Review for "The White Marble Burzi and Other Stories" by Sharat Kumar
The White Marble Burzi and Other Stories by Sharat Kumar is a collection of short stories, primarily dealing with love in all its forms, whether it be romantic or platonic. Many of the stories explore the relationship between people, sometimes between lovers, sometimes between family, and at least one dealing with the relationship between a person and their surroundings. The author Sharat Kumar is Indian and all of his stories take place there, and the landscape and culture are often key characters in each story.
I am not usually a big fan of short stories, I feel like I need more investment when I read, but I do think its one of the hardest forms of writing since you have to pack a lot of information into a small package, and get certain themes across within a short time. Kumar is certainly descriptive and detailed when it comes to examining love and emotions in his stories, and despite the length of them he gets his message across without seeming rushed or pushed for time, which was a delight for me to read. Despite the language barrier (I believe this was translated into English, but I am not sure) I understood what Kumar was trying to convey and I think any reader would, even if love is not a topic you typically enjoy reading about.
While I understood the message Kumar was sending, some of them, in some stories, were a little problematic for me, especially as a woman. There was an obvious a reverence in Kumar's tone when addressing mothers, and a slight hesitancy to discuss their bodies, but when talking about any other category of women, the gloves come off, so to speak. Most of the women come across as vain and vapid creatures, though Kumar has the eloquency to pull that off in a way that its not immediately apparent to the reader. But I review books, and I noticed it, and once I did that was all I could see sadly.
I was excited to read literature that wasn't Western based, and so happy to see someone writing and centering their worldview and experiences, in stark contrast to much of what I get to read, and indeed much of what gets noticed in the literary world. It makes me happy that Kumar wrote too about India, and not just about an Indian lens on the West. I just wish he wasn't quite so reductive about women at the same time.
To learn more about the author, Sharat Kumar, click here
To purchase The White Marble Burzi and Other Stories, click here
