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Out of India: Selected Stories
Chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 1986, this volume of stories, selected by the author from her own early work, represents the essence of her Indian experience. Bearing Jhabvala's hallmark of balance, subtlety, wry humor, and beauty, these stories present characters that prove to be as vulnerable to the contradictions and oppressions of t...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
December 23rd 1999
by Counterpoint
(first published 1986)
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I picked this up at the library because it was about India. I struggled with it. Perhaps I'm not intellectual enough...
I pressed on, and was pleased that not ALL of the stories were tied somehow to sex but mostly I just wished these people were a little less ridiculous and that the stories spoke more to the version of India I experienced. (and yes, I did read the jacket blurb about the stories speaking to universal humanity; blah, blah, blah)
I pressed on, and was pleased that not ALL of the stories were tied somehow to sex but mostly I just wished these people were a little less ridiculous and that the stories spoke more to the version of India I experienced. (and yes, I did read the jacket blurb about the stories speaking to universal humanity; blah, blah, blah)
Sylvia Mohen
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Recommends it for:
Those who prefer their extra-marital affairs with a side of chapati
"What I am interested now is myself in India" writes Jhabvala in the introduction to this delightful collection of short stories. The stories paint an interesting portrait of Indian life and values from a Western perspective. When caste and tradition provide conflict, the author often deliberately draws her characters within certain moral lines. When Durga choses to shirk the traditional role of widow to live as she pleases, we feel resentment towards her self-serving family. To wr...more
I just finished this book last night around 1am. She is a very detailed author and it was well-written. I think her style of writing is what kept my attention more than the content. I picked this because it seemed like something I would not normally read. I will have to add her to my list of authors.
Okay -- didn't finish before due back. p 107
Through a series of short stories, the author provides a perspective of India through her version of the different types of people one might encounter there. I don't remember the book well, but I know I liked her writing style enough to pick this book up after reading Heat & Dust and then went on to read Travelers. Those who like movies like Remains of the Day, Howards End, and Room with a View will enjoy her work.
A mixed bag of short stories, some satirical and some more straightforward but many had that same quailty of Jhabvala novels, quite intersting and then suddnely over. The ones about the gurus were the best ones, I think.
great, well written short stories that show some views of what it was like (and maybe still is like) to live in India with all its many - sometimes contradictory - facets, layers and depths. This is not travel writing, but it could help someone traveling to India to begin to understand what they are going to be experiencing.
This is a wonderful book of short stories about India from many different perspectives. It was gripping, sad, at times funny and ditsurbing. I am looking forward to reading more of her writing.
With quick-read short stories, this author tackles ideas of spirituality and how the search for happiness might be intertwined in it and in being female.
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Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, CBE is a Booker prize-winning novelist, short story writer, and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant. Their films won six Academy Awards.
More about Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
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