Lorry Raja

by Madhuri Vijay

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

Madhuri Vijay was born in Bangalore. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and her writing has appeared in Best American Non-Required Reading, Narrative Magazine and Salon, among other publications. The Far Field is her first book.

Reviews

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any story that knows how to deal with workers actually working - not, say, teaching, that is; not clicking between gchat and some spreadsheet; but breaking rocks in a mine -immediately gains credibility with me. The plot about a poor Indian family struggling to get a boy (protagonist) into school as his older brother's girlfriend, the object of the protagonist's affection, endures humiliating treatment by an abusive manager in order to be able to afford medicine for her mortally sick mother, is moving, but familiar. It's the vivid showing of child labor in service of construction of venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics that keeps my attention. Supposedly this story is the author's first publication.

[Bilahari · Rating 4 out of 5]

the road from Bellari to Beijing is drenched in their blood; staining the earth red and turning their tears acidic.

[Paul LaFontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story of rising above, I enjoyed this one.

[Beth Horn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the point of this story was was, other than maybe daily struggle without much forward movement.

[Denisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

People who didn't understand the purpose of this story have a poor understanding of the world. This story isn't for them. Because they'll never understand.

[Preethi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-wrenching plot but well written narration and beautiful writing!

[Rohit Ughade]

yggkg

[Danilo DiPietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proxy for ‘Lara’s Theme’ - New Yorker short story discussed with Ann’s book club. Dysfunctional family dynamics, exceptionalism and fitting in.