Page 30 - Khabar Magazine (February 2020)

Desi World

BOOK MATTERS

Small Days and Nights (W.W. More to the Story (Salaam Reads)
Norton) – by Tishani Doshi. Poet, – by Hena Khan. Little Women, the
dancer, and journalist Doshi, born recent film based on a beloved
to Gujarati and Welsh parents, lives 19th-century novel, won wide praise
in Chennai. Author of The Pleasure and six Oscar nominations. For a
Seekers, among other novels, Doshi South Asian angle, readers can pick
has ties to Pondicherry as well— up Khan’s 2019 novel for middle
and her new novel, an Irish Times graders. It was inspired by Little Wom-
Book of the Year 2019, is set in both en. Like the March family in Louisa
these cities. Prompted by marital woes and her moth- Alcott’s novel, the Mirza family has four sisters who
er’s death, Grace returns from the U.S. to a changing share a tight bond. What’s more, Khan’s novel is set
India. Following her mother’s cremation in Pondicherry, here in Georgia. Jo from Little Women becomes Jameela,
Grace discovers that she now owns an isolated beach a budding journalist who enjoys writing for her middle
house near Chennai. More important, she discovers school newspaper. Her immediate problems include a
an older sister, currently living in a facility for disabled demanding editor and the intriguing boy she wants to
residents. Along with her sister, Grace carves out a new write about for a national media contest. Khan “nim-
life, though it’s not easy. Other characters in this kalei- bly incorporates details of modern life and allusions
doscopic novel include a housekeeper, an aunt, and the to Alcott’s classic,” notes Publishers Weekly in a starred
dogs they adopt. As Phil Baker points out in The Times review, adding that the story is “fittingly, strongest in
(U.K.), “Doshi ranges over family secrets, trying to do the moments when family dynamics are on display.”
the right thing, and the sheer contingency of life in all Khan, who also wrote Amina’s Voice and other books for
its richness and uncertainty.” Muslim children, is a Pakistani-American author based
in Maryland.
Night Theater (Catapult) – by
Vikram Paralkar. Name a desi Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
filmmaker who churns out psycho- (Random House) – by Deepa Anap-
logical thrillers that take a surre- para. In India, ordinary bazaar life
al turn, giving us the chills. That’s can inspire extraordinary stories. So
easy, because you don’t have to look it’s not surprising that Anappara, an
beyond M. Night Shyamalan. For award-winning journalist who has
fiction, we could turn to Paralkar, focused on children’s education,
a UPenn physician-scientist who’s poverty, and religious violence,
drawing wider attention with his speculative fiction. In takes the reader to Bhoot Ba-
this novel (he also wrote Affliction), the Mumbai-born zaar in her novel, which the author Ian McEwan
author takes us on a creepy yet thought-provoking called “a brilliant debut.” It features Jai, a 9-year-old
ride, as he “braids philosophy, magical realism, and the boy who helps at a chai shop, and his friends Pari
complicated facts of health care in the modern age into and Faiz. Jai, addicted to cop shows like Police Patrol,
a compact and compelling story,” according to BuzzFeed. becomes a detective when a schoolboy goes missing.
A disgruntled surgeon retreats to a backwater clinic Jai and his companions explore rough neighborhoods,
after getting some negative publicity. His life changes going as far as the Purple Line’s last train station. But
when a teacher walks into the clinic with his pregnant as more kids vanish, the mystery deepens, drawing the
wife and son. They’ve been robbed and murdered, they plucky trio into a dangerous netherworld. Is a ghost
say, but if the surgeon can fix their wounds by daylight, on the loose, or is it something more sinister? After
they’ll live again. Will the surgeon get a second chance her journalism stint in India, Anappara, who grew up
as well? Both Paralkar and Shyamalan, in a curious in Kerala, earned an M.A. in creative writing from the
coincidence, live in Philadelphia. University of East Anglia in Britain.

28 • FEBRUARY• 2020 KHABAR MAGAZINE