Reviews

This Is Salvaged: Stories by Vauhini Vara

cxffee_addxct's review

3.0

This is Salvaged was a collection of short stories that delved into ideas of grief, loss, and identity. Short stories collections like this one are always a mixed bag when it comes to the connection that can be created between story and reader, and this one had a mixture of how the stories made me react/feel as I was reading them. The titular story, "This is Salvaged," was one that I felt closest to - the idea of creating things to enjoy them and find meaning in them in the time they're around, understanding that they're meant to be temporary and that, like all things, they will wither with time. The finality of things don't appear to be as beautiful to some as they are to others, hence the disconnect between Marlon and those around him. Another that I liked a lot, and to a degree also emotionally connected to, was "The Irates." I felt for Swati in this one - she had so many emotions that she was trying to sift through on her own because her parents had stopped paying attention in the aftermath of her brother's death, and she was just trying to get attention of her own only for her "chance" to get snatched up by Lydia, who seemed to be getting on her nerves for the sole reason that Lydia seemed to represent everything that Swati wasn't. While those two were my favorites, and I did like the other stories, I did have a sense of detachment from them and wasn't able to find much other than surface-level enjoyment out of them. Overall, a good read though, 3.25 stars.

Thank you to Vauhini Vara and W.W. Norton & Company for the ARC and the chance to read this great book!