Ugh. Mambi-pambi. I selected this book by this author because a character in a book I liked was imitating his style in article she wrote. I have no idea what's supposed to be impressive about this writer. To me his stories lack any vibrancy, and some of his stories are just about his personal experiences. I think he thought too well of himself. ( )

“Bombay Stories” by Saadat Hasan Manto was described as a book from an under-appreciated giant of Indian realist literature that bridged Partition and the turmoil it had caused. If that had actually been the case, then the stories would have been fascinating. As it is, Manto's life seemed ripe for storytelling, writing scripts for the fledgling Bombay movie scene, moving to Lahore as Partition set in finding himself a non-Muslim minority, being tried for obscenity ad nauseum until drinking himself to death.

There's a story there. Unfortunately, Manto's works don't really engage, they are a toothless John Fante. In fact, my biggest gripe with the story is that, barring the different names, I couldn't have distinguished a Fante story from a Manto one, and that isn't really a compliment because Fante is over-inflated crap. Bombay doesn't enter the equation, they are essentially character pieces, focusing almost exclusively on prostitutes. Place and setting and description are lacking, they really do read like a film script.

Manto's fascination with prostitutes is a bit over-the-top, particularly as Manto himself appears asa character in most of his stories, but tellingly, he is the only male character that only wants to "talk" with the prostitutes with which he surrounds himself. It lends a sense of dishonesty and a lack of candor, as if he was willing to push the envelope a tad but wanted to keep himself undirtied. At a certain point, as I was reading a story and said to myself "Alright, this is Fantye, but at least there is none of that “Reefer Madness bullshit" and the very next paragraph we are shown that the crazy, crazy prostitute that beats up the johns is a big fan of the joints. At that point I wondered if Manto was just cribbing Ask The Dust.

So, yeah, not for me. If there are indeed Indo-Pakistani authors who seriously tackle the Partition argument, I'd love to read them, but Manto is toothless and repentant. ( )