Collected Stories

by Anita Desai

Buried resentments, unexpected disappointments, new friendships, small acts of cruelty, journeys that take you back to where you started. With trademark compassion and tender irony, Anita Desai’s short stories give us familiar worlds made unfamiliar, to wonderful effect. An ageing couple is stranded in a stultifying Delhi summer by the visit of a roguish old Oxford friend, who trades on his charm; an American woman turns to hippies living in the Indian hills, homesick for the farmlands of Vermont; a dog terrorizes the neighbourhood but is cherished by his stern master; a Delhi girl of slender means finds a new kind of freedom with her young friends, in her barsati home; a peaceful game of hide and seek turns into a nightmare; a businessman sees his own death. In one masterly volume, for the first time ever, here are Anita Desai’s collected stories —including Diamond Dust and Games at Twilight.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Anita 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.

Reviews

[Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Once she was back in her air-conditioned hotel room, she fell across her bed as though she had been struck by calamity, was extinguished, and could barely being herself to believe that she had, after all, survived. Sweating, it seemed to her that life, energy, hope were all seeping out of her, flowing down a drain, gurgling ironically."

This is my first foray into the writing of Anita Desai, and I was awestruck by the soul which she puts into her short stories. The above excerpt perfectly summaries the humid Bombay heat, but Mrs. Desai also took me to Delhi, Tibet, and many more places, as well as to hope, despair, mental breakdown, elation, angst, anger and many more emotions. She is a master of packing an intensity of emotion and place into her stories. Tinged with the backdrop of typical experiences in Indian households, this collection is a great insight into the Indian psyche and lifestyle. At the same time, the author manages to lay bare a breadth of protagonist, from poor slum-dweller to middle-class Bombay socialite, to hippie-tourist.

The stories themselves are also small gems, as they always surprise with unexpectedness and mystery, like the poor artist who does not know how to deal with middle-class buyers, or the man who does for a walk and then sees himself drown (or does he?). Or the opening story of a woman who believes that there is a hidden landing in the house she has moved into.

I am a fan of the short story for the very reason that so much intensity can be brought to it. I hope that Anita Desai's novels manage to pack the same punch.

[Sheji Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book did not leave my mind pondering about the story - it just kept me wondering why i had read the story in the first place.

I felt Anita had bits and pieces of a few events. She used these events to describe an unrelated story. But as the story ends, you realize that there is nothing much to take away. I felt many of the stories in the book did not have a convincing end either.

I'm usually not a very critical reader - as I know that it takes time and effort to write a book - But Anita I'm sorry - not an impressive read.

[Shubhra · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is a collection with stories that run dark and deep..appear as abrupt in the first instance.. You are lured to shrug it as unappealing ..however u know throughout that the author just touched upon an emotion that was always familiar but never seemed word able.. A must read for those desiring a soul shrinking feel..though its a more than good read for the entire reading folk.
Happy reading.:)

[Chakshu Khatsuria]

I want to read this book.

[Anwesha]

Desai writes about the most mundane day-to-day things in extraordinary detail that has an unsettling way of getting under your skin. The reality she presents in each of her characters and storyline is brutal, honest, and brilliant.

[Bijan Choudhury · Rating 5 out of 5]

The devil is in the details ... My picks are "Winterscape" and "The Accompanist".

[Sayari Debnath · Rating 3 out of 5]

a few brilliant stories but mostly underwhelming

[Poornima · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit melancholic for my taste but still, good.