What You Are: Short Stories

by M.G. Vassanji

From M.G. Vassanji, two-time Giller Prize winner and winner of the Governor General's Literary Award, comes a finely crafted collection of short fiction that explores the tensions between remembering past homes and belonging in new ones.Weaving between wistful memories of youthful ambition and the compromises and comforts of age, travelling between the streets of Dar es Salaam and Toronto, the characters in these stories must negotiate distance--between here and there; between lives imagined and lives lived; between expectation and disappointment; between inclusion and exclusion.Throughout, Vassanji engages passionately with the intellectual and political questions that inspire him as a writer and a citizen, while always matching the energy of his ideas with the empathy and emotional depth he invests in his characters. As with all Vassanji's finest work, What You Are stands as a model of artistic integrity and clarity of vision.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada

264 pages, Hardcover

Published May 11, 2021

About the author

Moyez G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny Sack, he was invited to spend a season at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed him to pursue his literary career.

Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).

His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.

Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.

Reviews

[Enid Wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly lovely little collection of interconnected stories, featuring recurring characters, mostly all linked through historic/family ties to Dar es Salaam or other parts of Tanzania.

From the first - with a realistic portrayal of the angst, and guilt, connected with those end of life moments - to the last - a wistful contemplation on the f/act of being welcomed- the stories are beautifully crafted exercises in restraint. In the hands of a less skilled writer, there might have been the tendency to over-explain, but not here.

In-between - ‘along the way’ in more ways than one - we have stories about the isolation of the immigration experience, longing for home, mid-life crises, politics (Ugandan, Jewish/Arab, and American), identity and more.

I do wish I had actually been tracking the names of the various characters to fully appreciate the connections between them across the stories. By halfway though I knew I was meeting prior characters again, in a different time/place… but I had trouble keeping connections clear in my mind.

4.5

[lexi ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3
not bad, i just don't know how i fully feel about it.
i love the fact that a reoccurring theme of each story in this collection reflects immigration to toronto predominantly from dar es salaam. i've learned a lot about dar es salaam as a megacity in some courses in school so having this city portrayed through different experiences in each short story was definitely something special. that being said, i felt like i wasn't fully content with each story.. i found they were very hit or miss. some stories such as 'the end of the world' really drew me in & grasped my attention while some didn't even register while i was reading them. i'm not sure if it was the actual content of the story, the way it was portrayed, or the writing style/format, but my attention definitely wavered & i wasn’t fully immersed.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own a number of Vassanji's books, but of course they sit unread on my shelves. What You Are is the first book I've read, and it is a wonderful collection of short stories. My favourites seemed to be the ones he wrote from a female perspective like, Tova in Tel Aviv, What You Are, and A Shooting in Don Mills.

Other stand out stories were The Send Off and An American Family.

[Khalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dee Prenger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this collection seem to be infused with a nostalgia, sometimes suggesting that memory can somewhat alter reality. I found the collection strangely inconsistent, for a master, an author whose novels I really like. A couple of them felt like 'filler,' as though they hadn't quite been fully edited. 'The Sense of an Ending' for example, held changes in POV that were jarring, and loose ends that didn't seem to be intentional, somehow. But others, such as 'A Shooting in Don Mills' (loved Gulnar's quiet and dramatic taking back of power in this one!) and 'Memories' are powerful, infused with political realities, racism, and cultural richness that can inform or haunt a life, sometimes specifically that of a first-or second-generation Canadian. Layered with detail and colour, regardless.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely short stories with beautifully crafted, nuanced characters. As always Vassanji offers an empathetic window onto immigration limbo, assimilation and it’s opposite.

[Yusuf Nasrullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astounding short stories - what a spread, what characters, what themes! Chance discovery of this author at the Librarie Paragraphe in Montreal yielded hours of reading pleasure!

[Pankaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost autobiographical, in this collection Vassanji weaves in and out of his life journey and accumulated memories across the African and North American continents diving deep into minutiae of places, characters and incidents.

Some stories present a sense of deja vu, to the point of feeling repetitive.

Having read all his books, this was the first time that I confess to glossing over a few stories, if only because they appeared over-familiar due to my own life experiences. He is a master story teller and can connect with his readers at so many levels.

[Jean Chow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vassanji instantly took me back in time and the people I met and knew in Eastern Africa.