Nisha da Cunha

A collection of short stories that I was tempted to put down part way through the first story. It was just too hard to figure out. I stuck with it despite challenges from the next couple as well. In the end, though I’m not sure that I’ll be a “fan,” there is something attractive about her voice. That said, I need to balance it with this: the writer began her career, it appears, after retiring as a teacher of English. Sadly, her English could be a little better (there are occasional word choices that are not simply odd but flat wrong and some syntax problems as well; a good editor would have corrected both); second point: I got the distinct impression in a number of stories that she was experimenting with different voices, trying different styles of storytelling. Too much experimentation for my taste. When she focuses on the stories and doesn’t play games with style, she’s a good writer. Her subjects generally riff on things like the passage of time, loss, loneliness, and anguish. She can be good at nostalgia without being soppy and at poignance. She also tends to focus on relationships, whether family or otherwise, and that can (and does) become repetitive. Not great—too many stories just didn’t work--but the stories that “worked” made the reading worthwhile.… (meer)