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shadybanana's review
3.0
I dont see how anything he has ever said could be misconstrued as controversial, in any time frame or place
s4peace's review
4.0
I am in love with Manto. The way he writes is how I aspire to write myself someday. His characterization is so raw and realistic that you connect with them even in the short lived stories that he writes. I absolutely loved all the stories around the freedom struggle. Your heart breaks a little at the end of every story because the end is just too close to reality.
My only bone to pick here is the fact that Manto wrote in Urdu and this was a translation or at least the one I read was a translation in English. The translation was pretty good but it almost made me want to hear the stories in Urdu. Manto is a genius and I like to believe that he loved the characters in his stories. It reflects in the way he talks about them.
My only bone to pick here is the fact that Manto wrote in Urdu and this was a translation or at least the one I read was a translation in English. The translation was pretty good but it almost made me want to hear the stories in Urdu. Manto is a genius and I like to believe that he loved the characters in his stories. It reflects in the way he talks about them.
sravreads's review
5.0
Somewhere in these 10 short stories, I found myself thinking about these characters more than I wanted to. They had me wanting to pull at my own short stories, the old ones I had written when I had time and ambition left in my fingers, and wanted me to write my own characters, with their own mysterious endings. But, above all, they had me thinking about how good of an observer I really was not as compared to Manto. This short story collection is fiction. But, is it? When Manto pulls in and out of his stories, writes them with the fresh detail that one could only write with if experienced, and spends words like they are gold, is it really fiction? Or somewhere do we find ourselves in these stories?
I'll first start with how I discovered this book before I get into the gritty details of the collection and its contents. I was procrastinating on my work and watching an interview with noted actress, Shalini Pandey discussing her favorite authors. Her serious expression when discussing Manto's work enticed me into downloading this collection onto my Kindle; the serious looking cover had me simply peep into the first pages of the stories. And, that peep spilled into an undying appreciation for Manto. These stories will confuse you. I've had to look up endings to so many, just to understand if the connotation I understood was actually true or if I had misinterpreted with a despicable thought. Once you realize the connotation is true, you think then about how everything clicks in your mind. The stories never end with a giant moment, they just end as all good stories do. They end without really ending.
I was going to review the stories in detail, but I think to even reveal the plot to some stories would be to create an expectation which I do not wish to create. So, here are my favorites: Ten Rupees, Khol Do, Khaled Mian, My Name is Radha, Licence, and The Mice of Shah Daulah. Out of these, two are especially notable for me: Khol Do and My Name is Radha.
Khol Do is a fairly short "short story" but the effect it leaves on the reader is long. My friends had met up with me minutes after I finished this story and I could not even come back to reality after finishing the story for an hour. Even with the cloud of laughter around me, my mind kept lingering around this story, thinking about the trauma it intends. It really did unhinge me.
My Name is Radha is more lighthearted in a way, but it was the story I most related to. I understood Radha, I saw myself in her. In fact, every woman has a little bit of Radha- the sexy, wild woman who wants a man she can't have for a thrill. The high of being sensual, it's another persona in itself. I seriously projected myself onto this story, because we all know a Radha, and sometimes we all are a Radha.
Manto, my new all-time favorite.
I'll first start with how I discovered this book before I get into the gritty details of the collection and its contents. I was procrastinating on my work and watching an interview with noted actress, Shalini Pandey discussing her favorite authors. Her serious expression when discussing Manto's work enticed me into downloading this collection onto my Kindle; the serious looking cover had me simply peep into the first pages of the stories. And, that peep spilled into an undying appreciation for Manto. These stories will confuse you. I've had to look up endings to so many, just to understand if the connotation I understood was actually true or if I had misinterpreted with a despicable thought. Once you realize the connotation is true, you think then about how everything clicks in your mind. The stories never end with a giant moment, they just end as all good stories do. They end without really ending.
I was going to review the stories in detail, but I think to even reveal the plot to some stories would be to create an expectation which I do not wish to create. So, here are my favorites: Ten Rupees, Khol Do, Khaled Mian, My Name is Radha, Licence, and The Mice of Shah Daulah. Out of these, two are especially notable for me: Khol Do and My Name is Radha.
Khol Do is a fairly short "short story" but the effect it leaves on the reader is long. My friends had met up with me minutes after I finished this story and I could not even come back to reality after finishing the story for an hour. Even with the cloud of laughter around me, my mind kept lingering around this story, thinking about the trauma it intends. It really did unhinge me.
My Name is Radha is more lighthearted in a way, but it was the story I most related to. I understood Radha, I saw myself in her. In fact, every woman has a little bit of Radha- the sexy, wild woman who wants a man she can't have for a thrill. The high of being sensual, it's another persona in itself. I seriously projected myself onto this story, because we all know a Radha, and sometimes we all are a Radha.
Manto, my new all-time favorite.
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