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168th out of 281 books
—
319 voters
Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings
Fiction. South Asia Studies. "Not merely lyrical and strange, but also deadpan funny"--Miranda July. A centipede in a shoe, revelations in a shoebox, nosebleeds, exploding women, and a dead mouse named Miraculous populate this collection of thirty-five short stories from one of India's most original young writers. Kuzhali Manickavel was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, lived in...more
Paperback, 141 pages
Published
June 28th 2008
by Blaft Publications
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It's hard not to compare Kuzhali Manickavel to Miranda July, both because they seem to share a sort of "quirkiness" (yes, I hate that word too), and because Miranda herself wrote a nonblurb for this book, something along the lines of, "When I read this book I totally felt like I had once hung out with this woman at a party or something, but I hadn't. She's just that good." I hope someday I'll be able to write something that will make Miranda feel that way - or better yet, something that will mak...more
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Oh yes please. New crazy book with a new crazy title put out by a new crazy small press in India? Um, yes yes and yes.
***
This book is awesome. Despite Miranda July's silly/stupid little blurb on the back, Ms. Manickavel is freaking great. These wispy little stories are often so short that they hardly get started, but they're still whimsical and angsty and really cool. There are a lot of lazy or mean or hopeful or lovelorn girls, plenty of strange bugs and other animals, weird flashes of life in...more
***
This book is awesome. Despite Miranda July's silly/stupid little blurb on the back, Ms. Manickavel is freaking great. These wispy little stories are often so short that they hardly get started, but they're still whimsical and angsty and really cool. There are a lot of lazy or mean or hopeful or lovelorn girls, plenty of strange bugs and other animals, weird flashes of life in...more
Oh Kuzhali.
OH KUZHALI <3
Welp these were some pretty nifty short stories. It's pretty tricky writing reviews for something you found immensely enjoyable (and I did find this enjoyable ;3;). I didn't understand the messages behind most/all of these, if I'm honest, but then, maybe there was no message to be read? They were pretty off-the-wall, the lot of them, looking at Indian (mostly Tamil) life from a mostly female perspective and with a focus more on really absurd things rather than plot. In...more
OH KUZHALI <3
Welp these were some pretty nifty short stories. It's pretty tricky writing reviews for something you found immensely enjoyable (and I did find this enjoyable ;3;). I didn't understand the messages behind most/all of these, if I'm honest, but then, maybe there was no message to be read? They were pretty off-the-wall, the lot of them, looking at Indian (mostly Tamil) life from a mostly female perspective and with a focus more on really absurd things rather than plot. In...more
A lot of things have been written about this book. Honestly I didn't bother to read any of them. And I don't think I am going to read any of them now. I picked up the book because me flatmate was reading them and I was intrigued by the cover and the title. The writing is nice. The stories are shit. Quirk is good but twisty knots aren't. If I was a certified psychoanalyst (which I am not) and the stories in this book were entries in a diary, then I can safely assume that all the stories are an ex...more
The morsels of stories here were delicious. I like fiction that gives me the feeling of reaching out, scrabbling for something that's _just_ beyond where the light falls. This definitely fit there, some stories are surreal and some are downright cracked out. This ranks up there with Neil Gaiman's "Smoke and Mirrors" for stories that shift your way of looking about five steps to the right.
Like most short story collections I've read, this is an uneven bunch. I know my favourites and I'll go back t...more
Like most short story collections I've read, this is an uneven bunch. I know my favourites and I'll go back t...more
I've never made it a secret that I hate "quirky" characters with a passion. Reading books like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer makes me feel like I'm having a thousand aneurysms at once, until I am reduced to flinging the book away and wishing as much harm as possible on the author. But you know what? Kuzhali Manickavel makes it work. The "quirkiness" feels real. That might not even be the right word, "neurotic" might be a better way of describing the people that inha...more
I picked up this book of short stories upon reading a review that likened it to Miranda July’s short story collection No One Belongs Here More Than You. The main similarity between that book and this one lies in the quirkiness and surreality of the characters and stories. To call this book a collection of short stories, however, is an understatement. There are 35 shorts in this book, packed into only 141 pages – i.e. about a third of the “stories” are only a few paragraphs long. This is ultimate...more
I picked up the book not realizing that it was a book of short stories. The first story opened brilliantly, full of grainy, quirky realism( and unrealism). Unfortunately, it ended before it began. Which is the main problem with the rest of the stories - they are all just too short!
There is something raw and alive in Kuzhali's writing. She's fresh even in the sapped air of Chennai. I'm eagerly awaiting a full-length novel that I can sink my teeth into.
There is something raw and alive in Kuzhali's writing. She's fresh even in the sapped air of Chennai. I'm eagerly awaiting a full-length novel that I can sink my teeth into.
Not quite what I expected, and not exactly a bad thing!
I liked it, even though it is not - how do I say it? - an exactly likable, comfortable, nice-nice text.
So: Manickavel's prose is quirky, lovely, stylish. The content of the stories, the characters that populate them, their relationships with each other, and what happens to all of them are largely very unsettling and strange. It is quite unlike anything I've ever read before.
I liked it, even though it is not - how do I say it? - an exactly likable, comfortable, nice-nice text.
So: Manickavel's prose is quirky, lovely, stylish. The content of the stories, the characters that populate them, their relationships with each other, and what happens to all of them are largely very unsettling and strange. It is quite unlike anything I've ever read before.
I'm doling out this book, page by page to myself because it's so delicious and so short!
Kuzhali's stories fall just on the right side of crazy - quirky enough to be entertaining, mundane enough to be relatable. This is poetry masquerading as literature.
Kuzhali's stories fall just on the right side of crazy - quirky enough to be entertaining, mundane enough to be relatable. This is poetry masquerading as literature.
A very beautiful book... had to put it down to smile often, and when I finished, I wanted to read some Borges, but I couldn't find any. So I have bought one of her other books. This one is just lovely. Do read it. It's a Curiosity and a Revelation.
Took some time to get acquainted to the style. Slowly when you get the hang of what is happening you start enjoying the book. Jam that bread of life was my gave story. There is so much more happening behind what is written and you stop and think about what happens beyond what is there. Strange. Beautiful.
Over rated. Quite a disappointment.
Certainly creates a consistent impact though, if that's all one looks for.
'The Sugargun Fairy' and 'The Dolphin King' are nicely pulled off.
Certainly creates a consistent impact though, if that's all one looks for.
'The Sugargun Fairy' and 'The Dolphin King' are nicely pulled off.
I loved this quirky, poignant, funny, and original bunch of stories. Definitely in the realm of the surreal, and heavily steeped in its Indian locale. Be ready to step off the bridge about what you think a short story is and what you think narrative looks like.
More whimsical than surrealistic but with lots of blood, vomit, dead bugs and decaying body parts. I didn't count but I believe the word "decay" is the most common word in these short stories. A couple of stories were almost interesting.
I dearly loved this book. My review can be read here.
Very interesting collection of weird short, short fiction by odd Tamilian Manickavel.
Not bad, just not were interesting for me.
This is the girl I want to marry.
Quite bizarre - makes for a welcome change from the very worldly view of the writers I usually read. I loved the story about the suicide notes as love letters.
Very interesting set of short stories. The conversations are abrupt and non-polished. The characters are all middle aged, just out of house/family young individuals trying to find their own meaning/foot hold of life. The stories comes in short spurts, a paragraph at a stretch, breaking, opening at another. In the conventional sense, these do not conform to the standards. Despite many short comings, they have a freshness around them. A very different voice in the Indian English Writing.
The overwhelming emotion was one of strangeness!
a cool gift from lakshmi.
some of the stories at the beginning seemed whimsical/non stop quirk just for the sake of it. nothing wrong with that, i guess, but ADD got the best of me.
when both the writer and the reader have ADD, sometimes trouble brews.
it slowly got better, though, and i was really into the weird descriptive images by the end.
some of the stories at the beginning seemed whimsical/non stop quirk just for the sake of it. nothing wrong with that, i guess, but ADD got the best of me.
when both the writer and the reader have ADD, sometimes trouble brews.
it slowly got better, though, and i was really into the weird descriptive images by the end.
I'm not sure why I liked this so much -- the stories are odd, some of them surreal, some of them little more than vignettes, but the writing is so sharp that it's a real pleasure to read.
Reading Kuzhali is like listening to Floyd. In a Tamil accent. In disco lights. Disco lights attacked by tiny fleas while you sit in a corner staring blankly at existence itself. Sorry, have I lost my train of thought again?
It's not for everyone.
It's not for everyone.
I remember vividly that this book was perfection, but none of the details.
ETA: Now I remember the details. It is still perfection.
ETA: Now I remember the details. It is still perfection.
Oct 24, 2008
Shannon
marked it as to-read
Yes, other than the occasional presence of wings I can also think of no single difference between humans and insects.
fresh, moody, senseless and intelligent at the same time..
Easily among my favorite books.
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Kuzhali Manickavel (Tamil: குழலி மாணிக்கவேல்) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She was born in Winnipeg, Canada and moved to India when she was thirteen. She currently lives in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. Her first book - Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some Of Them Have Wings was published by Blaft Publications in 2008. Her short stories have also appeared in print magazines like S...more
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