A New Race of Men from Heaven - Chaitali Sen - ★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Chaitali Sen

GENRE: Anthology
RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: Great title, amazing concept, interesting characters. But the stories themselves left me wanting more. Not a single story ended in way I expected/wanted. Good for literary fiction lovers but only those who are okay with odd endings in short stories.

There were quite a few reasons for me to pick this book:
1. I enjoy short stories.
2. I like literary fiction.
3. Indian writer.
4. Indie writer.
5. Outstanding title and cover.

As such, the excitement was high. When each story started, my interest didn’t dip but was invested in the characters. And then came the endings. I don’t know how exactly to describe them. They weren’t actually open-ended or abrupt. But imagine you are in a theatre watching the first act of a play. The curtains come down at the end of the scene, and you continue sitting in anticipation for the next act, only to discover that THAT was it! Rather than feeling irritated or sad, you feel just befuddled, wondering what clue you missed that would have indicated the end of the proceedings. That is what happened to me for every single story. At times, things become even more confusing as the story begins with one kind of events and takes a whole other direction midway with no clue whatsoever.

If you are the kind of reader who is happy being invested mainly in characters (who are either Indians or Indian-Americans), you might not be disappointed in this collection. Each story in this anthology has impactful characters, whether likeable or not. The characters give you plenty of food for thought, with their experiences (immigrant and otherwise) depicting their raw emotions about being and belonging neither here nor there.

The stories are also kind of atmospheric and intense. While a few scenes are set in India, a majority are set in the US, thus portraying the clash of the character’s experiences across two such distinct countries. The underlying theme is that of feeling lost, and trying to find oneself. To this theme, the stories do perfect justice.

There are eight stories in this collection, and whatever I wrote above applies to each of them, without exception. Thus this anthology is not a bad book but it didn’t provide me the type of short story experience that I enjoy as I do like well-rounded finishes, even if they are open-ended.

Recommended only to certain readers. The right reader should be able to judge the suitability of the book to their reading taste based on the above feedback.

My thanks to Sarabande Books and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “A New Race of Men from Heaven”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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