The collection will delight literary theorists, as it counterbalances Pakistani women’s struggles with their individual quest for happiness and freedom. This is the very grist of post-colonial and feminist dialectics.
The collection will also please readers. Particularly noteworthy are Feryal Ali Gauhar’s delicate rendering of the loss of cultural moorings in one man’s life, Fahmida Riaz’s tale of a handicapped girl, Roshni Rustomji’s bracing notes from wars around the world, Muneeza’s leisurely unfolding of family memories, Soriah Kamal’s story of awkward cross-cultural sexual desire and Hima Raza’s confident, experimental meditation on relationships. Kamila Shamsie’s writing also stands out as light, deft.
Any such collection risks highlighting cliched ‘womanly’ sensibilities at the expense of good literature. This is that rare collection of good fiction by writers who happen to be women from Pakistan.
