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His Father's Disease
Unveiling the world's second most populous country as you've rarely seen natural magic alongside tragic abuses and erasures.
His Father's Disease is a work of fine literary sleight of hand, weaving tales that immerse you deep in Assamese realities only to pull you up - inexorably - into the stiff wind of global India. Through ten extended stories, Aruni unveils the world's second most populous country as you've rarely seen its natural magic on display alongside the tragic abuses and erasures that power the posters of technological progress that scream from its super-populated cities. Each story, by degrees, adds to a question that haunts the entire what do we lose when we try to distill an entire universe into a convenient stereotype? As characters from folklore shed leaves on the pages, ethnic and religious prejudice are laid bare, underpinned with wry humour. His Father's Disease deals with pivotal questions about the environment and territorial sovereignty, giving urgent insights into the experiences of an often-silenced and marginalised culture.
His Father's Disease is a work of fine literary sleight of hand, weaving tales that immerse you deep in Assamese realities only to pull you up - inexorably - into the stiff wind of global India. Through ten extended stories, Aruni unveils the world's second most populous country as you've rarely seen its natural magic on display alongside the tragic abuses and erasures that power the posters of technological progress that scream from its super-populated cities. Each story, by degrees, adds to a question that haunts the entire what do we lose when we try to distill an entire universe into a convenient stereotype? As characters from folklore shed leaves on the pages, ethnic and religious prejudice are laid bare, underpinned with wry humour. His Father's Disease deals with pivotal questions about the environment and territorial sovereignty, giving urgent insights into the experiences of an often-silenced and marginalised culture.
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About the author
Aruni Kashyap
15 books59 followersAruni Kashyap is the author of The Way You Want To Be Loved, The House With a Thousand Stories, and the forthcoming How to Date a Fanatic. Along with editing a collection of stories called How to Tell the Story of an Insurgency, he is the translator of four novels from Assamese to English. A 2024 Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, he is also the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Faculty Research Grants in the Humanities and Arts Program, the Arts Lab Faculty Fellowship, and the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship for Creative Writing to the University of Edinburgh, his poetry collection, There is No Good Time for Bad News, was nominated for the 58th Georgia Author of the Year Awards 2022, a finalist for the Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize, and the Four Way Books Levis Award in Poetry.
His translations, which have been shortlisted for the 2023 and 2024 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation and VOW Book Awards 2024, include The Bronze Sword of Tengphakhri Tehsildar by Indira Goswami (Zubaan), My Poems Are Not for Your Ad Campaign by Anuradha Sarma Pujari (Penguin), An Illuminated Valley by Dipak Kumar Barkakaty (Penguin), and Ten Love Stories and a Story of Despair (Westland). He has served as a visiting writer at Lander University, Minnesota State University, Converse University, The College of William & Mary, Valdosta State University, Dibrugarh University, Assam Don Bosco University, and delivered the Tagore Lecture in Modern Indian Literature at Cornell University. His short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Granta, The Boston Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, Bitch Media, The Kenyon Review, The LitHub, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from the Northeast, The New York Times, The Guardian UK, and others. He also writes in Assamese and is the author of a novel, Noikhon Etia Duroit, and three novellas. He is an Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia, Athens.
His translations, which have been shortlisted for the 2023 and 2024 Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation and VOW Book Awards 2024, include The Bronze Sword of Tengphakhri Tehsildar by Indira Goswami (Zubaan), My Poems Are Not for Your Ad Campaign by Anuradha Sarma Pujari (Penguin), An Illuminated Valley by Dipak Kumar Barkakaty (Penguin), and Ten Love Stories and a Story of Despair (Westland). He has served as a visiting writer at Lander University, Minnesota State University, Converse University, The College of William & Mary, Valdosta State University, Dibrugarh University, Assam Don Bosco University, and delivered the Tagore Lecture in Modern Indian Literature at Cornell University. His short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Granta, The Boston Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, Bitch Media, The Kenyon Review, The LitHub, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from the Northeast, The New York Times, The Guardian UK, and others. He also writes in Assamese and is the author of a novel, Noikhon Etia Duroit, and three novellas. He is an Associate Professor of English & Creative Writing and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia, Athens.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 22, 2020
His father’s Disease by Aruni Kashyap is a collection of ten short stories that will stay on with you because of what each one has to say to you. This is not a set of stories with a common theme running across, for you have the universality of themes like loss and trauma, alienation in your own world or in another one different from yours, what blind fear does to people and what it means to have sexual desires that is a ‘disease’ for others.
These are stories that have the reflections of the people and their lives in rural Assam, ones in which kinship and community ties are thrown in chaos under the ever present possibility of something bad that can happen. And there are stories in a far away town in America where the winter is the main villain apart from racial stereotypes, the despair of loneliness and getting distant from home in more ways than one.
This is NOT a book that will take readers to Assam but one that will bring just a whiff of the essence from there, a whiff of essence that will leave you unsettled. These are stories and characters that are rooted in Assam but are also universal in the way they talk about fears and prejudices, about the numbing after effects of oppression and trauma. Each of the stories have quite a lot to say and will leave you thinking just a bit more. A very compelling read, this is one book I will not tire of recommending for its writing.
A more detailed review is here: https://bookandconversations.wordpres...
These are stories that have the reflections of the people and their lives in rural Assam, ones in which kinship and community ties are thrown in chaos under the ever present possibility of something bad that can happen. And there are stories in a far away town in America where the winter is the main villain apart from racial stereotypes, the despair of loneliness and getting distant from home in more ways than one.
This is NOT a book that will take readers to Assam but one that will bring just a whiff of the essence from there, a whiff of essence that will leave you unsettled. These are stories and characters that are rooted in Assam but are also universal in the way they talk about fears and prejudices, about the numbing after effects of oppression and trauma. Each of the stories have quite a lot to say and will leave you thinking just a bit more. A very compelling read, this is one book I will not tire of recommending for its writing.
A more detailed review is here: https://bookandconversations.wordpres...
October 15, 2021
"The power of fiction is to make the reader feel as if these imagined characters are very much living real lives, and more, to feel connected to them even if they reside in completely different worlds. Kashyap understands that to write is not simply to get lost in the individual sentences, but to create characters that resonate. Anyone who reads fiction to explore emotional spaces, both interior and exterior, should absolutely seek out His Father’s Disease. They will find themselves not only intrigued, not only inspired, but utterly absorbed into the world of Aruni Kashyap’s imagination."
See more of my thoughts on Aruni Kashyap's story collection His Father's Disease over at the Florida Review:
https://floridareview.cah.ucf.edu/art...
See more of my thoughts on Aruni Kashyap's story collection His Father's Disease over at the Florida Review:
https://floridareview.cah.ucf.edu/art...
April 16, 2021
This is a brilliant collection of ten fabulous stories. Every story presents a flavor of Assam in (one of) its native tongue, set in various parts of this geography, times and people. The titular story is a throwback (in some traditionalists eyes, it still is) to the way LGBT desire is seen as a disease, the loneliness of being on the end of a relationship that is a crumbling mansion, alienation amongst peers in the most narcissistic elitist system, forced urbanization - the collection treats the themes gently and with passion.
There are couple of stories that I would have loved to read more.
There are couple of stories that I would have loved to read more.
November 20, 2019
About 5 years ago, I had picked up Aruni Kashayap's 'The House With A Thousand Stories' on my mom's recommendation. Considering that a very few writers from our region (Assam) wrote in English, I was excited to read a book based in Assam and about its people in a language I was (embarrassingly) more comfortable reading in. I loved the book. It was well-written and also refreshing because it focused on people and issues I was familiar with, but didn't read about much (in English). I also liked the way he contrasted life in bigger cities with life in villages in Assam. Five years on, I still remember the story quite well and continue recommending the book to other people from my state.
‘His Father’s Disease’ is “refreshing” in the same way; all the 10 stories in this collection are essentially Axomiya. The characters probably feel more familiar to me because I am an Assamese, but the relatability only varies slightly if you are an outsider. Irrespective of your place of origin, the book remains enjoyable, and the author makes some interesting observations on expectations outsiders have from writers from "conflict-ridden areas" (like the Northeast), about the life of an immigrant in the US, and life under the AFSPA. I particularly liked that some characters make an appearance in other stories as well. Also, there are Assamese homosexual characters which is probably a first in literature and it made me shed some happy tears.
My favourite of the lot is the second story ‘Bizi Colony’ (followed very closely by 'Skylark Girl' and 'The Umricans') which is about a family living with a problematic child. The story excellently captures the emotional conflict parents and siblings go through every day while dealing with a member who has gotten out of hand. My least favourite story is ‘The Love Life of People Who Look Like Kal Penn’, but this could also be because I had insanely high expectations from the story based on its title (the title is so perfect……and so is Kal Penn!) It turned out to be a standard falling-in-love story, which I didn’t think was as refreshing or exciting as the rest of the stories in this collection (not that it was bad by any means). All in all, I loved the book! The stories are well-written, gripping and “cozy” (like home).
‘His Father’s Disease’ is “refreshing” in the same way; all the 10 stories in this collection are essentially Axomiya. The characters probably feel more familiar to me because I am an Assamese, but the relatability only varies slightly if you are an outsider. Irrespective of your place of origin, the book remains enjoyable, and the author makes some interesting observations on expectations outsiders have from writers from "conflict-ridden areas" (like the Northeast), about the life of an immigrant in the US, and life under the AFSPA. I particularly liked that some characters make an appearance in other stories as well. Also, there are Assamese homosexual characters which is probably a first in literature and it made me shed some happy tears.
My favourite of the lot is the second story ‘Bizi Colony’ (followed very closely by 'Skylark Girl' and 'The Umricans') which is about a family living with a problematic child. The story excellently captures the emotional conflict parents and siblings go through every day while dealing with a member who has gotten out of hand. My least favourite story is ‘The Love Life of People Who Look Like Kal Penn’, but this could also be because I had insanely high expectations from the story based on its title (the title is so perfect……and so is Kal Penn!) It turned out to be a standard falling-in-love story, which I didn’t think was as refreshing or exciting as the rest of the stories in this collection (not that it was bad by any means). All in all, I loved the book! The stories are well-written, gripping and “cozy” (like home).
June 26, 2020
I picked up this book after reading some compelling excerpts published in magazines. The first story, which has been widely discussed, about what kinds of stories we expect about people in the north east was my favorite in this collection. Although the more I think about it, the more questions I have. The 'Minnesota nice' one made me chuckle. 'His father's disease' was hard-hitting and like many stories in this collection, were unexpected and left me clueless (in a good way!) about how to think about the characters and the stories. I liked the author's voice, the intimacy of the stories and how he writes about place as a part of people's actions.
I should note that I didn't expect so many stories here to be about being an immigrant in the US. It's a genre of writing I don't often enjoy because of how it veers into nostalgia and irresolvable self/other/split kinds of conundrums (think Jhumpa Lahiri?). But this collection read differently, and I enjoyed being pushed to see the connections across such different stories of home, relationships, and place.
I should note that I didn't expect so many stories here to be about being an immigrant in the US. It's a genre of writing I don't often enjoy because of how it veers into nostalgia and irresolvable self/other/split kinds of conundrums (think Jhumpa Lahiri?). But this collection read differently, and I enjoyed being pushed to see the connections across such different stories of home, relationships, and place.
October 22, 2022
Aruni Kashyap is the first Assamese author I have ever read and such an excellent one. I had no specific expectations before reading “His Father’s Disease”, a collection of ten short stories, and was truly impressed by all of them.
Kashyap’s stories refer to native traumas and historical/political injustice, local myths and beliefs, but also explore wider themes of displacement, migration, marginalisation, persecution, identity issues of various kinds: gender, sexual, geographical, religious, cultural. Some stories are interwoven with others and I always admire when authors do that skilfully; here it was brilliantly done. My favourite story, “Skylark Girl”, is the one opening the collection. It talks about an Assamese writer who feels patronised at a conference on Indian literatures in Delhi and confronted with fellow Indians’ expectations of what an author from Assam should write about. It is beautifully intermixed with his short story - versioning of a folk Assamese story - he is reading at this conference, which can be seen as an allegory of the situation in which the protagonist finds himself. A couple of the stories later in the collection take place in or refer to the United States and these are slightly in the vein of Adichie’s or Lahiri’s stories (it seems to be impossible to ignore American ignorance about the world and other cultures).
Kashyap writes in English and is a true master of the language; he is also a poet, having last year published a poetry collection. He’s an astute observer and an unsentimental commentator on human nature, being able to depict it in all its nuances and complexity. I have never read anyone writing about homosexuality in the way Kashyap does (the title “His Father’s Disease” is a mindblowing and heartbreaking story). Kashyap’s search for authenticity, belonging and for ourselves are refreshing and definitely reward a reader with an open mind.
Kashyap’s stories refer to native traumas and historical/political injustice, local myths and beliefs, but also explore wider themes of displacement, migration, marginalisation, persecution, identity issues of various kinds: gender, sexual, geographical, religious, cultural. Some stories are interwoven with others and I always admire when authors do that skilfully; here it was brilliantly done. My favourite story, “Skylark Girl”, is the one opening the collection. It talks about an Assamese writer who feels patronised at a conference on Indian literatures in Delhi and confronted with fellow Indians’ expectations of what an author from Assam should write about. It is beautifully intermixed with his short story - versioning of a folk Assamese story - he is reading at this conference, which can be seen as an allegory of the situation in which the protagonist finds himself. A couple of the stories later in the collection take place in or refer to the United States and these are slightly in the vein of Adichie’s or Lahiri’s stories (it seems to be impossible to ignore American ignorance about the world and other cultures).
Kashyap writes in English and is a true master of the language; he is also a poet, having last year published a poetry collection. He’s an astute observer and an unsentimental commentator on human nature, being able to depict it in all its nuances and complexity. I have never read anyone writing about homosexuality in the way Kashyap does (the title “His Father’s Disease” is a mindblowing and heartbreaking story). Kashyap’s search for authenticity, belonging and for ourselves are refreshing and definitely reward a reader with an open mind.
May 4, 2020
| Book Review | His Father's Disease.
•
This book of short stories was so easy to read. Aruni Kashyap is a renowned Assamese writer and translator who is famous for his work, The House With a Thousand Stories. Having read very less books from or about Northeast, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this particular book. I was a bit hesitant because I wasn't familiar with Kashyap's way of writing but soon all my doubts vanished. This book of short stories is clearly his homage to Assam and to say that it has been written beautifully would be an understatement. Unlike something that oozes comfort and warmth as one speaks about his/her homeland, this book might catch you off-guard while presenting few harsh facts about Assam.
•
The very first story is written with finesse. A story which in turn narrates one, always sets a good start if written skillfully. It is this one, that has remained my absolute favourite. Skylark Girl speaks of the fate of a girl named Tejimola who faces unjust treatment from her stepmother but finds a way to seek revenge. When it's author, Sanjib, writes this story instead of focusing on the violence that has always been associated with Assam, others are left perplexed. As he tries to make his point that Assam is not only known for unfortunate events, no one seems to understand his point of view. In the next chapters, we come across characters who move to The US for studies but are either met with stereotyped comments or with subtle but persistent references to their 'culture'. It all seems very relatable even if one isn't from the Northeast.
•
There were few interesting facets to this book and one such aspect was the repeated portrayal of homosexuality. His Father's Disease, the chapter on which the book is named, talks about homosexuality without a hint of hesitation. While one such story takes place in a small Northeastern village, the other one unfurls in America. Although I enjoyed most of the stories, my least favorite was Bizi Colony. For some unfathomable reason, I couldn't find much substance in this chapter.
•
His Father's Disease is nevertheless a very important and unique read not only for the reason that it presents Assam in a different perspective but also for highlighting issues
that may seem common but are still in practice. Kashyap has this amusing manner of penning down stories that are both beautiful but also very eery. It's something that is rarely found in books and certainly the reason why I enjoyed my first book by Kashyap immensely. Skylark Girl reminded me of Kire's wonderful way of narrating folktales and now I'm going to look for more books written by writers from the Northeast region. Although this book includes short stories, it does feel a bit intense so I wouldn't suggest to pick this one up if you're looking for a light read. However, I do recommend it to those who are willing to learn about other regions and culture.
•
Rating - 3.9/5.
•
This book of short stories was so easy to read. Aruni Kashyap is a renowned Assamese writer and translator who is famous for his work, The House With a Thousand Stories. Having read very less books from or about Northeast, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this particular book. I was a bit hesitant because I wasn't familiar with Kashyap's way of writing but soon all my doubts vanished. This book of short stories is clearly his homage to Assam and to say that it has been written beautifully would be an understatement. Unlike something that oozes comfort and warmth as one speaks about his/her homeland, this book might catch you off-guard while presenting few harsh facts about Assam.
•
The very first story is written with finesse. A story which in turn narrates one, always sets a good start if written skillfully. It is this one, that has remained my absolute favourite. Skylark Girl speaks of the fate of a girl named Tejimola who faces unjust treatment from her stepmother but finds a way to seek revenge. When it's author, Sanjib, writes this story instead of focusing on the violence that has always been associated with Assam, others are left perplexed. As he tries to make his point that Assam is not only known for unfortunate events, no one seems to understand his point of view. In the next chapters, we come across characters who move to The US for studies but are either met with stereotyped comments or with subtle but persistent references to their 'culture'. It all seems very relatable even if one isn't from the Northeast.
•
There were few interesting facets to this book and one such aspect was the repeated portrayal of homosexuality. His Father's Disease, the chapter on which the book is named, talks about homosexuality without a hint of hesitation. While one such story takes place in a small Northeastern village, the other one unfurls in America. Although I enjoyed most of the stories, my least favorite was Bizi Colony. For some unfathomable reason, I couldn't find much substance in this chapter.
•
His Father's Disease is nevertheless a very important and unique read not only for the reason that it presents Assam in a different perspective but also for highlighting issues
that may seem common but are still in practice. Kashyap has this amusing manner of penning down stories that are both beautiful but also very eery. It's something that is rarely found in books and certainly the reason why I enjoyed my first book by Kashyap immensely. Skylark Girl reminded me of Kire's wonderful way of narrating folktales and now I'm going to look for more books written by writers from the Northeast region. Although this book includes short stories, it does feel a bit intense so I wouldn't suggest to pick this one up if you're looking for a light read. However, I do recommend it to those who are willing to learn about other regions and culture.
•
Rating - 3.9/5.
September 8, 2021
Whenever I read a book with Assamese characters written by an Assamese author in my state, it fills me up with joy instantly. To recognize the names and their spellings, the places and the small roads, to understand. His Father's Disease had gripped me from the beginning, showing right off the author's stellar narration and writing style. A collection of ten short stories, Aruni Kashyap manages to evoke immense emotions, fear and happiness and a whole lot of feelings at once.
These ten stories do not really show you Assam, no. It does not take you into the beautiful land and introduce you to the hills and lanes and people and customs. Instead, it portrays the differences of identity and crisis that the Assamese people tend to face. A crisis of identity and storytelling at an prestigious event, a feeling of dread in one's own family, the feeling of unease as you step out of the country, the debates and debacles that come from being yourself. The ten stories have packed into the so much emotions and depth that it will take me a while to recount each of them. Because each one of them spoke to me, called to me, cradled me in its inky words and ripped my heart.
Aruni Kashyap's writing is utterly beautiful, and brings out the characters and their essence in a raw form. These stories bring together a discussion of oppression, fear, prejudice and trauma. I enjoyed them so much and some of them, especially towards the end, really made me so very sad. It was so amazing to see the abundance of diverse storytelling even within these little ten tales.
At the end, these short stories have put a huge impact on me. These are definitely some difficult stories to read and comprehend, but oh so worthwhile. And these are also stories that you will be thinking of for some time.
These ten stories do not really show you Assam, no. It does not take you into the beautiful land and introduce you to the hills and lanes and people and customs. Instead, it portrays the differences of identity and crisis that the Assamese people tend to face. A crisis of identity and storytelling at an prestigious event, a feeling of dread in one's own family, the feeling of unease as you step out of the country, the debates and debacles that come from being yourself. The ten stories have packed into the so much emotions and depth that it will take me a while to recount each of them. Because each one of them spoke to me, called to me, cradled me in its inky words and ripped my heart.
Aruni Kashyap's writing is utterly beautiful, and brings out the characters and their essence in a raw form. These stories bring together a discussion of oppression, fear, prejudice and trauma. I enjoyed them so much and some of them, especially towards the end, really made me so very sad. It was so amazing to see the abundance of diverse storytelling even within these little ten tales.
At the end, these short stories have put a huge impact on me. These are definitely some difficult stories to read and comprehend, but oh so worthwhile. And these are also stories that you will be thinking of for some time.
December 10, 2021
The book contains 10 stories- some stories take place in Assam, some in the US. The stories are sincere, charming, humourous and highly engaging. Discovering a handful of queer stories was such a pleasant surprise! Overall I really enjoyed this book, would highly recommend.
February 21, 2021
Very good. Very real.
Well written. Conveys a good sense of character, emotion and milieu. Explores relationships, even lgbtq ones; definitely not for homophobes.
Well written. Conveys a good sense of character, emotion and milieu. Explores relationships, even lgbtq ones; definitely not for homophobes.
August 18, 2020
An extremely well written book with multiple stories that are both independent yet inter-connected. I finished reading this book in two days as the stories are that good! Reading them also felt like realizing the long lost desire to read up stories based in Assam, written in English of course.
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The stories ran a gamut of themes ranging from homosexuality to insurgency to Assamese youths settled in America. This was the first book for me that explored queer-ness with respect to Assamese men, which was like a breath of fresh air.
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It is difficult for me to select favourites from this collection. However, if I were to pick any, "The Umricans" and "Bizi Colony" were two stories that almost made me weep a tear! Names like "Digonto" instead of "Diganta" and "Poree" instead of "Pari" felt so good to read 🤩 Stories, so relatable and so close to home are hard to come by. So, thank you @arunikashyap for bringing them to us and to the larger community of readers.
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.
The stories ran a gamut of themes ranging from homosexuality to insurgency to Assamese youths settled in America. This was the first book for me that explored queer-ness with respect to Assamese men, which was like a breath of fresh air.
.
.
It is difficult for me to select favourites from this collection. However, if I were to pick any, "The Umricans" and "Bizi Colony" were two stories that almost made me weep a tear! Names like "Digonto" instead of "Diganta" and "Poree" instead of "Pari" felt so good to read 🤩 Stories, so relatable and so close to home are hard to come by. So, thank you @arunikashyap for bringing them to us and to the larger community of readers.
January 7, 2020
I love Aruni Kashyap 's writings and I was eagerly waiting for his second book after the House with a Thousand Stories. Well finally this book was out!
It's essentially Assamese in character and you get to see the life and times of Assam with all the problems thy have faced with militancy and the army during the troubled times. It also takes you out of the country to see the life of an Assamese who is successful outside his country and attends conferences etc and finds out certain insights about himself. There are some beautiful love stories also entwined, essentially gay love stories. My favorite is the last story in the book After Anthropology. Read the book. You will like it. It's sometimes hard hitting but that you expect from Aruni Kashyap 's writings.
It's essentially Assamese in character and you get to see the life and times of Assam with all the problems thy have faced with militancy and the army during the troubled times. It also takes you out of the country to see the life of an Assamese who is successful outside his country and attends conferences etc and finds out certain insights about himself. There are some beautiful love stories also entwined, essentially gay love stories. My favorite is the last story in the book After Anthropology. Read the book. You will like it. It's sometimes hard hitting but that you expect from Aruni Kashyap 's writings.
September 15, 2020
A collection of beautiful stories from Assam. The first story, being the best one is the collection is based on a folkore story of a girl who refuse to die and relive everytime she is killed. The second one is about a troublesome son of a family.
The title story is about a boy who after getting raped by a man realises his true inner self and attraction towards men. The mother, a witness of all this believes that he had inherited his father's disease.
All the 10 stories depict 10 different lives which are very new to me. The writing style, however, seems very familiar, an Indian way and therefore stays close to my heart.
The title story is about a boy who after getting raped by a man realises his true inner self and attraction towards men. The mother, a witness of all this believes that he had inherited his father's disease.
All the 10 stories depict 10 different lives which are very new to me. The writing style, however, seems very familiar, an Indian way and therefore stays close to my heart.
March 15, 2020
Good collection of stories, it's always interesting to read stories from place different than where you are from, it broadens your horizons.
July 27, 2022
Took me a while to finish this one, not because its a difficult read but because life happens!
Ten very unique short stories from Aruni Kashyap. Alternating between dark, harrowing narratives and light hearted tales, each story carries a distinctive flavour from Assam Very tactfully touching upon topics ranging from Assamese folklore, myths and superstitions, insurgency and even homosexuality, this is a versatile read!
Some stories were way more intense and some didn’t quite hit the mark for me. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Ten very unique short stories from Aruni Kashyap. Alternating between dark, harrowing narratives and light hearted tales, each story carries a distinctive flavour from Assam Very tactfully touching upon topics ranging from Assamese folklore, myths and superstitions, insurgency and even homosexuality, this is a versatile read!
Some stories were way more intense and some didn’t quite hit the mark for me. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.
February 3, 2022
Couple of stories were really good, but mostly just touched the surface. Some just left me wanting. Wonder if these stories would've felt better in Hindi. But definitely curious about Assamese literature now and will seek to read more.
January 15, 2022
With Kashyap’s second book, I discovered he is unabashed of the pen exploring unfamiliar terrains. See.. when an author comes from one of the seven sister states, they are almost always armed with insurgent issues as the predominant backdrop, which is of course expected too. For, how else can one put years of empirical experiences at the forefront. However, with this collection in His Father’s Disease, Kashyap also discerns same sex relationships, inter cultural encounters and the dynamics of parent-child relationship.
With the “Skylark girl”, he jumps head first into the murky waters. A retelling of a popular folklore that commences when a young woman from the audience asks Sanjib, the writer about his decision to abandon insurgent stories for fables. As if it wasn’t enough, to my utter surprise he also pulls in food to explore the concept of home- “The labels didn’t mean anything to him: paella, tortillas, fajitas, quesadilla, guacamole”
“Minnesota Nice” and “The Umricans” paint Assam through its universally placed characters. Perhaps another reason why I liked this collection better than THWATS.
“Before the bullet” has tragedy painted all over it. So how do you make a tragedy remarkable? Drop the curtain with- “By then, the laburnum flowed had covered Digonto’s smashed brain.”
“His Father’s Disease”, perhaps is the insightful most story of them. Infusing horror and repulsion through a masterful play of the senses; believe me I was in awe. It’s parallel, “After Anthropology” also deals with homosexuality albeit in a different land. An evocative description to bring about the fear, disgust and angst that “abnormal” relationships trigger. Be it Umrica or the homeland.
I like this book’s audacity above everything else. The existence of a fiction that questions taboos, voices the buried and relates home to little things that are more than just about a place, the war here is half won.
With the “Skylark girl”, he jumps head first into the murky waters. A retelling of a popular folklore that commences when a young woman from the audience asks Sanjib, the writer about his decision to abandon insurgent stories for fables. As if it wasn’t enough, to my utter surprise he also pulls in food to explore the concept of home- “The labels didn’t mean anything to him: paella, tortillas, fajitas, quesadilla, guacamole”
“Minnesota Nice” and “The Umricans” paint Assam through its universally placed characters. Perhaps another reason why I liked this collection better than THWATS.
“Before the bullet” has tragedy painted all over it. So how do you make a tragedy remarkable? Drop the curtain with- “By then, the laburnum flowed had covered Digonto’s smashed brain.”
“His Father’s Disease”, perhaps is the insightful most story of them. Infusing horror and repulsion through a masterful play of the senses; believe me I was in awe. It’s parallel, “After Anthropology” also deals with homosexuality albeit in a different land. An evocative description to bring about the fear, disgust and angst that “abnormal” relationships trigger. Be it Umrica or the homeland.
I like this book’s audacity above everything else. The existence of a fiction that questions taboos, voices the buried and relates home to little things that are more than just about a place, the war here is half won.
April 24, 2020
Decent book, very good in patches, some stories more gripping than others. Had better expectations
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