The Days Before Us - Sejal Badani - ★★★

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AUTHOR: Sejal Badani
SERIES: Good Intentions Collection, #6
GENRE: Short Story
PUBLICATION DATE: April 27, 2023
RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A thought-provoking short story about how second chances work. A bit stretched out in content, but great introspection.

Plot Preview:
Autumn isn’t in a great emotional place. After eight years of marriage, her relationship with her husband seems to be almost dead. Combine this with the emotional baggage from childhood when her father abandoned their family for another woman and her mother became an alcoholic to cope with her grief, and the bittersweet news that Autumn is finally pregnant. Autumn thus has a lot to deal with. Can she let go of the past in order to give her future a better chance?
The story comes to us in Autumn’s third person perspective across two timelines.


This is the sixth standalone story in the 'Good Intentions’ series, described on Amazon as “a riveting collection of stories about the instincts, fears, and fierce love inherent in motherhood.”
(I usually go in series order, but this time, I decided to begin from the lowest-rated ones on GR and work my way upwards.)

There’s nothing bad per se about this story. It has some flawed humans. It sheds light on how childhood trauma can affect adult decisions. It describes the uncertainty of being the vulnerable one in a marriage. It shows the trauma of being forced to parent your parent. It highlights the emotional grief that can come after a loved one abandons you. It also shows how simple incidents in our day-to-day life can offer great learnings. This last point is depicted through Autumn’s work as a marine scientist. The past timeline serves to highlight the incidents that led to Autumn’s behaviour in the present timeline.

In other words, there are plenty of great arcs in this story. But when the page count is just 35 pages, it feels like a bit cluttered. There are too many subplots, and while the ending still handles the situation well, I felt like I couldn’t bond with any of the characters because of the hurried exploration of emotions. The writing was also needlessly poetic at times. While this is okay in long fiction, a short work with so many subplots doesn’t afford much leeway for metaphorical writing.

That said, the story fits the theme of the collection perfectly. Because of the introspective tone of the writing, the story offers an insight into Autumn’s journey of healing and forgiveness and also depicts the importance of communication. I even felt sorry for one character, but I totally understand where the other character was coming from – forgiveness isn’t always easy.

All in all, a decent introspective story. Not a must read but a good one when you need something to ponder over. Don’t pick it up if you prefer likeable leads.

This standalone story is a part of the ‘Good Intentions’ collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.

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