Reviewed by Tasnima Yasmin Moving, mysterious and gracious, every word of Shanti Panna is dedicated to the soul of the reader. The idea behind writing this collection of long and short poems came up in the poet’s mind when she observed that every individual goes through a similar set of emotions. These emotions are universal…
Category: Reviews
Review of Tongue in Cheek by Khyrunnisa A.
By Tasnima Yasmin Whoever thinks that humour isn’t a woman’s forte hasn’t read Tongue In Cheek by Khyrunnisa A. Cheeky, quirky and everything witty, this is a light read, one to lift up your mood, to take you through bursts of giggles and chuckles around all that is mundane and humdrum about life. Imaginative with…
Ruth Padel’s Daughters of the Labyrinth: A Review
By Kiran Bhat Ruth Padel’s second novel Daughters of the Labyrinth (Corsair, London, 2021) sojourns onto the island of Crete through the eyes of a British woman of Greek ancestry named Ri. Ri has returned to Crete in a bid to make sense of the narrative which pushed her family towards the United Kingdom, and…
Book Review: A Witch Like You
Reviewed by Tasnima Yasmin An intricately crafted debut collection of subjective, literary and political poems, the title of A Witch Like You occurred to Sareen in a dream at 3 am. The word witch in the title has dual connotations of being a positive and negative entity, one that captivates and bewitches others though rather…
Review of By The Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah
By Tasnima Yasmin “It is difficult to know with precision how things became as they have, to be able to say with some assurance that first it was this and it then led to that and the other, and now here we are.” Set around the fine line that distinguishes the shock and surprise when…
Book Review: Dubai Heights
Reviewed by Tasnima Yasmin Based on a sandy- beige building in Oud Metha locality of Dubai which was her abode during her stay as an Indian expatriate in the United Arab Emirates, Chakraborty sketches the background for her debut short story collection Dubai Heights. The eponymous building is depicted as a plush apartment complex in…
“The Curse: Stories”: tales of thousand choked voices
Reviewed by Abhra Roy “Writing is extremely political” – states Salma, the prolific Tamil writer and the author of “The Curse: Stories”, published in October 2020. So those who don’t hesitate to choose a not so ‘cozy’ reading, “The Curse: Stories” is definitely a perfect pick for them. Though based on the lives of rural…
Sach Kahun Toh: An honest reckoning of a remarkable life
By Rituparna Roy Towards the end of ‘Sach Kahu Toh’, in Part 4, Neena Gupta begins a chapter (Bloody Mary) thus: “When I look back on my past, I see a recurring theme. Neena gets shot down. Neena rises from the ashes. Neena overcomes her obstacles. Neena reaches great heights (though still not as the…
TWI Reviews : Gariahat Junction by Rituparna Roy
by Bhaswati Ghosh A woman in today’s world is as layered as the realms she inhabits. She could be at home or work in a college; she toils equally hard in the kitchen and towards her thesis; she seeks happiness in a marriage and is content without being in one. She’s okay with not…
TWI Reviews : A Burning by Megha Majumdar
By Anu Mahadev Megha Majumdar’s punchy debut, ‘A Burning’, (Alfred Knopf, June 2020), expertly explores the underbelly of Kolkata’s slums, and captures the daily struggles of those who live day to day, hand to mouth. Three unforgettable characters, whose stories tangle with each other, are the focus of this standout novel. Mirroring much of what…
The Woman Inc. 