First published in 1978 and now reissued in a new cover style, a collection of 11 short stories from the author of BAUMGARTNER'S BOMBAY. Includes tales about an American wife who, homesick for rural Vermont, turns to the hippies of the Indian hills for consolation; and a painter who renders pictures of creatures he has never seen.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Lovely!,
By Renee Thorpe (Karangasem, Bali) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Games at Twilight and Other Stories (King Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)
Beautifully written, rich stories that take place in India.Indian writers are hot right now, but no one comes close to Desai's fine blend of realism and romance. A child of a German and an Indian, Desai probably is able to synthesize a cultural viewpoint all her own. Her unique (often satirical, always witty) eye sees much, and her writing is a bafflingly brilliant mix of poetry and economy. Not a bad story in the batch... you'll want to read them again and again!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sense of belonging and displacement,
By
This review is from: Games at Twilight and Other Stories (King Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)
This collection of stories is set in contemporary Indian cities, but the concerns are universal, reflecting experiences of urban life.When seemingly simple childish games of hide-and-seek lead to the unveiling of a child's sense of belonging and exclusion in the titular story that opens this collection, the reader begins to realize that children are not exempt from the intricacies of social politics. In the stories that follow, Desai's cast of characters who range from children, teenagers on the brink of adulthood, ordinary men and women, all grapple with their sense of place and purpose in society. The chance sighting of a couple's tender moment in the face of impending death sparks a young student's epiphany of life and mortality beyond the paper chase in `Studies in the Park', an ageing father and his doctor son struggle with their differing expectations of filial piety in `A Devoted Sun', a musician is forced to question if his contentment in his career as a mere tanpura player has been misplaced in `The Accompanist'. In the closing story `Scholar and Gypsy', Desai introduces foreign central characters, completing the collection's concern with identity and displacement in a definitive manner. An American couple, who arrive in Bombay with unequal expectations initially, sees a surprising development when the wife who has difficulty adapting to life in a foreign land, finds a sense of belonging that surpasses that of her homeland that she had been pining for. Not exactly fabulous, but readable, and tinged with pathos.
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