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proseamongstthorns's review against another edition
1.0
This was such a slog. One or two stories were interesting. But the conversations felt so flat and formulaic.
spav's review against another edition
1.0
I could not find this book fun nor engaging no matter how much I tried it. It was just not for me.
biblioash01's review
4.0
Lift the veil of a "decent" society
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!
bookishwithb's review
3.0
while I appreciate and wholeheartedly applaud the manner in which Chungtai wrote feminism politics and sexuality, I severely lowered my star rating because of my own discomfort with the position of the child in these stories.
I noticed in this book, just as I have in most adult targeted postcolonial literature, that the child is more often than not abused and traumatized before the eyes of the adult western reader. there is a reason "The Quilt" is the most popular of her short stories, and its the exact same reason [IMO] books like beasts of no nation, song for night and The Smell of Apples are so successful - the exploitation of the child for the emotional reaction of the occidental reader.
personally not a fan of reading children's trauma from their perspective for the sake of a story however meaningful it is. other than that, the other stories and the political and feminist points Chungtai made throughout the stories were 10/10 and her writing style is beautiful.
I noticed in this book, just as I have in most adult targeted postcolonial literature, that the child is more often than not abused and traumatized before the eyes of the adult western reader. there is a reason "The Quilt" is the most popular of her short stories, and its the exact same reason [IMO] books like beasts of no nation, song for night and The Smell of Apples are so successful - the exploitation of the child for the emotional reaction of the occidental reader.
personally not a fan of reading children's trauma from their perspective for the sake of a story however meaningful it is. other than that, the other stories and the political and feminist points Chungtai made throughout the stories were 10/10 and her writing style is beautiful.
almostg's review
5.0
I picked this up for the postcolonial reading group at work and it was a delight. More than once, I nearly forgot to get on or off the train because I was so lost in it.
paymeinkash's review
5.0
Ismat has a way of captivating the readers and her stories give a sense of relatability even thought one has never experienced them.
brew_and_books's review
4.0
Being a female Urdu writer in the late ‘30s and ‘40s probably calls for heavily weighed-down societal biases, patriarch bigotry, and vehement prejudices. But this wasn’t any other author but Ismat Chugtai herself. Rather than being squashed by the sheer weight of such burdens, Chugtai rose to her literary eminence by her unmatched fierce and frank writing on feminism, female sexuality, desire, partition, religion, and class conflict. Her fearless writing effectively lifts the veils of her time’s shrouding political and social mores.
This book brings about Chugtai’s twenty-one expositions as short stories, some fiction, and some merely brief snippets of her life and relationships. These stories are a breath of fresh air, scintillating with daring dialogues, brilliant prose, and wry humor. Her story, ‘Lihaaf’ (‘The Quilt’), explores lesbian sexuality in a patriarchal society (mind you, we are talking about 1942). Unsurprisingly, it garnered much attention, which sparked debates, mayhem, and a subsequent obscenity trial.
I particularly loved the last three stories in the collection. She opens up about her relationship with her brother and novelist Mirza Asim Beg, which was highly emotional for me to read (Hell Bound). Next, on her very candid account of her friendship shared with Manto (My Friend, My Enemy), I perfectly know now why the writing of these two created a stir that still pulsates in the literary arena. Also, In the face of the controversies and trials surrounding Lihaaf, she rose much to her forthright, candid defense, which makes up one ten-page long account and the last story in the collection (In The Name of Those Married Women).
It’s just strenuous to write about her work when I can hardly get myself to write about her. I wish I could get a chance to meet her in person. But well, I acknowledge that the next time I read her stories, my take-away messages will be very different from those right now. I hold onto my highest and sincere respect for not just the writer but the person Ismat Chugtai has been. This book has been a source for me to experience her and her breathtaking writing as near tangible I can ever get to her.
cvacz's review against another edition
Read for book club, no one finished it. The translation was distracting and opaque