Part of Kirpalani’s A Smattering of Darkness: Short and Shorter Twisted Tales.

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A Smattering of Darkness by Alisha ‘Priti’ Kirpalani


First off, chapter 3 titled, the shortest, which are three to four line stories, deserve a lot of credit. To open and close a story in so short of a time takes a lot of skill.

The longer of the shorter stories are contained in the other chapters. Because they were still particularly short, I read a few of them. These included “Catatonia”, “Eternal Love and “the Promise”. What I enjoyed was the layering of the tales. Some of her stories are clever, almost tongue and cheek, and light, yet contain just a bit of bite. “Catatonia was like that…”so was “Eternal Love.” Granted the latter had more bite than the former. What “Eternal Love” had though was some deeper philosophical extractions from regular life, which I found particularly skillful. Take this passage:

“The party was milling with reporters chasing celebrities and wannabe celebrities chasing the reporters. It was like a karmic connection. The circle of life was buzzing through this very room.”

The stories with lesser bite provide space for the more disturbing ones, like “The Promise.” It reminded me of James Joyce’s “An Encounter” from Dubliners. More broadly, I found the one-eyed antagonist give off vibes of Souvarine from Zola’s Germinal. To me, if an author gets you thinking of Joyce or Zola in their work, they have succeeded.

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Book synopsis of A Smattering of Darkness below. Buy on Amazon by clicking this link.

“A collection of short stories of varying lengths encapsulating the grey shades of the human psyche. A riveting and deep journey into the minds of a terminally ill man, a battered wife, a mysterious teacher amongst other flawed but ever so human protagonists. Surprise endings, cheeky resolutions and thought provoking finales are characteristic of this anthology. Ranging from one line to full length, each story leaves a lingering impact that resonates long after the page is turned.”