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Diamond Dust: A Novel by the Booker Prize Finalist Author of Rosarita
Upon the recent publication of Fasting, Feasting, critics raved about Anita Desai: "Desai is more than smart; she's an undeniable genius" (Washington Post Book World). The Wall Street Journal called Fasting, Feasting "poignant, penetrating . . . a splendid novel, " while the Boston Globe celebrated Desai's "beautiful literary universe." Now, in this richly diverse collection, Desai trains her luminous spotlight on private universes, stretching from India to New England, from Cornwall to Mexico. Skillfully navigating the fault lines between social obligation and personal loyalties, the men and women in these nine tales set out on journeys that suddenly go beyond the pale -- or surprisingly lead them back to where they started from. In the mischievous title story, a beloved dog brings nothing but disaster to his obsessed master; in other tales, old friendships and family ties stir up buried feelings, demanding either renewed commitment or escape. And in the final exquisite story, a young woman discovers a new kind of freedom in Delhi's rooftop community.
With her trademark "perceptiveness, delicacy of language, and sharp wit" (Salman Rushdie) in full evidence here, Anita Desai once again gloriously confirms that she is "India's finest writer in English" (Independent).
With her trademark "perceptiveness, delicacy of language, and sharp wit" (Salman Rushdie) in full evidence here, Anita Desai once again gloriously confirms that she is "India's finest writer in English" (Independent).
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
49 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Anita Desai
81 books904 followersAnita Desai was born in 1937. Her published works include adult novels, children's books and short stories. She is a member of the Advisory Board for English of the National Academy of Letters in Delhi and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London. Anita Mazumdar Desai is an Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker prize three times. Her daughter, the author Kiran Desai, is the winner of the 2006 Booker prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
January 1, 2022
Pretentious, pathetic, painfully boring!
Feels like somebody has vomited big fancy words on a piece of paper and haphazardly arranged them without any sense or proper narrative.
Every story takes you in for a long ride and then leaves you high and dry after a dismal anti-climax!
Feels like somebody has vomited big fancy words on a piece of paper and haphazardly arranged them without any sense or proper narrative.
Every story takes you in for a long ride and then leaves you high and dry after a dismal anti-climax!
August 17, 2009
Hit or miss.
On the whole, Anita Desai is an impressive writer. But I believe her short stories lacked cohesion; some stories just seemed pointless. Admittedly, each story was unique, but they lacked consistency.
However, the last one, The Rooftop Dwellers, was delightful and memorable. This story, I believe, saved the entire short story collection.
On the whole, Anita Desai is an impressive writer. But I believe her short stories lacked cohesion; some stories just seemed pointless. Admittedly, each story was unique, but they lacked consistency.
However, the last one, The Rooftop Dwellers, was delightful and memorable. This story, I believe, saved the entire short story collection.
December 16, 2021
Just because this was selected for buddy read, I picked it up. Otherwise I was not too keen on reading the author. And at the end of the book, I felt blank, like - neither impressed nor disappointed.
This is a collection of 9 stories. I just can't put them into a genre (confused actually). Each one starts with great amount of words painting picture to show protagonists in the light the author want to show them in. But the build up keeps go on and on and on that makes one tired. However 4 stories are somewhat satiating. Unique storylines like elders visiting their NRI kin, an aged man and his fascination with pet dog, a man who saw his own death and struggle of an independent woman in Delhi; stories make a good read despite those excess. It seems prowess of author lies in depicting the city of Delhi, which shows in two stories. But still I lost it at overlong buildup. And I fear there would be a long time before I pick yet another book by her.
This is a collection of 9 stories. I just can't put them into a genre (confused actually). Each one starts with great amount of words painting picture to show protagonists in the light the author want to show them in. But the build up keeps go on and on and on that makes one tired. However 4 stories are somewhat satiating. Unique storylines like elders visiting their NRI kin, an aged man and his fascination with pet dog, a man who saw his own death and struggle of an independent woman in Delhi; stories make a good read despite those excess. It seems prowess of author lies in depicting the city of Delhi, which shows in two stories. But still I lost it at overlong buildup. And I fear there would be a long time before I pick yet another book by her.
September 6, 2024
I had always thought that there was no reason why a good novelist could not be a good writer of short stories. That was until I read Anita Desai's Diamond Dust and Other Stories. Some of the stories, mostly those set in India were interesting, but the stories set in the United States and Mexico were a bit flat. I liked "Diamond Dust" about a man with an unfriendly dog and "Royalty" about a guest who totally upsets the travel plans of a friend and former classmate.
December 31, 2021
Partially read and gave up
June 25, 2009
Lot of imagery, lyricism in the language, so Anita Desai isn't always the easiest authors to read - especially if you want to get straight to the point. I remember reading Cry The Peacock several years ago and not really grasping much of it - a very mystifying novel with lots of symbols and imagery.
So when I took up her book of short stories -Diamond Dust, I did it with some amount of hesitancy. The first story actually put me off awith its dialogues - which I thought didn't sound 'Indian' at all. When one writes about Indians and Indian setting in English, there is always a conflict wherein one wants to write elegant English and yet retain the local flavour. I think Desai just discounts this, whereby some of the dialogues just don't ring true.
But don't let that put you off. Because there's a great deal of artistry in the book, the themes are different....the language is exquisite at points (yet, some metaphors didn't quite work for me).
While some stories may not be that easy to get through, there are at least a couple of them which are very accessible and enjoyable. My favourites were The Rooftop Dwellers about a single girl's predicament in a big city like Delhi and Winterscape, a evocative tale of two sisters, their shifting fates that ultimately becomes one!
So when I took up her book of short stories -Diamond Dust, I did it with some amount of hesitancy. The first story actually put me off awith its dialogues - which I thought didn't sound 'Indian' at all. When one writes about Indians and Indian setting in English, there is always a conflict wherein one wants to write elegant English and yet retain the local flavour. I think Desai just discounts this, whereby some of the dialogues just don't ring true.
But don't let that put you off. Because there's a great deal of artistry in the book, the themes are different....the language is exquisite at points (yet, some metaphors didn't quite work for me).
While some stories may not be that easy to get through, there are at least a couple of them which are very accessible and enjoyable. My favourites were The Rooftop Dwellers about a single girl's predicament in a big city like Delhi and Winterscape, a evocative tale of two sisters, their shifting fates that ultimately becomes one!
December 3, 2012
Too much Dust, not enough Diamonds...
June 27, 2020
While Anita Desai is a very talented writer, these stories were hit or miss. However, that seems to be the case with all short story collections I read. My absolute favourite was The Rooftop Dwellers, followed by Winterscape and The Man Who Saw Himself Drown. They were atmospheric, pulled me in and gave food for thought.
October 25, 2021
As much as I enjoyed moments of Desai’s characteristically languid prose in this collection, I found it difficult to stay present within any of the stories. The narratives felt somewhat incomplete, with characters competing for “air time”.
Desai’s evocative passages of description felt vaguely lost and unmoored in these stories—perhaps one to return to at a later date.
Desai’s evocative passages of description felt vaguely lost and unmoored in these stories—perhaps one to return to at a later date.
June 22, 2018
Diamond Dust is a hit and miss collection by a talented and versatile writer. Desai's characters and settings cross the globe; she is almost equally at home in America, England, Mexico or India. She writes about the upper educated classes with quiet sarcasm and she can turn her storytellers craft to a working class man and his dog with equal empathy. A truly global writer yet there is a sense of a craft being honed. Desai's short novels refine that and stretch her talents and, indeed, it is the longer pieces here which are more impressive. Some of the shorter stories are pleasant but not particularly memorable.
The title story is an exception. Mr Das and his wild dog is a darkly comic urban fable and one of the best in Diamond Dust. It provides a neat balance between sympathy and criticism of her main character, a man who loves the dog everyone in the neighbourhood hates. It speaks quietly about his undescribed character and lets the reader do the work themselves. The end is rather predictable but necessary for the story's moral, and to give the dog his wild, devilish, cursed nature. Another short story, "The Artist's Life" is a quiet, thoughtful piece about growing up that nicely encapsulates Desai's style.
Others don't do much; "The Man Who Saw Himself Drown" feels like you've read it once before, "Royalty" is an interesting social portrait but an uninteresting story, "Five Hours to Simla or Faisla" is a colourful and dynamic picture of a heated traffic jam in India but again doesn't do much as a narrative. "Winterscape" almost falls into the same category but it has a sad charm to it - two older sisters finally visit their son/nephew in Canada and find themselves facing a barrier of age, class, culture and language that makes the distance hard to bridge.
The last two longer stories are both great. "Tepoztlan Tomorrow" tells the story of a young Mexican academic returning home to his hometown and his family from America. The town is in a state of flux; the government and and the city are encroaching with a planned golf course on the edge of town. Desai captures the helplessness and the disconected feeling of returning home to a place you feel emotionally connected to but utterly distanced from and, in some way, angry at. It's one of those stories that contains a compact microcosm in it's few pages, showing a handful of differing characters and opinions to paint a big picture and leave the details to be more carefully picked out.
The best is perhaps "The Rooftop Dwellers" which has some great descriptions of urban Indian life. It is about a young, trying-to-be-independent woman who has rented a rooftop apartment from an unpleasant, conservative family while she attempts to start a career at a small literary journal. The characters are finely drawn and Desai's sympathy for the young writer feels like autobiographical empathy (no idea if that's true but there's a strong sense of realism and experience in the story). The frustrations and the limitations of her new life mingle with a sense of stubborn ambition and hope, a fighting, creative character wanting to break out of her surroundings and turn that rooftop, which she initially sees with such positivity, into something truly freeing.
All in all an enjoyable collection of stories without a really bad one in the bunch - two real highlights at the end make this very much worth the read. 6
The title story is an exception. Mr Das and his wild dog is a darkly comic urban fable and one of the best in Diamond Dust. It provides a neat balance between sympathy and criticism of her main character, a man who loves the dog everyone in the neighbourhood hates. It speaks quietly about his undescribed character and lets the reader do the work themselves. The end is rather predictable but necessary for the story's moral, and to give the dog his wild, devilish, cursed nature. Another short story, "The Artist's Life" is a quiet, thoughtful piece about growing up that nicely encapsulates Desai's style.
Others don't do much; "The Man Who Saw Himself Drown" feels like you've read it once before, "Royalty" is an interesting social portrait but an uninteresting story, "Five Hours to Simla or Faisla" is a colourful and dynamic picture of a heated traffic jam in India but again doesn't do much as a narrative. "Winterscape" almost falls into the same category but it has a sad charm to it - two older sisters finally visit their son/nephew in Canada and find themselves facing a barrier of age, class, culture and language that makes the distance hard to bridge.
The last two longer stories are both great. "Tepoztlan Tomorrow" tells the story of a young Mexican academic returning home to his hometown and his family from America. The town is in a state of flux; the government and and the city are encroaching with a planned golf course on the edge of town. Desai captures the helplessness and the disconected feeling of returning home to a place you feel emotionally connected to but utterly distanced from and, in some way, angry at. It's one of those stories that contains a compact microcosm in it's few pages, showing a handful of differing characters and opinions to paint a big picture and leave the details to be more carefully picked out.
The best is perhaps "The Rooftop Dwellers" which has some great descriptions of urban Indian life. It is about a young, trying-to-be-independent woman who has rented a rooftop apartment from an unpleasant, conservative family while she attempts to start a career at a small literary journal. The characters are finely drawn and Desai's sympathy for the young writer feels like autobiographical empathy (no idea if that's true but there's a strong sense of realism and experience in the story). The frustrations and the limitations of her new life mingle with a sense of stubborn ambition and hope, a fighting, creative character wanting to break out of her surroundings and turn that rooftop, which she initially sees with such positivity, into something truly freeing.
All in all an enjoyable collection of stories without a really bad one in the bunch - two real highlights at the end make this very much worth the read. 6
October 3, 2018
My personal favorite ones are winterscape, diamond dust and the man who saw himself drown. While in winterscape the evident hardcomings of indian parents are shown and how they are not able to adjust in the modern settings of their grownup children. It also shows the deep contrast between western individualistic approach and indian collective approach.
diamond dust is about how people are mad for their love and obsessions no matter how much anybody else tries to convince them. Man who saw himself drown is the best one of the lot where the protagonist wants an escape from real life but he is not happy even when he gets one.. in short it is a story collection containing some very good stories to be read for sure and deserves appreciation
diamond dust is about how people are mad for their love and obsessions no matter how much anybody else tries to convince them. Man who saw himself drown is the best one of the lot where the protagonist wants an escape from real life but he is not happy even when he gets one.. in short it is a story collection containing some very good stories to be read for sure and deserves appreciation
January 6, 2013
I think that one of the most beautiful things that an author can do in a short story collection is creating a voice so distinctively and so aptly for the circumstances of each story and each character that you almost forget they are all written by the same person. And that's what Anita Desai did in Diamond Dust. I can just imagine her carefully mixing and choosing words in her palette and painting with such purpose and technique that when you look closer at the finished work you can observe the fine little intentional details that have made it up. This is one of those books that both transformed me as a reader and confirmed the idea that writing really is an art.
November 21, 2015
Diamond Dust an anthology by Anita Desai. The book is a collection of nine short stories. I always like to read short stories and having read many of them; good and some forgettable.
This novella was just alright. Stories highlight people, friendships, family ties, and one story about dog; (beautiful and sad). Some stories did not have a strong plot. However the writing and descriptions are commendable. I particularly liked four stories – 1) Winterscope 2) Rooftop Dwellers 3) Diamond Dust. 4) The Man who saw himself drown. Read this book, if you like short stories.
This novella was just alright. Stories highlight people, friendships, family ties, and one story about dog; (beautiful and sad). Some stories did not have a strong plot. However the writing and descriptions are commendable. I particularly liked four stories – 1) Winterscope 2) Rooftop Dwellers 3) Diamond Dust. 4) The Man who saw himself drown. Read this book, if you like short stories.
January 22, 2011
Snapshots from the lives of ordinary people in Britain, Canada, India, and Mexico among others. These stories have rich descriptions but they do not really contain a plot in the traditional sense. They are best viewed as short vignettes in the lives of the people. There is a little shadow of sadness in all of them. My favourite was Rooftop Dwellers, the last story in the collection.
September 1, 2007
is actually a dog known as the beast.
anita desai writes beautifully and even though i don't really like short stories, hers are compelling and intriguing.
I especially like the rooftop dwellers.
anita desai writes beautifully and even though i don't really like short stories, hers are compelling and intriguing.
I especially like the rooftop dwellers.
October 27, 2010
I'm not a short story fan, but I'm very impressed with the stories in this book. Very well written, clear characterisation, and good storylines, but just too short.
It was an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
It was an enjoyable and worthwhile read.
June 18, 2010
A quiet but deeply satisfying collection of short fictions detailing events that lead characters to irrevocably cross the invisible line separating their pasts from new experiences, new insights, and new existences.
September 2, 2010
These were interesting. Not all about Indian families, it turned out. She's a great writer, and I loved the pictures she painted, but I was a little annoyed because I like my stories to have endings and hers mostly didn't. I just prefer closure to possibilities in my fiction.
August 29, 2011
I enjoyed this book on the whole, but felt that the book was written to descibe or explain India to those who don't know it, and I was a bit fed up of the way things happen in India in the end. I wanted a tale about someone where India wasn't a part of the story.
February 5, 2012
A wonderful collection of short stories from the inimitable Anita Desai. The best ones were probably the one recreating the buzz on a Himalayan highway caused by a stubborn driver refusing to move forward and the one detailing the travails of a single working woman living in a barsati in Delhi.
September 26, 2013
I liked this collection of short stories. I picked up this book randomly out of my boyfriend's collection and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. There were a lot of special moments in the stories. My favorite is the last story, about the single woman in Delhi.
June 11, 2014
A delightful book of short stories. Some very good descriptions throughout and many characters you wanted to get to know more about.
This may be the first Anita Desai book I've read but I doubt it will be my last.
This may be the first Anita Desai book I've read but I doubt it will be my last.
November 13, 2014
An ivory tower literati product that selectively perpetuates a dark, dreary image of India that is popular with some foreigners and the pseudo elite of India. Shades of Dilli Durbar.
I found little beauty in this book, only sorrow.
I found little beauty in this book, only sorrow.
June 20, 2007
One of my favorite collections of short stories! Some of the word-images still come to mind even now. Beautifully written.
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August 5, 2007Kiran Desai's mother. Life in India.
January 26, 2008
A very lovely book of short stories from Anita Desai. Occasionally funny, often melancholy and always perceptive.
November 20, 2009
ga mau ngomong dulu...lgi seru.
July 26, 2011
Brilliant!! It's amazing the way she manipulates the English language to create vivid images and emotions!
August 22, 2011
Incredibly dull short stories - couldn't finish.
June 27, 2015
A wonderful selection of thought provoking stories. I particularly enjoyed Winterscape and the "Man who saw himself drown". I am sure it is a collection I will return to again and again.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews