Love in a Blue Time

by Hanif Kureishi

A collection of short stories includes the tale of a Pakistani girl's visit to London, which causes a revolution in her suburban home, and the dilemmas of once carefree men and women as they confront the complications of adult life in middle-class London

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, British Literature, Contemporary, Romance, Literature, School

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Hanif Kureishi is the author of novels (including The Buddha of Suburbia, The Black Album and Intimacy), story collections (Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day, The Body), plays (including Outskirts, Borderline and Sleep With Me), and screenplays (including My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic and Venus). Among his other publications are the collection of essays Dreaming and Scheming, The Word and the Bomb and the memoir My Ear at His Heart.

Kureishi was born in London to a Pakistani father and an English mother. His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He came to Britain to study law but soon abandoned his studies. After meeting and marrying Kureishi’s mother Audrey, Rafiushan settled in Bromley, where Kureishi was born, and worked at the Pakistan Embassy.

Kureishi attended Bromley Technical High School where David Bowie had also been a pupil and after taking his A levels at a local sixth form college, he spent a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University before dropping out. Later he attended King’s College London and took a degree in philosophy. In 1985 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980’s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears. It won the New York Film Critics Best Screenplay Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

His book The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel, and was also made into a BBC television series with a soundtrack by David Bowie. The next year, 1991, saw the release of the feature film entitled London Kills Me; a film written and directed Kureishi.

His novel Intimacy (1998) revolved around the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons after feeling physically and emotionally rejected by his wife. This created certain controversy as Kureishi himself had recently left his wife and two young sons. It is assumed to be at least semi-autobiographical. In 2000/2001 the novel was loosely adapted to a movie Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau, which won two Bears at the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden Bear for Best Film, and a Silver Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox). It was controversial for its unreserved sex scenes. The book was translated into Persian by Niki Karimi in 2005.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Kureishi is married and has a pair of twins and a younger son.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A BLUE TIME, UN PERIODO NO


”The Mother”, del 2003, film scritto da Kureishi e diretto da Roger Mitchell. Sullo sfondo, barbuto, Daniel Craig. In primo piano, Anne Reid.

Ho comprato questo libro sette anni fa di ritorno da un’ennesima vacanza in Grecia perché l'amico che mi aveva ospitato voleva fare un film tratto da uno dei racconti.
Però ho aspettato fino a oggi per leggerlo.
Intanto il mio amico non ha più i diritti per fare il film e non li rinnoverà.
E io mi chiedo come mai mi ci sono voluti sette anni per dedicarmi a questa lettura.
Perché ho dovuto essere in un periodo molto blue della mia vita per prenderlo finalmente in mano e aprirlo?


Daniel Day-Lewis e Gordon Warnecke protagonisti di “My Beautiful Laundrette”, 1985, regia di Stephen Frears. A soli 61 anni, Daniel Day-Lewis è stato candidato sei volte all’Oscar per il migliore attore, vincendo ben tre volte, e ha annunciato che il magnifico “Phantom Thread” sarà il suo ultimo film. Più che ovvio che io sia in a blue time.

Risposta 1.
Perché sto per tornare a trovare il mio amico, mi fermerò molto più a lungo dell’altra volta, e potremo parlarne con reciproca cognizione di causa. Sette anni fa fu impossibile.
E questa volta vado a trovarlo a Berkeley, dove vive, e per me la Bay Area è il posto più bello del mondo.

Risposta 2.
Perché gli incontri cinematografici con Kureishi sono stati positivi: My Beautiful Laundrette e Sammy and Rosie Get Laid li ricordo come film luminosi in un periodo cinematograficamente piuttosto grigio. È possibile che adesso risulterebbero come si usa dire ‘datati’, ma all’epoca facevano la loro porca figura.
Invece gli incontri letterari con Kureishi mi mettono a disagio. Ho letto e riletto Intimacy e ancora mi chiedo cosa mi sono perso, dove mi sono perso, perché non mi è piaciuto (ma sarebbe meglio usare l’efficace espressione romana, m’arimbarza).


Frances Barber e Roland Gift in “Sammy e Rosie vanno a letto”, 1987, regia di Stephen Frears. Sono proprio questi due film che hanno fatto decollare la carriera di Frears portandola a Hollywood e a due candidature all’Oscar.

E anche questa raccolta di racconti… perché? Cosa mi sono perso? Dove mi sono perso?
Sarà che a me sembra che Kureishi scriva per lo schermo anche quando scrive prima di tutto per pubblicare.
E la scrittura cinematografica non contempla il piacere della letteratura.
Leggere una sceneggiatura è interessante e piacevole se il film che si immagina lo è: il massimo del godimento è nel montaggio delle scene, nei dialoghi, quando filano.
Ma il piacere della lettura? Quello va cercato altrove.


Jim Broadbent e Lindsay Duncan in “Le week end” di Roger Mitchell, 2013.

E anch’io, il piacere della lettura, non devo cercarlo tra le pagine dei libri di Kureishi.
Qui non posso trovarlo.

Sarà che finché Kureishi vuole mostrare il lato rotto delle cose, io posso seguirlo: ma quando il suo intento principale è épater le bourgeois, io mi perdo, e perdo lui. Épater le bourgeois negli anni Novanta?!


"Mio figlio il fanatico" è del 1997, diretto da Udayan Prasad.

[Ivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ne znam da li je do izbora priča koje je profesor odabrao ili je do mene ali sam na momente imala osjećaj da moram poznavati 6332323 referece da bih u potpunosti razumjela i doživjela Kureišievo pisanje. Ako zanemarimo to, onda mogu reći da mi je ovo bilo pravo osvježenje (wooow Ivana je otkrila savremenu književnost). Iskreno bih voljela u budućnosti pročitati još po neko njegovo djelo ali da mi to tada ne servira profesor Crnogorac hahahaha

[Rue Baldry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love My Beautiful Laundrette and Buddha of Suburbia so I was expecting a lot from this book. A lot of story can be written in a few thousand words, but some short stories sacrifice plot and rely on rambling descriptions instead. This collection was particularly bad for that.

I nearly gave up on it altogether because of the weighting of meandering tales of unlikable, selfish, adulterous, self-medicating, unsatisfied middle-aged men towards the beginning. I had no sympathy for nor empathy with them. Kureishi presents as a revelation the discovery that none of them are as clever as they think they are.

The only story I had heard of from this collection was My Son the Fanatic which was the basis for a movie (which I've not seen). That is one of the better stories because the characters are more interesting, but it doesn't have a proper ending - which is true of all the stories.

There are a few characters and situations here which I will think about again, but overall it is not a book which I would recommend.

[Armin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lieblose Geschichten über lieblose Ehen und unerfüllte Beziehungen, der Held in mittleren Jahren hat so gut wie jedes mal eine jüngere Geliebte, die umstandslos den größten Mist mitmacht. Nachtlicht mit seiner sprachlosen sexuellen Dauererfüllung mit einer abgelehnten Bewerberin um einen Job und der Auszugsszene aus dem eigenen Haus und der Verabschiedung von Kindern, weil die Alte/Ehefrau zu spät die Reizwäsche angezogen hat, könnte vielleicht als Vorlauf zu Intimacy interpretiert werden. Die Erzählungen sind durch die Bank schlechter als Dunkel wie der Tag, aber die Art und Weise in der in HKs Erzählungen das Recht auf Fremdgeherei des Mannes propagiert wird, während die Ehefrauen jedes mal als gierige Schlampen dargestellt werden, die ihren Ex aus Rache ruinieren (könnten) bzw. Untreue als bestes Gegenmittel gegen Lieblosigkeit (Die Fliegen) ist für mich nicht akzeptabel. Vermutlich steckt ziemlich viel autobiographisches in diesen Erzählungen, die Titelgeschichte könnte peinliche Erfahrungen bei der Vorbereitung des eigenen Films London kills me verarbeiten. Verweise auf Freunde in Hollywood (Frears) und das Gefühl als Filmemacher hinter der eigenen Generation zurück zu sein, sprechen dafür.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven short story collection by Hanif Kureishi,some are pretty good,one or two a bit jarring. (Three stars).

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't get into it - too many unhappy middle-aged men in the stories. I didn't like them very much.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has flashes of a talented writer but they are woefully extinguished by the sub-Martin Amis pastiche of would-be louche sexuality which simply comes over in the end as schoolboy fantasy.

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some I really did not understand, and I tried very hard. The Tale of the Turd remains supreme.

[OSKR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this for $2 in a second hand bookshop, scratched, faded and damaged - just the way I like it.

The first story I read was "With Your Tongue Down My Throat" (the title jumps out at you). It's absolutely fantastic - it really touched me. This is a beautiful story about an disadvantaged English girl who goes to visit her rich Indian father (in India). There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't want to spoil it.

The other stories are all rather flat in comparison however. These stories are mostly about Londoners whose lives are stagnating for various reasons. They're all somewhat downbeat, a little bit depressing maybe. There's some beautiful prose but the stories are hard to enjoy. The narratives typically end abruptly, unresolved, the protagonists back where they started.

So if you're fortunate enough to come across a copy of this, go straight to "With Your Tongue Down My Throat".

(more reviews at http://bench-press.blogspot.com/ )

[Charlotte]

This gets five stars just for "The Tale of the Turd." It's Kureishi's leitmotif: "I am, to my surprise, 44." Here's his standard middle-aged rant, the guy whose profession is failure, involved this time with an 18-year-old girl. He is invited to her somewhat severe parents' house for dinner and realizes, all of a sudden, that he has to take a crap. "I sit down concerned they're gonna hear every splash but it's too late: the knotty little head is already pushing out, a flower coming through the earth, but thick and long and I'm not even straining..." The turd won't go down, no matter what he does. "The flushing downpour has rinsed it and there is no doubt that as turds to it is exquisite, flecked and inlaid like a mosaic depicting, perhaps, a historical scene." The turd (of course it's him and his despicable nature, yadda yadda yadda!) takes on a life of its own and won't be flushed, and dinner is waiting for him. "My instinct is to calm it down, and I look around the bathroom for a place to bash it..." There's knock on the door! Just read it.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1997 collection hasn't aged well in some respects. Many of the pieces are about middle aged men leching after teenage girls, although I suppose they are pretty hateful characters. However one or two seem prescient - My Son the Fanatic about a westernised Asian dad finding his son becoming a zealot could have been written today (plus I remember the film) - or perfect exposures of racism (We Are Not Jews). The writing is vivid, funny, in your face, enjoyable if cynical, crawling with drugs and sex.

[Cristina Campbell-Hewson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Always hard to rate short stories - one of these was perhaps the grossest thing I have ever read (The Tale of the Turd) and that is why I can’t give this book more than 2 stars lol. Some of the other stories were really good and well developed (thinking particularly of With Your Tongue Down My Throat, The Flies and We’re Not Jews). This is the second book I’ve read by Kureishi and I’m noticing a pattern of men-that-hate-women-and-blame-them-for-their-own-failings which is troublesome…. I haven’t quite made my mind up on Kureishi yet but I’m not ruling out reading any of his other work

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I only read four of the ten stories but this is where I'm finishing*

Kureishi's short stories offered some lovely insight into British life for people of colour. Although I wholeheartedly appreciate and respect these works, they were not exactly my cup of tea. I did, however, learn valuable lessons from some of the characters and how they define 'home' in particular.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really liked this one and I definitely think that Kureishi is at his absolute best in the short story format. One or two of the collection is of less interest, but the rest are pieces of great and inspired writing!

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first few stories of ‘Love in a Blue Time’, I wasn’t that impressed. All seemed to center on middle aged, men leching after younger women while at the same time losing their creativity, money, sanity or all three. But, there are lights among the darkness of chauvinism and self-flagellation. ‘We’re not Jews’ is an empathetic look at racism in Britain and this and ‘My son the Fanatic’ seem like they could have been written this year. This is in contrast to other stories which have not aged well –this collection was written in 1997.

‘With your tongue down my throat’, the longest story here, is an honest, no holds barred look at life in certain parts of London for a teenage girl who won’t be walked over –the fact that she is half Indian makes this even more interesting. Unfortunately this story is spoilt somewhat by the ending where a middle aged male who features in the story suddenly claims the narration for his own.

‘Lately’ is subtitled as an homage to Chekhov’s Duel and is mainly successful although again most of the characters are unlikable, however, ‘Nightlight’ seemed more reminiscent of Chekov in its general mood and has some lovely writing, for example;

'As long as there is desire there is a pulse; you are alive; to want is to reach beyond yourself, into the world, finger by finger.’

‘Tale of the Turd’ and ‘The Flies’ are both, as anticipated, uncomfortable to read, the latter appears to have a strong metaphorical meaning as regards the flies – I chose not to put any thought into the metaphor of the turd.

I feel like Hanif Kureshi wants us to squirm a little when reading these stories, to confront the realities of drugs, aging, urbanity and extramarital sex with young girls, but my go to reaction with many of the central characters was a kind of disgust. It’s as though because so many of them are ‘creative’ that gives them license to be irresponsible and obnoxious. If you can push through, or past these characters there is some great writing and Nina of WYTDMT is a kick arse, rebellious ball breaker but overall, too many dislikable males for me to give this a higher rating.

[Tittirossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il tratto comune di questi racconti è la sostanziale incapacità di mantenere rapporti duraturi fondati sull'affetto: madri, padri, figli, mariti, mogli. Tutti si "costruiscono" una storia famigliare che è una parabola in vertiginosa discesa verso l'infelicità della vita in comune. Come se condividere la quotidianità uccidesse qualsiasi forma di amore.
Le mogli sono una gabbia in cui i mariti sono finiti quasi inconsapevolmente. Trascinati a forza da circostanze che loro stessi hanno creato, senza rendersene effettivamente conto.
I figli sono entità che i padri non riconoscono, e questo al di là dello specifico islamico del racconto "mio figlio il fanatico".
E' un'umanità sola, disperatamente priva di risorse morali ed affettive.
La scrittura è discontinua, non sempre buona (forse anche a causa di una traduzione che non le rende giustizia) ma quando lo è, lo è veramente.

[Neira · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Son the Fanatic
Straightforward and effective, like The Black Album (play), but from an interesting perspective.

The Tale of the Turd
I thought this would follow the theme of racism but was surprised to find it so....straightforward. Hilarious for the most part, possibly unnecessarily disgusting at times. It's a light story for a laugh following the previous darker stories.

[Rar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this for Rp.8.000 lol which added more stars to it

A really enjoyable ride, The first half of the story seems like stuff that pulled from Eric Rohmer romantic-affair kind of stories(which i love) and then the second leg of the book consist of more racial, dark comedies matter and it was getting more weird and surreal at the end.

I love when author’s and editors arrange their short stories with heart like this, not just throwing them randomly.

[Carole888 · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/...

[Vladisko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opäť cesta do hlbín rozháranej duše muža v strednom veku, ktorým (by) sa nikto nechcel stať. Tak ako nedávno pri Murakamim, aj pri Kureishim si uvedomujem, že nie som čitateľom poviedok. A že dobrí a zruční románopisci naozaj potrebujú väčšiu plochu na (niektoré) svoje príbehy. No treba uznať, že Láska ve smutné době mi sadla viac ako Murakamiho Slon mizne.

[Inês Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

lido no âmbito da cadeira. Lit Inglesa II. muitos homens de meia-idade frustrados, mas algumas críticas relevantes, especialmente sobre identidade. interessante, mas gráfico demais para mim.
Tale. of. a turd., no more words.

[Nazanin · Rating 1 out of 5]

کتاب شامل ده داستان کوتاهه


آن‌چه گذشت...:

روکو که روزگاری آهنگ می‌ساخته و کارگردان تئاتر بوده، در حال حاضر کاری انجام نمی‌ده و از لندن به همراه لیزا به شهر ساحلی آمدن و برای ادامه‌ی زندگی از دیگران پول قرض می‌گیرن... بعد از مدتی از خودشون و رابطه‌اشون و زندگی توی شهر ساحلی خسته می‌شن📖

*برای یک داستان کوتاه تعداد شخصیت‌ها خیلی زیاد بود📖

باشه عزیزم:

نیکولا و بیل زن و شوهر هستن. نیکولا با پدر سلستین به بیل خیانت می‌کنه و بیل با سلستین به نیکولا📖

*این داستان هم مثل داستان قبلی پر از شخصیته و باز هم موضوعش خیانته📖

عشق سال‌های غم:

روی کارگردانه و با کلارا تازه زندگیشون رو شروع کردن. جیمی که یکی از دوستان قدیمیه روی هستش باهاش تماس می‌گیر^ و می‌خواد همدیگه رو ببینن. جیمی هر روز مست می‌کنه و سر کار هم نمی‌ره

*داستان مقایسه‌ای بین سبک زندگی متفاوت آدم‌ها بود

پسر متعصب من:

خانواده‌ی مسلمانی از پاکستان به لندن مهاجرت می‌کنن و پسرشون ناگهان عضو گروه‌های تندرو اسلامی می‌شه📖

*دوست داشتم داستانش طولانی‌تر باشه. به نظرم خیلی بیشتر می‌تونست به اتفاقاتی که ممکنه رخ بده بپردازه📖

روشنایی شب:

مردی از همسرش جدا شده و در زندگی‌ش مثل سابق موفق نیست ولی از جدا شدنشون هم ناراحت نیست📖

*داستان راجع به سختی کار و تلاش برای فراهم کردن یک زندگیه و راوی ناگهان متوجه می‌شه تعلق خاطری به خونه‌ای که داره توش زندگی می‌کنه نداره📖

لندن:

نینا با مادرش در لندن زندگی می‌کنن و خواهر ناتنی‌ش داره میاد پیششون📖

*داستان پر از پرش شخصیتیه؛ یه جوری که اولش متوجه نمی‌شدی که کیه که داره داستان رو تعریف می‌کنه📖

حکایت گندکاری من:

دختر هجده‌ساله‌ای دوست‌پسر چهل‌وچهارساله‌ش رو برای آشنایی با خانواده‌ش به خونه‌شون دعوت می‌کنه📖

*داستان می‌خواست روابط ناسالم رو بیان کنه ولی خیلی چندش‌آور بود📖

تصویر غمگین تو:

عکاسی که زن و بچه داره توی بار با فردی به نام برایان آشنا می‌شه و بعد از مدتی برایان ازش می‌خواد که از خودش و دوست‌دخترش عکاسی کنه📖

*داستان راجع به حسادت آدم‌ها بهم دیگه‌ست؛ کسی که متاهله و شغل داره به کسی که آزاده و بدون دغدغه‌ست حسودی می‌کنه📖

ما یهودی نیستیم:

پدر ازهر پاکستانیه و بچه‌ها توی مدرسه اون رو به خاطر پدرش که مهاجره اذیت می‌کنن📖

*همیشه خوندن داستان‌هایی که راجع به ظلم به مهاجر‌هاست تلخ و دردناکه📖

حشرات:

زن و شوهر جوانی با بچه‌ی کوچکشون تصمیم می‌گیرن به خونه‌ی جدید نقل مکان کنن و بعد از مدتی متوجه می‌شن که خونه پر از حشره‌ست📖

*ایده‌ی داستان خوب بود ولی پرداختش و پایانش بد بود📖

• ترجمه‌ی کتاب وفادارانه نبود و مترجم اسم کتاب‌ها، مقالات، سایت‌ها و مکان‌ها رو اغلب حذف کرده بود. پاراگرف‌ها خلاصه شده بود و پر از «...» بود حتی اسم داستان لندن هم در متن اصلی یه اسم دیگه‌ست📖

داستان‌ها تاثیرگذار نبودن و چیزی نبودن که در یادت بمونن📖

[Libra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hanif Kureishi's Love in a Blue Time deals with unpleasant dynamic aspects of human life. The book has 10 short stories which address marital dilemmas, ambivalent personas, problems of immigrants, hybrid identities, and the ugly nature of human beings.

The stories in this collection can be divided into two categories.

🔹The first category:

⚫We are not Jews
⚫ My son the fanatic
⚫With your tongue down my throat

This part deals with post colonial immigrants in West and their wretched conditions where the abhorrence fueled by white man's supremacy add insult to injury, but the hate goes both ways in these tales. Also the war between assimilation and resistance, absence of acceptance, and the lack of third space can also be traced.

🔹The second category:

⚫In a blue Time
⚫D'accord, Baby
⚫Blue, Blue pictures of you
⚫The Tale of the Turd
⚫Nightlight
⚫Lately
⚫The flies

This portion portrays gloomy, unpleasant, and disgusting relationships, where the knot is only tied due to unavoidable conditions. There is infidelity, cheating, uncomfortable age gaps, gross nature of human beings, and sex.
A human is related to another not by love, but due to strange circumstances that reflect a void; a despair that can never be treated. Even sex is not presented as pleasing or exciting part, rather reduced to the level of ineluctable necessity of a man to discharge waste.

[Kez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie to you, I rushed through the last few stories in this book because I just really wasn't enjoying them. The characters feel outdated and unrealistic, the stories not very engaging (there were one or 2 which I enjoyed but still nothing spectacular). I absolutely hated the story about the 40 year old man blocking the toilet with his big shit while he is meeting his 18 year old girlfriends parents?? Wtf?? Gross for a lot of reasons.. Overall I just wasn't impressed by this collection but I am confident I'll enjoy some of Hanif Kureishi's novels more so I'm not writing him off yet.

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly excellent short stories. The characters are well developed, mostly through descriptions of situations through their own perspectives. Thoughtful and irreverent treatment of contemporary UK social issues, in particular the racism, enormously relevant in the current environment. A couple of the stories edge into the allegorical but mostly still work.

[Lisbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have wanted for some time to read something of Kureishi. I think this might not be his best book. I bought it, probably at the Book fair, and did not realise it was short stories. I do not often read short, but it is always good to venture "out in the blue" sometimes. However, this was not my cup of tea.

Although well written, and concentrating on the difficult theme of love and life, I could not really get into the stories Maybe because the characters are very far away from myself. However, I am sure that a lot of people recognise themselves in the stories. The characters have come over the first youth and realising that they cannot continue living from day to day for the rest of their lives. Most of the characters are part of the cultural life. I guess artistic people are always living a less secure life and have goals driving them further and further and income is irregular if any.

Even so, when you have a settled income, it seems life does not simply settle down. The grass if always greener somewhere else. At the back of the book it says: The characters that arise from these pages - however damaged, deranged or even despicable they may be - are united by one common trait: they are all creatures driven by strong desires." From the novel Blue, Blue Pictures of You I found the following quote which seems to sum up the stories.
"A couple of months after Eshan started seeing him in the pub, Brian parted from his casual girlfriends. He went out regularly - it was like a job; and he was the sort of man that women were attracted to in public places. There was hope; every night could take you somewhere new. But Brian was nearly thirty; for a long time hedx had been part of everything new, living not for the present but for the next thing. He was beginning to see how little it had left him, and he was afraid. "
I still will try some of his other books.

[lihinay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection gave the impression that it was frantic, even if the pace of the stories were slow and quotidian.
It does remind one of the dilemma of disposable consumption from the seventies on that Kureishi usually addresses. This I gathered after watching an interview of his with the British Library, just when I felt I did not know what this collection was supposed to be. I’m sure that was when I was reading The Tale of the Turd.
Perhaps, I can’t enjoy it more because it’s very unfulfilling. The stories aren’t left open ended per se, but the endings elude any resolution. Again, nothing problematic about it, only that it left me drained faster and wanting to move on to the next story quick and get it over with.
I read this because I loved reading Buddha, and I had independently read My Son the Fanatic and liked it, but I’m not sure what to make of this.

[Ariella Fisher]

“A city of love vampires, turning from person to person, hunting the one who will make the difference.”
- Nightlight, P.142

“He asks to be returned to the ordinary with new eyes. He wants to play a child’s game. Make a list of what you noticed today, adding desires, regrets and contentments, if any, so that your life doesn’t pass without you having noticed it. And he requires the extraordinary, on Wednesdays.”
- Nightlight, P.144

“As long as there is desire there is a pulse; you are alive; to want us to reach beyond yourself, into the world, finger by finger.”
-Nightlight P.145

[Ayleen Fa Iry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excuse me please help me....Love in a Blue Time depicts the struggles of a generation - How accurate is this description for Love in a blue time?. Discuss.
2. How does Kureishi successfully portray a world deeply embedded with confusion, individualisim and lack of compromise through his short story?
3. Kureishi's work depicts a complete disillusionment with love. Do you agree or disagree. Give reasons to support your answer.
I need answer...

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the Back Cover:
This provocative collection of short stories charts the growth of a generation from the liberating irreverence of the late 1970s to the dilemmas of responsibility and fidelity of the 1990s. The stories resonate with Hanif Kureishi's dead-on observations of human passion and folly, his brilliant depiction of seedy locales and magical characters, and his original, wicked sense of humor.