be said in respect to the country or its culture despite the names of the cities and streets he has taken in the stories. The protagonist of every story is a common citizen of Nepal. The stories are not written to teach a moralistic lesson or to convey a message or anything like. They are just stories. They come from the common people and their lives. They do not necessarily end on a good note or a happy ending. Do not expect an ending or closing of the story.
Walk the streets of Samrat Upadhyay’s Mad Country to hear the fascinating and delightful stories.
https://thereviewauthor.com/
January 4, 2019
Mad book, more like.
I love Samrat Upadhay's language, the easy way he shows us things and people, his skilful use of simple words to achieve complex results. Buddha's Orphans is my favorite.
But this collection disappointed, and terribly. The premises are all excellent. A stellar editor (a character I admired) tries to look after her lost employee and mentally lost friend; a young boy struggles with life after his mother leaves; the American Sofi turns into Sukumari in the streets of Jhochen, a powerful businesswoman falls in love with a prisoner; a dysfunctional family travels back and forth in time; a man falls in love with an African woman created out of his dreams.
But the execution is quite unimpressive. Every story fizzles to nothingness. And I understand of course that stories do not necessarily need to have a tightly-knit plot, but these loose pieces of yarn bother me too much. These are just a couple of ideas thrown about carelessly, with what seem like surrealism, magic realism, absurdism, even postmodernism thrown in for good measure. And it was an unpalatable hotch-potch to me, even an insult to the interesting themes he's chosen.
Also, everyone is literally and figuratively in the hippie era, they talk and behave as if Nepal never moved past those years. All the characters are ganja conossieurs, they keep having improbable, mystic, life-altering experiences in unrealistic settings, which might be great elsewhere but do not go with the flow in these stories.
Maybe it's not meant for readers like me, maybe the writer has a different audience in mind, but even me being an ardent admirer couldn't take to this. I kept plodding on in the hope of discovering magic of yore, and just ended up being tired of the book.
I can see that it has been tightly edited, polished and stamped with the writer's impeccable style, and can understand why it would fascinate foreigners and lovers of certain kinds of stories, but I still cannot accept the treachery it's shown to a reader looking forward to it.
I love Samrat Upadhay's language, the easy way he shows us things and people, his skilful use of simple words to achieve complex results. Buddha's Orphans is my favorite.
But this collection disappointed, and terribly. The premises are all excellent. A stellar editor (a character I admired) tries to look after her lost employee and mentally lost friend; a young boy struggles with life after his mother leaves; the American Sofi turns into Sukumari in the streets of Jhochen, a powerful businesswoman falls in love with a prisoner; a dysfunctional family travels back and forth in time; a man falls in love with an African woman created out of his dreams.
But the execution is quite unimpressive. Every story fizzles to nothingness. And I understand of course that stories do not necessarily need to have a tightly-knit plot, but these loose pieces of yarn bother me too much. These are just a couple of ideas thrown about carelessly, with what seem like surrealism, magic realism, absurdism, even postmodernism thrown in for good measure. And it was an unpalatable hotch-potch to me, even an insult to the interesting themes he's chosen.
Also, everyone is literally and figuratively in the hippie era, they talk and behave as if Nepal never moved past those years. All the characters are ganja conossieurs, they keep having improbable, mystic, life-altering experiences in unrealistic settings, which might be great elsewhere but do not go with the flow in these stories.
Maybe it's not meant for readers like me, maybe the writer has a different audience in mind, but even me being an ardent admirer couldn't take to this. I kept plodding on in the hope of discovering magic of yore, and just ended up being tired of the book.
I can see that it has been tightly edited, polished and stamped with the writer's impeccable style, and can understand why it would fascinate foreigners and lovers of certain kinds of stories, but I still cannot accept the treachery it's shown to a reader looking forward to it.
February 26, 2017
Samrat Upadhyay has the gift of being able to view the world with both a zoom and wide angle lens at the same time. He sees the small details within the larger cultural and socioeconomic milieu. Most of the stories contained in this collection take place in Nepal, a country I know little about, and one of the stories takes place in the United States. Reading these amazing short stories placed me inside a world very different from my own. What I can say with surety, however, is that the commonality of human nature and the struggles that people face, often go beyond culture and place.
The stories are varied and I loved all but one. Working in the field of mental health, I especially appreciated 'Beggar Boy' about a young man whose life experiences have been so difficult for him that he is playing out a fantasy wherein he becomes someone else. 'What Will Happen to the Sharma Family' made me laugh as well as appreciate the issues that many families face despite variances in family dynamics. 'Freak Street' caught the struggles of a young woman hoping to find herself. A hippie in Kathmandu, she ends up living on Freak Street and becomes so ensconced in the family she stays with and the cultural milieu surrounding her, so much so that she changes her name and forgets about her previous life in Ohio. 'Mad Country', the title story, shows how one's stance in life is as precarious as the political environment of a particular time and place. No one should get too comfortable with their life status because all can tumble down at the drop of a hat. 'Fast Forward', the opening story, is about a young woman who runs an investigative journal and soon realizes that her fame and the truth are not suitable adversaries for the current political regime. The last story, 'America the Great Equalizer' looks closely at race, loss, and the disenfranchised.
I don't know why, but lately it has been difficult for me to get into short stories. This all changed when I picked up 'Mad Country'. Each story is separate but there are a few connected characters if the reader pays close enough attention. The stories are mesmerizing and written by a pro, an author whose view of the world is complex and wise.
The stories are varied and I loved all but one. Working in the field of mental health, I especially appreciated 'Beggar Boy' about a young man whose life experiences have been so difficult for him that he is playing out a fantasy wherein he becomes someone else. 'What Will Happen to the Sharma Family' made me laugh as well as appreciate the issues that many families face despite variances in family dynamics. 'Freak Street' caught the struggles of a young woman hoping to find herself. A hippie in Kathmandu, she ends up living on Freak Street and becomes so ensconced in the family she stays with and the cultural milieu surrounding her, so much so that she changes her name and forgets about her previous life in Ohio. 'Mad Country', the title story, shows how one's stance in life is as precarious as the political environment of a particular time and place. No one should get too comfortable with their life status because all can tumble down at the drop of a hat. 'Fast Forward', the opening story, is about a young woman who runs an investigative journal and soon realizes that her fame and the truth are not suitable adversaries for the current political regime. The last story, 'America the Great Equalizer' looks closely at race, loss, and the disenfranchised.
I don't know why, but lately it has been difficult for me to get into short stories. This all changed when I picked up 'Mad Country'. Each story is separate but there are a few connected characters if the reader pays close enough attention. The stories are mesmerizing and written by a pro, an author whose view of the world is complex and wise.
March 2, 2018
Samrat Upadhyay has moved away from the simplicity of his early stories, but the injection of magic realism simply does not work alongside the mundane prose. Everyone is trying to be someone else, but not in any convincing way, except in the last story, 'America, the Great Equalizer'. The longest story in the collection (occupying a quarter of the book), 'Dreaming of Ghana', is a trainwreck: a young man dreams of Africa, and a black girl enters his city. Other characters enter and exit with little motivation (take the parents who abruptly emigrate to Hong Kong), and at the centre of it all we have the disillusioned, spineless protagonist, who resembles the hapless heroes and heroines of all the other stories; either they have no agency, or the agency they are presumed to have suddenly stops working. The effect is depressing, but not in any profound or enlightening sense. There are ideas and genuinely charming passages in the book, but they are framed sloppily. The glowing reviews of Mad Country in major western papers I am compelled to put down to neo-orientalism!
September 5, 2017
Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay puts the reader into the minds and hearts of a hodgepodge of characters while examining the social and political issues that govern their lives. These snippets of life push the reader to think about life from different perspectives perhaps even questioning the conventions of life we often accept without a moment's thought. Mad Country delves into the raw emotions and the intense dogmas held by people that create division and destroy communication while pushing the reader to cheer for some characters, commiserate with others, and despise others and sometimes doing all three for the one character or the other. Upadhyay writes stories that feel like snapshots of his characters' lives and drawing parallels that remind the reader just how interwoven all our lives really are.
May 29, 2017
This book was a cultural experience! As a tourist, my experience was that Nepal and its people are so beautiful. These stories offered a different perspective, of a glimpse into social issues in Nepal and affecting Nepalis abroad. The stories give more life to things I learned while in Nepal, and to things I've been told by friends from that part of the world.
November 23, 2018
I am gonna say its a nice read. It could be just me, but I found difference in Mr. Upadhyay writing style in Mad Country from his other stories/books. As a fan of his works i can say that the stories in Mad Country are really gems.
July 16, 2020
Fascinating stories about every-day events. What prevents them from becoming banal are occasional flashes of brilliance, that are Kafkaesque in tone. The layabout protagonist and the mysterious nubile girl in Dreaming of Ghana seem to be inspired from Murakami's yarns.
Here is an excerpt:
The simple style of writing is engagingly fresh; I wish there was a glossary of Nepali terms. A map of Kathmandu would have been helpful identifying the place and temples mentioned in the stories
Here is an excerpt:
‘I bet. Indian women are so sexy.’India adopts a patronising, big-brotherly attitude towards Nepal, forgetting that this is a proud sovereign country with its unique socio-cultural and religious ethos. During the recent fracas about state boundaries, a senior Nepali opposition politician was asked the possibility of souring of roti-beti relations. He vehemently countered
‘I’m not from India. I’m from Nepal.’ Biks pointed a stern finger at Jacob. ‘Don’t ever, ever call a Nepali man Indian. We were never colonized by the British.’ … “And don’t ever tell a Nepali man that Buddha was born in India. Unless you want to be lynched.’
I have not yet been able to fathom the roti-beti narrative. A lot of Indian people, largely out of affection, think of Nepali counterparts to be just like them in every respect of life. Let me point out that for a majority of Nepali people it is dal bhat, not roti, that is staple food. This narrative not only ignores the diversity that exists in Nepali society, but also wrongly reinforces a stereotype that our Indian friends feel close to only some, but not all, Nepalis. The nature of the beti part of the narrative also is changing, as a large Nepali population works abroad beyond India and is getting married to not just Indians but varied nationalities.Ouch!
The simple style of writing is engagingly fresh; I wish there was a glossary of Nepali terms. A map of Kathmandu would have been helpful identifying the place and temples mentioned in the stories
June 9, 2018
3.5 stars - captivating stories about the Nepali elite both in Nepal at times of great upheaval but also the Nepali immigrant experience in the US. Upadhyay's tales revolve around the economic creme de la creme, but he writes across gender reasonably well and these stories really stick with a reader long after you've closed the book.
The opening story about a rich kid pretending to be poor from a broken family, and the last about a Nepali immigrant visiting Ferguson, were both strong. I also liked Dreaming about Ghana and also the "hippie young woman" who insists on getting a proper local name while in Nepal.
The opening story about a rich kid pretending to be poor from a broken family, and the last about a Nepali immigrant visiting Ferguson, were both strong. I also liked Dreaming about Ghana and also the "hippie young woman" who insists on getting a proper local name while in Nepal.
June 4, 2017
I'm generally not a huge short story fan - I like the depth of a full length novel-- but I found these stories compelling. I learned a lot about Nepali culture and history - I definitely want to read more on the subject.
May 31, 2018
The first couple stories were hard to get into and I almost gave up on this book. I'm really glad I didn't! The last three or four were really, really good.
December 11, 2018
A solid 2 stars, maybe even 2.5. Mad Country contains eight short stories that center the experiences of Nepali individuals grappling with culture, intersection of identity, and ultimately, themselves. The stories take place within and outside of the borders of Nepal though the country as a thematic undercurrent to each one. I enjoyed this book because it exposed me to a place I know very little about from different perspectives. Freak Street, America the Great Equalizer and elements of Beggar Boy were among the most riveting in this collection. In Freak Street, Upadhyay skillfully addresses a situation in which a Caucasian girl comes to Nepal to find herself, her truth and most notably, a physical and spiritual home. He presents situations in which she asks to be renamed and wants to simply "blend in" while continuously coming into contact with resistance, skepticism, and unfortunately sexual violence because of her social identities. As a person interested in the complexities behind the "Eat. Pray. Love." narrative where (typically white) individuals leave their homes, visit another country and come back whole, it was an intriguing read with more nuance than I expected. While the author mentions colorism in nearly every story, its pairing with anti-Blackness in America the Great Equalizer was striking. I feel that story was the strongest in exemplifying inner turmoil, the internal strife of "people of color" narratives and how oppression can make the oppressed suspicious of one another rather than their oppressor. Compared to Dreaming of Ghana, a story I only appreciated for its commentary on anti-Blackness, America the Great Equalizer was steeped in truth and complexity. In comparison, Dreaming of Ghana was rooted in a confusing plot line, a non-agentic female character and a conclusion that gets lost in the pages. Beggar Boy has a similar flawed, detached protagonist of the other stories in the collection, but the nebulous commentary on queerness combined with the outcome kept me engaged to the end.
May 1, 2017
I wasn't entirely sure what I thought about the stories in this book as I worked my way through it. So many of them seemed to be about people who are, for want of a better way to describe them, lost souls; people who lack something in their lives. On the surface they seem to be reasonably well adjusted, or at least to know what it is they want from their lives. But as each story progresses, they all have strange, often disturbing transformations, slipping easily into different realities.
These stories are about metamorphoses, the most jarring of which are people of privilege who slip into lives of less privilege and (seemingly) greater simplicity. Sofi, an American girl, loses herself in the Nepali culture, insisting on becoming Nepali, and forgetting about her old life in Ohio. But underneath the new surface and new name is the old Sofi, who is betrayed by her own needs. Anamika, is a successful business woman with a truant son and disabled husband. Her adept manipulation of others fails her, and she is arrested and held in prison where she undergoes a profound change, a rejection of all she'd held dear, and we see her essential character as being quite different from what we had first thought.
These are stories which require a good deal of thought. They don't easily give up their meaning, and even seem to lead nowhere in some cases. But when taken as a whole, as pieces of a larger narrative, they describe our desire to escape life's difficulties, and the way in which our own personalities will always color those escapes.
Well worth your time.
These stories are about metamorphoses, the most jarring of which are people of privilege who slip into lives of less privilege and (seemingly) greater simplicity. Sofi, an American girl, loses herself in the Nepali culture, insisting on becoming Nepali, and forgetting about her old life in Ohio. But underneath the new surface and new name is the old Sofi, who is betrayed by her own needs. Anamika, is a successful business woman with a truant son and disabled husband. Her adept manipulation of others fails her, and she is arrested and held in prison where she undergoes a profound change, a rejection of all she'd held dear, and we see her essential character as being quite different from what we had first thought.
These are stories which require a good deal of thought. They don't easily give up their meaning, and even seem to lead nowhere in some cases. But when taken as a whole, as pieces of a larger narrative, they describe our desire to escape life's difficulties, and the way in which our own personalities will always color those escapes.
Well worth your time.
April 12, 2018
After reading the first story in this collection, I set the book aside, unsure of whether I would return to it. The story struck me as an undistinguished, quotidian tale with few redeeming qualities. Some some months later, I picked it up again and found the second story more engaging. It is a mixed collection. All the stories are set in Kathmandu, which I visited several times, so I was familiar with some of the landscape, though most of the stories were set against the unfamiliar background of the years of revolution and turmoil. Some stories were quite good: Beggar Boy, Freak Street, and Dreaming of Ghana were my favorite. Others seemed like filler. The title story, Mad Country, was interesting, but unfulfilling, a disappointment, since it was the story most clearly about the revolution.
May 17, 2017
I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
This is a really fascinating collection of stories that deal mostly with upper-middle-class Nepali families. It explores themes of parental neglect and disapproval, class, race, and colorism, both within Nepal and (in one instance) its expatriate community. Some stories are more grounded in reality while others are magic-realist. The stories are self-contained but they all have a cohesive tone and atmosphere.
This is a really fascinating collection of stories that deal mostly with upper-middle-class Nepali families. It explores themes of parental neglect and disapproval, class, race, and colorism, both within Nepal and (in one instance) its expatriate community. Some stories are more grounded in reality while others are magic-realist. The stories are self-contained but they all have a cohesive tone and atmosphere.
April 15, 2018
Amazing short story collection. I was so frustrated when I read story of Mad Country, well it was soul soothing read at last I must say. I would love to meet Upadhyay and discuss about some characters from his short stories. Amazing read so far. As the cover of book says Brilliant, Daring, Memorable...
May 23, 2017
Samrat's characters confused me...albeit they possessed the essence of madness, it made little impact on me.
extended review (later)...
extended review (later)...
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July 28, 2017Kirkus
July 21, 2018
That Murakami vibe of magical realism is addictive. #AddittoyourTBR
October 15, 2024
Ramesh recognized a popular actor who was surrounded by women. In another group was a well-known socialite, a model-turned-interior decorator who called herself the Martha Stewart of Nepal. Ramesh caught a glimpse of a famous banker who was recently in the news for his ruthless acquisitions. Then he spotted a writer who had written one lousy book but who was being lionized as the Himalayan Hemingway for his clipped sentences. Plastic people , he thought. But he didn't leave, as he was spellbound by this world-unto-itself appearing before him while the city raged incoherently outside.
~~A temple in the Nepali city of Kathmandu glows in the setting sunlight. Upadhyay's short stories are loosely connected, but most take place in urban Nepal, with occasional references to the surrounding rural mountains. There's also a dash of magical realism, influenced by the ancient Hindi and Buddhist temples, as well as the shadow of the mighty Himalayas.
First two sentences: The meeting with the minister didn't go well. He was adamant that unless Fast Forward printed a follow-up, a retraction of sorts, the magazine would face problems.
Vital statistics: Author's home: born and raised in Nepal, he now teaches creating writing at Indiana University
Year written: 2017
Length: 294 pages
Setting: primarily Nepal, but one short story is set in the American Midwest
Genre: short story collection with one novella
Read if: You enjoy short stories with diverse perspectives
My two cents: Upadhyay writes competent prose, and I enjoyed his unique viewpoint. His characters are interesting, but not especially memorable. However, one theme common to most of them stood out. They share a sense of yearning for identity, and go to extraordinary lengths to find meaning. Many of them equate meaning to family, community, or a common cause worth fighting for. The touches of magical realism add a bit of whimsical wanderlust. Given 3 stars or a rating of "Good." Recommended as a library check-out if you like reading international authors.
Other favorite quotes: "You've kept it closed?"
"What's the point of opening? No one comes. But why would anyone come? It's closed most of the time because I'm at home, drinking. It's like that novel we read in school. What the f*ck was the name? Catch something. It's closed because no one comes, and no one comes because it's closed."
" Catch 22 ," Shalini said. "Joseph Heller."
"Yes, Heller. My life has become a Heller."
~~"Stop! Thief!" Sukumari shouted in English and chased after him. Speedily, Rajesh Khanna ran through the alley, and with equal vigor Sukumari chased him, the boy biting on the bara whenever he could. The boy took a left on the main street, toward Basantapur, and the early morning shoppers looked at the duo in amazement: a chubby Nepali boy being hotly and breathlessly pursued by a kuiriney wearing a stay-at-home dhoti and shouting, alternatively in English and Nepali, "Thief! Thief! Chor!"
~~It occurred to Sukumari now that it was more about the attention than about the food.
~~The kitchen was her "central command," as Aakash's father liked to call it. "Her fort. From where she fires her missiles."
~~But she was a free spirit. He knew that. If he'd chosen to ignore it, how was she to blame? Before they became lovers, he'd watched her from afar, and he'd admired her and thought, Now there's a free spirit, and I'm not. It was strange, identifying oneself as an unfree spirit. But he'd felt a constriction inside himself ever since he could remember, since childhood. Shy, they used to call him, but he'd always known that it was more than shyness. He was trapped by his own thoughts, which, it became obvious to him by his teen years, went around in circles, or repeated the same patterns--which meant that his life followed the same patterns, over and over. He was free to go wherever he chose, and he traveled quite a bit in the early years of his profession--China, Germany, Australia--yet he was moving within this circle of entrapment.
~~A temple in the Nepali city of Kathmandu glows in the setting sunlight. Upadhyay's short stories are loosely connected, but most take place in urban Nepal, with occasional references to the surrounding rural mountains. There's also a dash of magical realism, influenced by the ancient Hindi and Buddhist temples, as well as the shadow of the mighty Himalayas.
First two sentences: The meeting with the minister didn't go well. He was adamant that unless Fast Forward printed a follow-up, a retraction of sorts, the magazine would face problems.
Vital statistics: Author's home: born and raised in Nepal, he now teaches creating writing at Indiana University
Year written: 2017
Length: 294 pages
Setting: primarily Nepal, but one short story is set in the American Midwest
Genre: short story collection with one novella
Read if: You enjoy short stories with diverse perspectives
My two cents: Upadhyay writes competent prose, and I enjoyed his unique viewpoint. His characters are interesting, but not especially memorable. However, one theme common to most of them stood out. They share a sense of yearning for identity, and go to extraordinary lengths to find meaning. Many of them equate meaning to family, community, or a common cause worth fighting for. The touches of magical realism add a bit of whimsical wanderlust. Given 3 stars or a rating of "Good." Recommended as a library check-out if you like reading international authors.
Other favorite quotes: "You've kept it closed?"
"What's the point of opening? No one comes. But why would anyone come? It's closed most of the time because I'm at home, drinking. It's like that novel we read in school. What the f*ck was the name? Catch something. It's closed because no one comes, and no one comes because it's closed."
" Catch 22 ," Shalini said. "Joseph Heller."
"Yes, Heller. My life has become a Heller."
~~"Stop! Thief!" Sukumari shouted in English and chased after him. Speedily, Rajesh Khanna ran through the alley, and with equal vigor Sukumari chased him, the boy biting on the bara whenever he could. The boy took a left on the main street, toward Basantapur, and the early morning shoppers looked at the duo in amazement: a chubby Nepali boy being hotly and breathlessly pursued by a kuiriney wearing a stay-at-home dhoti and shouting, alternatively in English and Nepali, "Thief! Thief! Chor!"
~~It occurred to Sukumari now that it was more about the attention than about the food.
~~The kitchen was her "central command," as Aakash's father liked to call it. "Her fort. From where she fires her missiles."
~~But she was a free spirit. He knew that. If he'd chosen to ignore it, how was she to blame? Before they became lovers, he'd watched her from afar, and he'd admired her and thought, Now there's a free spirit, and I'm not. It was strange, identifying oneself as an unfree spirit. But he'd felt a constriction inside himself ever since he could remember, since childhood. Shy, they used to call him, but he'd always known that it was more than shyness. He was trapped by his own thoughts, which, it became obvious to him by his teen years, went around in circles, or repeated the same patterns--which meant that his life followed the same patterns, over and over. He was free to go wherever he chose, and he traveled quite a bit in the early years of his profession--China, Germany, Australia--yet he was moving within this circle of entrapment.
May 15, 2018
I’ve recently started reading at least one work of literature from each country I visit, and I picked this book up in Nepal as a first take on that country through the lens of literature. I couldn’t be happier with my selection. This book provided exactly what I was looking for in such a book, and more. What I want from such a book is insight into culture, lifestyle, and politico-historical context that can be difficult to witness through travel. Traveling a new country is like dating a new person; one doesn’t see the rough edges for some time. (Usually the relationship – in either case -- is over before one sees into the murky depths.)
Over the course of eight stories, Upadhyay not only gives one insight into the nature of life for a variety of Nepalis (e.g. rich, poor, and middle class as well as young / progressive v.) older / conservative), he also shows the life of a hippie ex-pat gone native as well as presenting the worldview of a Nepali abroad (i.e. in America for college.) Where this book exceeded my expectations was in the skillfulness of tension-building employed in the stories. Often a book that achieves the aforementioned objectives does so in a way that is flat on story because it takes the character-centric orientation common in literary fiction. These stories are gripping as well as insightful, and don’t abandon story for character. It dances a beautiful line in that regard.
The first of eight stories tells of the trials and tribulations of an editor of a hard-hitting journalistic magazine, and the dual challenges she faces in taking on a corrupt regime while at the same time she has a friend who is going through a messy breakup. However the editor juggles these competing demands, we know she won’t escape some guilt of failing someone important to her.
The second story is about a rich boy whose life is tormented by the fact that his mother abandoned him and his father and moved on to form a new family. The boy takes to impersonating a beggar, secretly hoping his mother will see him and will be shocked into change. The story is also about the young man’s wake up call to the fact that he’ll never have the killer instincts bred by necessity into those less fortunate that are arrayed against him.
The third story is about “the Sharmas,” a dysfunctional Nepali nuclear family in which the mother is pure shrew, the father is trying fumblingly to have an affair, the son is a dim-wit, and the daughter is dating a young man that everybody seems to think is out of her league.
The fourth story is about a girl in the early 1980’s Kathmandu who goes from the drug-addled life of a Freak Street hippie to going full native. Here we see what draws the foreigner to Nepal and to Nepalese people, as well as how attempts to escape into another culture can be as troubled as attempts to escape into drug-induced euphoria.
The fifth story is by far the longest and might be classed as a novella. It’s about a young man who becomes obsessed with an African girl that he rescues in Kathmandu. The piece has a very dream-like quality to it, and through much of the story one is left unclear as to what is real and what is the product of the lead’s mind. In fact, the title “Dreaming of Ghana” suggests this imagined state of affairs.
The sixth story is the shortest, and – as its title suggests – it’s about an “Affair before the Earthquake.” The story evokes the emotion of world events that cleanly bisect our lives.
The eponymously titled penultimate chapter follows a wealthy and powerful woman who is “disappeared” by a corrupt authoritarian regime when she tries to look into the similar disappearance of her son. It’s a fascinating tale about a prominent real estate developer who is disabused of the notion that she is too powerful to be man-handled by the State. We see her transformation as a prisoner as the wind is taken out of her sails until one wonders whether she would ever be able to cope in her old life after being cowed by prison life.
The last story, like the fourth, turns things upside-down a bit. In it we find a Nepali student abroad who finds himself out in the cold because of his strong views on race. He discovers he’s at odds with the other foreign students because he thinks they should be more outraged about the bias displayed against them. He identifies with the plight of blacks, but they don’t see him as one of them.
This is an intense little collection of stories and I’d highly recommend it. The stories are well-crafted and keep the reader intrigued.
Over the course of eight stories, Upadhyay not only gives one insight into the nature of life for a variety of Nepalis (e.g. rich, poor, and middle class as well as young / progressive v.) older / conservative), he also shows the life of a hippie ex-pat gone native as well as presenting the worldview of a Nepali abroad (i.e. in America for college.) Where this book exceeded my expectations was in the skillfulness of tension-building employed in the stories. Often a book that achieves the aforementioned objectives does so in a way that is flat on story because it takes the character-centric orientation common in literary fiction. These stories are gripping as well as insightful, and don’t abandon story for character. It dances a beautiful line in that regard.
The first of eight stories tells of the trials and tribulations of an editor of a hard-hitting journalistic magazine, and the dual challenges she faces in taking on a corrupt regime while at the same time she has a friend who is going through a messy breakup. However the editor juggles these competing demands, we know she won’t escape some guilt of failing someone important to her.
The second story is about a rich boy whose life is tormented by the fact that his mother abandoned him and his father and moved on to form a new family. The boy takes to impersonating a beggar, secretly hoping his mother will see him and will be shocked into change. The story is also about the young man’s wake up call to the fact that he’ll never have the killer instincts bred by necessity into those less fortunate that are arrayed against him.
The third story is about “the Sharmas,” a dysfunctional Nepali nuclear family in which the mother is pure shrew, the father is trying fumblingly to have an affair, the son is a dim-wit, and the daughter is dating a young man that everybody seems to think is out of her league.
The fourth story is about a girl in the early 1980’s Kathmandu who goes from the drug-addled life of a Freak Street hippie to going full native. Here we see what draws the foreigner to Nepal and to Nepalese people, as well as how attempts to escape into another culture can be as troubled as attempts to escape into drug-induced euphoria.
The fifth story is by far the longest and might be classed as a novella. It’s about a young man who becomes obsessed with an African girl that he rescues in Kathmandu. The piece has a very dream-like quality to it, and through much of the story one is left unclear as to what is real and what is the product of the lead’s mind. In fact, the title “Dreaming of Ghana” suggests this imagined state of affairs.
The sixth story is the shortest, and – as its title suggests – it’s about an “Affair before the Earthquake.” The story evokes the emotion of world events that cleanly bisect our lives.
The eponymously titled penultimate chapter follows a wealthy and powerful woman who is “disappeared” by a corrupt authoritarian regime when she tries to look into the similar disappearance of her son. It’s a fascinating tale about a prominent real estate developer who is disabused of the notion that she is too powerful to be man-handled by the State. We see her transformation as a prisoner as the wind is taken out of her sails until one wonders whether she would ever be able to cope in her old life after being cowed by prison life.
The last story, like the fourth, turns things upside-down a bit. In it we find a Nepali student abroad who finds himself out in the cold because of his strong views on race. He discovers he’s at odds with the other foreign students because he thinks they should be more outraged about the bias displayed against them. He identifies with the plight of blacks, but they don’t see him as one of them.
This is an intense little collection of stories and I’d highly recommend it. The stories are well-crafted and keep the reader intrigued.
May 2, 2020
Mad Country is a somewhat half-fulfilling read, about a country and people, and their problems - some of which are unique and some others not quite so. The collection of stories covers a fair gamut of society from the Himalayan country of Nepal, nestled between two of the most populous countries in the world - China and India.
I must admit I was a bit biased when I started reading this book - I thought I had some personal knowledge about that country, and that would give me a head start in understanding and empathizing with the stories and the characters. While that turned out to be somewhat true, the stories and the characters themselves left much to be desired.
Almost all the stories have a good premise, in fact at least one of the stories, the opener - Fast Forward - gets off to a flying start, with strong and colorful characters, with equally strong beliefs and ideas - setting you up to expect some strong fireworks.
Unfortunately, that’s where most stories fall flat - the conclusions. It seems like the author had some very good story starters, but when he sat down to writing he wasn’t able to conclude them - at least not impressively. The stories seem fairly realistic, and in fact are probably close to the truth. Not all stories can have an explosive or even a dramatic denouement, and not all authors can be a Henry or a Saki. That’s not a fair comparison, but when you get down to reading a book and decide to invest time and effort (and money!), the least you expect to find is something that you didn’t know before, if not be outright impressed.
That’s what I found consistently missing in most of the stories. I wish he was a little more adventurous with his characters, that he would let them do what I most certainly believe they could have done with their chances, and most importantly let them take chances to do something. Many of the characters are shown to be wasted away - and I guess that must have been his intent, to share the despair and lack of resolution in many situations, no neat bows here. But then one would have looked for a little more shock(!), at least.
I know I may be sounding (a little) despicable myself, but I believe as a reader I can compare this with at least what all I’ve read in the past. I too have to keep moving ahead.
Or else I too will get wasted.
I must admit I was a bit biased when I started reading this book - I thought I had some personal knowledge about that country, and that would give me a head start in understanding and empathizing with the stories and the characters. While that turned out to be somewhat true, the stories and the characters themselves left much to be desired.
Almost all the stories have a good premise, in fact at least one of the stories, the opener - Fast Forward - gets off to a flying start, with strong and colorful characters, with equally strong beliefs and ideas - setting you up to expect some strong fireworks.
Unfortunately, that’s where most stories fall flat - the conclusions. It seems like the author had some very good story starters, but when he sat down to writing he wasn’t able to conclude them - at least not impressively. The stories seem fairly realistic, and in fact are probably close to the truth. Not all stories can have an explosive or even a dramatic denouement, and not all authors can be a Henry or a Saki. That’s not a fair comparison, but when you get down to reading a book and decide to invest time and effort (and money!), the least you expect to find is something that you didn’t know before, if not be outright impressed.
That’s what I found consistently missing in most of the stories. I wish he was a little more adventurous with his characters, that he would let them do what I most certainly believe they could have done with their chances, and most importantly let them take chances to do something. Many of the characters are shown to be wasted away - and I guess that must have been his intent, to share the despair and lack of resolution in many situations, no neat bows here. But then one would have looked for a little more shock(!), at least.
I know I may be sounding (a little) despicable myself, but I believe as a reader I can compare this with at least what all I’ve read in the past. I too have to keep moving ahead.
Or else I too will get wasted.
October 13, 2017
I had read writers from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But I never knew that English writers existed in the tiny mountain country of Nepal as well. Thank you Mad Country for introducing me to the Nepali writer Samrat Upadyay.
Mad country is collection of eight short stories, all set in Nepal. The setting works in favour of the book for apart from the scenic locations in movies, we hardly know the true Nepal. The author paints an incredible yet true picture of the country which abuts us.
The opening story Fast Forward touches dynamics of media-politics relationship. I felt indeed Nepal has rubbed something from its neighbour and cultural cousin - India. Beggar Boy demonstrates how lonely we are amidst all the riches. Though the reason why the protagonist takes up the life of the beggar was beyond comprehension. The characters in Samrat’s stories work out that way, the way they want, even if it may appear crazy, absurd for the rest of us. He subtly touches homosexuality in almost every story for unintended reasons again.
What Will Happen to the Sharma Family is a light read. It narrates how destiny can turn a zero into hero. In Freak Street we meet an American woman whose soul has turned a Nepali within six months of her stay in Nepal. But what happens when her life oscillates between two nationalities and two contradictory set of values sprouting from them. Dreaming of Ghana again in true Samrat style is the story of freaky people and their freakier journeys. An Affair Before the Earthquake is the shortest story in the book and is about a love story gone all wrong. Mad Country shows who political prisoners are and their lives in the prisons. America, the Great Equalizer is a slightly incomprehensible story again where the protagonist behaves in the most illogical manner.
I liked this book for the different, refreshing flavour which it offers. If you are looking forward for something like that this book is to be lapped up.
Mad country is collection of eight short stories, all set in Nepal. The setting works in favour of the book for apart from the scenic locations in movies, we hardly know the true Nepal. The author paints an incredible yet true picture of the country which abuts us.
The opening story Fast Forward touches dynamics of media-politics relationship. I felt indeed Nepal has rubbed something from its neighbour and cultural cousin - India. Beggar Boy demonstrates how lonely we are amidst all the riches. Though the reason why the protagonist takes up the life of the beggar was beyond comprehension. The characters in Samrat’s stories work out that way, the way they want, even if it may appear crazy, absurd for the rest of us. He subtly touches homosexuality in almost every story for unintended reasons again.
What Will Happen to the Sharma Family is a light read. It narrates how destiny can turn a zero into hero. In Freak Street we meet an American woman whose soul has turned a Nepali within six months of her stay in Nepal. But what happens when her life oscillates between two nationalities and two contradictory set of values sprouting from them. Dreaming of Ghana again in true Samrat style is the story of freaky people and their freakier journeys. An Affair Before the Earthquake is the shortest story in the book and is about a love story gone all wrong. Mad Country shows who political prisoners are and their lives in the prisons. America, the Great Equalizer is a slightly incomprehensible story again where the protagonist behaves in the most illogical manner.
I liked this book for the different, refreshing flavour which it offers. If you are looking forward for something like that this book is to be lapped up.
August 10, 2018
Nepal, a land that is close to us yet distant, a life that is similar to us yet different. Mad country is a collection of short stories based at Nepal but each story is different.
Eight stories are all deep and emotionally impactful. Fast forward is the story of a group of friends all different in character. When one is exuberant an carefree, other is composed and matured. The third one is the balancing factor between the other two. She is caught in a whilpool when her colleague goes missing. Thenceforth a thrilling tale comes to picture only to end abruptly. Beggar boy is the story of a rich lad in search of his mother's secrets or put it this way, to know why his mother left him. The story is a mixture of humour and tragedy. At one point we feel the pain for the boy but on the other side it is amusing to see his musings while he observes the people around. Third story, What will happen to the Sharma family has all the possibilities for a full fledged novel and hence crunching it into the frame of a short story turned out to be a bad idea. Freak Street is the life of the woman who takes a different identity in Nepal delves too much into the emotions. It is equally heartwarming and heartwrenching. Dreaming of Ghana is a fantasy story and it is too long for a short story. It could be counted as a mini novella. An affair before the earthquake is a simple and short story of two lovers. Mad country is indeed a story that makes us think how insane a system could be. Author shows that it is unbelievably rotten.
The stories are not in the same graph when it comes to genre, pace or characters. Each story is unique with different craft but what is common would be Nepal and hence we get to see a different yet not so different life.
Verdict
A collection of short stories that have similar demographic background but variant themes.
Eight stories are all deep and emotionally impactful. Fast forward is the story of a group of friends all different in character. When one is exuberant an carefree, other is composed and matured. The third one is the balancing factor between the other two. She is caught in a whilpool when her colleague goes missing. Thenceforth a thrilling tale comes to picture only to end abruptly. Beggar boy is the story of a rich lad in search of his mother's secrets or put it this way, to know why his mother left him. The story is a mixture of humour and tragedy. At one point we feel the pain for the boy but on the other side it is amusing to see his musings while he observes the people around. Third story, What will happen to the Sharma family has all the possibilities for a full fledged novel and hence crunching it into the frame of a short story turned out to be a bad idea. Freak Street is the life of the woman who takes a different identity in Nepal delves too much into the emotions. It is equally heartwarming and heartwrenching. Dreaming of Ghana is a fantasy story and it is too long for a short story. It could be counted as a mini novella. An affair before the earthquake is a simple and short story of two lovers. Mad country is indeed a story that makes us think how insane a system could be. Author shows that it is unbelievably rotten.
The stories are not in the same graph when it comes to genre, pace or characters. Each story is unique with different craft but what is common would be Nepal and hence we get to see a different yet not so different life.
Verdict
A collection of short stories that have similar demographic background but variant themes.
December 16, 2018
It’s been a while since I finished this book and I don’t really remember details since it is a short story collection with a lot of plots. The main connector was that the stories either took place in Nepal or was narrated by Nepalese characters. I did like it for the most part but the more I read on, I felt that the some of the themes were rather problematic, especially in terms of fetish. The rich boy glorifying the lifestyle of a boy without a home so much that he starts mimicking that life is one example. However, for the white girl I felt like it was a commentary. Coming to Nepal, “falling in love” with everything and wants to become Nepalese and not like those backpackers and forces herself into the culture and gets so mad when people can’t see it. Then when she get an older woman to take her in and treat her like her Nepalese daughter, then she suddenly finds loads of faults in the culture. It just said so much. In those cases I think the author was aware of everything and made a commentary, but then I read about the man who found a black, NAKED girl being chased by a mob, she didn’t speak the language and like she was described like an animal and he immediately saw her as his possession. That story was so creepy. Like why did she have to be naked? Her humanity was so stripped away. There were loads of hints of weird views on black people by the characters, especially since trying to not be anti-black you instead start to over-fetishize and treat the black characters that less of humans the other way instead. I just got unsure, was it a commentary (although very very subtle) or has the author not checked himself in this regard? That’s why it’s pretty hard to know what I think of this book. I just don’t know the intention of the author for some very problematic thinking.
October 12, 2018
I'm still not sure how I feel about this story collection. Prior to reading this, you could take what I knew about Nepal and lose it on a microscope slide. Because these stories each explore a character who is somehow connected to Nepal, I feel as if I know a bit more but not enough--maybe not even enough to understand the significance of what I read.
I was struck by how unrooted or uprooted all the characters were. There's an unconnected rich boy who only seems to feel alive when he wears the clothes of a beggar and wanders the streets, unrecognized by even his own mother. The story of the young man who finds a naked girl-woman in the street, shields her from an angry mob, takes her home, and then loses her. She haunts his thoughts and dreams. (The ending of that story is particularly unsettling.) And then there's "Mad Country," which features a very successful business woman who is jailed as a political prisoner, apparently for no reason. The experience totally transforms her.
No one in the book seems to be happy with who s/he is. And the issue surrounding skin color is pervasive. Yet, the characters only seem tied to Nepal if they are viewed by others as Indian or African. The most loyal Nepalis we met seem to be the expatriates.
The writing is clean with crisp dialogue and just enough description to let the reader see the characters and their actions.
I was struck by how unrooted or uprooted all the characters were. There's an unconnected rich boy who only seems to feel alive when he wears the clothes of a beggar and wanders the streets, unrecognized by even his own mother. The story of the young man who finds a naked girl-woman in the street, shields her from an angry mob, takes her home, and then loses her. She haunts his thoughts and dreams. (The ending of that story is particularly unsettling.) And then there's "Mad Country," which features a very successful business woman who is jailed as a political prisoner, apparently for no reason. The experience totally transforms her.
No one in the book seems to be happy with who s/he is. And the issue surrounding skin color is pervasive. Yet, the characters only seem tied to Nepal if they are viewed by others as Indian or African. The most loyal Nepalis we met seem to be the expatriates.
The writing is clean with crisp dialogue and just enough description to let the reader see the characters and their actions.
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