This book is the "first" (for some funny definition of first) book by a friend of mine. Mary Anne Mohanraj was one of the editors in residence at the Strange Horizons workshop I attended in 2004 ago and was really helpful. While she's written and edited erotica and science fiction and fantasy and started two magazines [Clean Sheets (erotica, NWS) and Strange Horizons (slipstream F/SF)], she also enjoys literature. This book is a collection of short stories she wrote during her Ph.D. program and are focused around immigrant studies. Mary Anne is of Sri Lankan descent (aka Ceylon, a small island nation off the coast of India) and her stories here trace two fictional Sri Lankan families from the 1930s in Sri Lanka as they immigrant to America and (some) return to Sri Lanka in the late 1990s. The stories are gorgeous in terms of writing and stunningly evocative. There is an erotica element to most of the stories, or at least the frank depiction of sex. But this isn't the book you bring to bed with a vibrator. These stories will make you laugh, cry, hold your breath, wish for better things and inhale the rich curries. They are stories of life and love and sex and death. They are stories of what makes us human. I enjoyed it muchly. I fully recommend anyone interested in immigrant literature check this book out. 5 spicy curries out of 5.
I've been reading Mary Anne's blog for years now. She's a very interesting woman, born in Sri Lanka and raised in the U.S., whose writing ranges from erotica to sci-fi to literary to cookbook. I have read a bunch of the stories in this book at different times over the years on her blog, and look forward to having them put in order for me (and reading the new ones!) here.Finished now and I definitely enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for multi-generational sagas so the wide range of stories connecting members of two families over the decades appealed very much. I also enjoyed her ability to write characters who find themselves behaving in mean or small ways without really intending to, but being unable to help themselves. It seemed very real. One of the first stories, told from the father's point of view, was one of my favorites. I felt very mentally in the space of an older paternal figure. Nicely done all around.
Do You like book Bodies In Motion: Stories (2006)?
These stories are a delicious treat. Following members of intertwining families from Sri Lanka to San Francisco, it is a joy to read about these characters and their journey through often conflicting cultures and traditions. While customs such as arranged marriages seem outdated and alien to us, Mohanraj guides us through the hearts and minds of each character,, taking us inside each individual decision to either follow what has come before or blaze a new trail into new emotional territory. Beautifully written, sensual and full of love and understanding for every twist and turn of the heart and the paths that are followed. This is a joyful, generous, tender-hearted and loving read.
—Stephen Graham King
