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mehvie's review against another edition
3.0
"Flowers can be made to bloom in rocks. The only condition is that one has to water the plant with one's heart's blood."
Recommended by one of my sister's favorite literature teachers- we were eager to read it. Honestly, I did not know what I was getting myself into before beginning the book. The introduction was written by Kamila Shamsie which caught my attention- felt that I was in good hands.
The main focus of the various short stories was about how females just like men have needs/desires which need to be full-filled but these needs are underestimated due to patriarchal rules and views. Her stories wanted/want to explain/explore the difficulties of women- how sometimes they even feel lonely and misunderstood.
The writing was a bit tough to understand but it was funny and sarcastic- that was the highlight of the book for me.
A few of my favorites were:
- Hell Bound
- My friend, My enemy
- In the Name of those Married Woman
- Wedding Suit
- All Alone
- Vocation
- The Survivor
I enjoyed her personal stories/essays more than the fictional ones she wrote. One interesting part which caught my eye was how she talked about how there are benefits of being a male writer, how their work was not undermined no matter what topics they wrote about.
Lifting the Veil, was a book I thought I would never pick up but glad I did, as I got to know about harsh realities of being a woman in a patriarchal society, again these realities haven't been dismissed it still goes on.
On the whole, I laughed, felt anger and sadness for the women in the stories.
Recommended by one of my sister's favorite literature teachers- we were eager to read it. Honestly, I did not know what I was getting myself into before beginning the book. The introduction was written by Kamila Shamsie which caught my attention- felt that I was in good hands.
The main focus of the various short stories was about how females just like men have needs/desires which need to be full-filled but these needs are underestimated due to patriarchal rules and views. Her stories wanted/want to explain/explore the difficulties of women- how sometimes they even feel lonely and misunderstood.
The writing was a bit tough to understand but it was funny and sarcastic- that was the highlight of the book for me.
A few of my favorites were:
- Hell Bound
- My friend, My enemy
- In the Name of those Married Woman
- Wedding Suit
- All Alone
- Vocation
- The Survivor
I enjoyed her personal stories/essays more than the fictional ones she wrote. One interesting part which caught my eye was how she talked about how there are benefits of being a male writer, how their work was not undermined no matter what topics they wrote about.
Lifting the Veil, was a book I thought I would never pick up but glad I did, as I got to know about harsh realities of being a woman in a patriarchal society, again these realities haven't been dismissed it still goes on.
On the whole, I laughed, felt anger and sadness for the women in the stories.
proseamongstthorns's review against another edition
1.0
This was such a slog. One or two stories were interesting. But the conversations felt so flat and formulaic.
spav's review against another edition
1.0
I could not find this book fun nor engaging no matter how much I tried it. It was just not for me.
biblioash01's review against another edition
4.0
Lift the veil of a "decent" society
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!
and peek inside,
remove the mask of prejudices,
and you'll get a glimpse of filth.
This filth is reality.
A rotten core coated in shimmering gold
in a hypocrite society.
Chughtai's writing is celebrated as feminist, liberal, bold, courageous, and much more. Her stories reflect the then society. She faced legal charges for writing 'obscene' contents like 'Lihaaf'. In the society where acknowledging the existence of female sexuality is indecent, men went around sexually assaulting little girls and women and got away with it. Her characters are gray i.e. Human.
A few years ago, I had read Lihaaf and didn't think about it much. Writing about homosexuality in 1942 British-India is daring. Chughtai was later thanked by the Begum who inspired this story. The real Begum got the courage to change the course of her life thanks to Chughtai. Re-reading it today, I personally feel the writing is visual with metaphors. But, I couldn't ignore how uncomfortable pedophilia and sexual abuse made me feel and I rarely find people mentioning this aspect of the story. I just wanted fictional Begum to leave the kid alone and continue her quilt-dance. But, Damn!
Anyways, this particular story collection includes both fiction and non-fiction writings. Her friendship with Manto is exciting. Her relationship with her brother is heartbreaking. And she acknowledges them when they're gone. Loss makes her see things she never bothered to notice. Maybe that's the beauty of being human. We live with prejudices and once we know something slipped away from our grip, we grow to find a different light to the same story.
I love the realism Ismat Chughtai offers through her story. I laughed and cried with her words. I got excited, disgusted, frustrated, and angry! For this lovely bumpy ride, 4 Stars!
bookishwithb's review against another edition
3.0
while I appreciate and wholeheartedly applaud the manner in which Chungtai wrote feminism politics and sexuality, I severely lowered my star rating because of my own discomfort with the position of the child in these stories.
I noticed in this book, just as I have in most adult targeted postcolonial literature, that the child is more often than not abused and traumatized before the eyes of the adult western reader. there is a reason "The Quilt" is the most popular of her short stories, and its the exact same reason [IMO] books like beasts of no nation, song for night and The Smell of Apples are so successful - the exploitation of the child for the emotional reaction of the occidental reader.
personally not a fan of reading children's trauma from their perspective for the sake of a story however meaningful it is. other than that, the other stories and the political and feminist points Chungtai made throughout the stories were 10/10 and her writing style is beautiful.
I noticed in this book, just as I have in most adult targeted postcolonial literature, that the child is more often than not abused and traumatized before the eyes of the adult western reader. there is a reason "The Quilt" is the most popular of her short stories, and its the exact same reason [IMO] books like beasts of no nation, song for night and The Smell of Apples are so successful - the exploitation of the child for the emotional reaction of the occidental reader.
personally not a fan of reading children's trauma from their perspective for the sake of a story however meaningful it is. other than that, the other stories and the political and feminist points Chungtai made throughout the stories were 10/10 and her writing style is beautiful.
almostg's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this up for the postcolonial reading group at work and it was a delight. More than once, I nearly forgot to get on or off the train because I was so lost in it.
paymeinkash's review against another edition
5.0
Ismat has a way of captivating the readers and her stories give a sense of relatability even thought one has never experienced them.