In the fourteen stories that make up this collection, Jai Chakrabarti crosses continents and cultures to explore what it means to cultivate a family today, across borders, religions, and race.
Not one for neat endings, Chakrabarti puts the impetus on readers to decide the consequences of characters’ actions and where their fates lie. It’s an affecting technique for a captivating collection infused with a meaningful, lingering sense of unease and melancholy.
Children—the fierce desire for them, the heartbreak of miscarriage, and the matter of caring for them—knit this collection together ... Elsewhere, adoption is the means through which people try to make families, and here Chakrabarti mounts a searing critique of its sometimes-exploitative nature. That’s the scenario in 'Daisy Lane' ... While such people probably exist, as fictional characters they’re a bit too shallow and unlikable, and the story falls short ... Beautiful, thought-provoking work about the costs of wanting children.
Finely wrought characters grapple with culture clash, marital strife, and the troubles of parenthood in Chakrabarti’s impressive collection ... Throughout, Chakrabarti builds complicated and intriguing emotional situations, and his disquieting, unresolved endings leave the atmosphere unspoiled. This is a satisfying, vibrant exploration of family and identity.
