Review
'Savour this fine collection of stories!There is a consistency of tone: reminiscent, ruefully humorous, accepting! very funny in their quiet, dry, unobtrusive way. The prose throughout is clean and uncluttered: the sort of writing that marks out a genuine mistress of her craft' -- The Sunday Times 'They resonate with felt experience...She creates a scenario so powerfully that you are there with her in the spicy heat of India' -- Daily Telegraph 20040724 '[Jhabvala] has taken the immigrant experience and personalised it in a wonderfully unique way' -- The Independent on Sunday 20040724 'Sinewy with compressed emotion and intellectual energy, as well as the poignancy of a thwarted search for love... a finely crafted example of an accomplished story-teller's art' -- Publisher's Weekly 20040503 'Conveys a whole lifetime of passion, endeavour, disappointment and achievement. These stories, written in a simple prose beautifully combining relaxation and alertness, show an admired writer ... in total possession of her creative powers.' -- Literary Review 20040503 'Elegantly crafted tales...they illustrate, magnificently, the dubious comforts of English innocence' -- Bryan Cheyette, Times Literary Supplement 20040716 'Suffused with a strong flavour of personal experience' -- You 20040715 'The shards of memory and experience from which the stories are formed are as rich and bright as the jewelled fragments that make a kaleidoscope's image.' -- The Sunday Telegraph 20040715 'Exciting, engaging and so very convincing' -- Irish Times 20040715 'It is this quality of elegant, unfussy writing that makes the book so enjoyable to read.' -- Student Direct 20050418 'Jhabvala's writing has a feather-like lightness that the stories are easy to read but are secretly powerful tales.' -- Scan 20050503 'I couldn't put it down when I got started. It's well worth the read and is incredibly well-written.' -- Scan 20050503 'A very personal book, Jhalbvala attempts nine different answers to the question: What would happen if I were granted a different life? -- Brighton Argus 20050225 'These stories ... show an admired writer ... in total possession of her creative powers.' -- Literary Review 'Savour this fine collection of stories! the sort of writing that marks out a genuine mistress of her craft' -- The Sunday Times 'Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is a wonderful natural storyteller ! utterly compelling. It is a delight, from first page to last' -- The Scotsman 'She creates a scenario so powerfully that you are there with her in the spicy heat of India' -- The Daily Telegraph 20040724 'Each work has her hallmark of balance, subtlety, wry humor and beauty' -- New York Times Book Review 20040724 'Combined, these tales form an oblique portrait of the inner life of the author.' -- Sunday Times 20050327 'The most prominent theme is a string of inadvisable affairs with irascible, unreliable older men ...perhaps it'll be 10th time lucky?' -- The Guardian 20050312 'One is dazzled but tantalised by veiled fragments of a life that might have been.' -- Guardian 20050319 'Imagining what life might have been ...this is fiction that comes as close to autobiography as the author dares.' - Emma Hagestadt. -- The Independent 20050304 'By the end, while she may not fully have revealed herself, she has shown the grand sweep of life.' - Elena Seymenliyska. -- The Daily Telegraph 20050312
In her eighteenth book the Booker prize winning author writes 9 vignettes of autobiographical fiction: paths not taken, lives not lived, and imagines how it might have been. Her soul searching takes a broad view as these alternative existences open up in London, New York and India. The Polish born author is forever searching, never able to put down lasting roots: she fled the Nazis, married an Indian and went to live in India. All life tumbles in, but Jhabvala's interest hovers around love - especially love with complications (the menage a trios features a lot) the quest for spiritual answers and cultural identity. Her characters are universal yet very much individual, repellent and endearing all at once, all imbued with a faint sadness that suggests resignation to their fate. She writes with empathy and arch humour of the artists and businessmen, the intellectuals and con-men both rich and poor and the older male mentors with whom discreet physical relationship was never far away. Subtle, entertaining and a delight. (Kirkus UK)
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Irish Times
'Exciting, engaging and so very convincing'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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