Junglee Girl

Rating:
Summary: Enter and Explore
Review: An acquaintance recommended this book. I read it twice and bought four copies for friends. It is thoroughly delightful and engaging. Plus, if one is so inclined, there is plenty of nourishment for the mind. The prose is robust and vital. The narrative voices are confident, assertive and self-assured. Most refreshingly, the language is unadorned and free of the mannerisms so much in vogue in today's fiction. The stories are very readable. Economy and subtlety are Kamani's stock in trade. These are dramatic multi-layered stories: We meet conniving lovers: voyeurs; girls exploring new found sexuality; servants testing the limits of social tethers; a mother fighting off her son's predatory lover; beauty salon patrons arranging for special home services; a blind cat with exotic propensities: a bride who rebels on her wedding day. The tales, nested within and influenced by the hierarchical restraints of Indian religion and nationality, impart Kamani's theme of the "sexual body." The story "The Cure" echoes Lewis Carroll and Franz Kafka: Is the ever-growing "jumbo girl" an Alice; is she the transformed Gregor Samsa; is she asserting her sexual prowess to escape from oppressive conditions; is her growth solely physical? Intriguing questions. No easy answers. Like turning corners into alleys of ambiguity and paradox. Enter and explore.

Five stars.

Rating:
Summary: dont bother
Review: Being of Indian background, I enjoy reading books on Indian-Americans. To cultivate the genre I often will purchase books by Indian authors, even though the reviews may not be great. This volume is not worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: if you like your erotica strange . . ..
Review: I was totally put off by this collection of short stories. I do read erotica and women's fiction but this falls into neither catgory. The sexual obsessiveness of the characters became slightly repulsive for me and I gave up after 4 stories. There is no beauty to this writing, no sensuality in the descriptions. All I can say is that it is crude and if you like that, go for it!