Incantations and Other Stories

Politics & Social Sciences

Appachana, Anjana

Social Sciences

South Asia Books

Listening Now

The story of Listening Now takes place before the events of Appachana' s 2023 critically acclaimed novel, Fear and Lovely. Mallika, a child given to weaving, is convinced that the lives of the mothers around her are dull and devoid of passion and fantasizes romantic love. The truth, which lies at the heart of this story, is completely different. Her mother, Padma, her mother' s sister, Shanta, her mother' s two friends, Madhu and Anu, and her grandmother, Rukmini, all hold wrenching secrets; their complex lives and longings are beyond the child Mallika' s comprehension. Set in 1950s and 1960s, this story encompasses the lives of two generations of women in a small, New Delhi neighbourhood, where conventional lives are lived on the surface, while below, secrets seethe-- threatening to destroy everything that has been so carefully constructed to accommodate society' s structures and expectations. Rendered through six points of view, Listening Now captures the voices of these women; the spoken conversations as well as all that remains in the realm of silence. Shortlisted for the Crossword Prize when it was first published in 1998, Listening Now holds readers in its embrace from the very first line.

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE INDIA PVT.LTD.

Random House Value Publishing

The finely written story of seven women in contemporary India, each of them burdened with secrets and a heritage of guilt that they convey to their daughters, reveals the casual deceptions of family life and the power of love. A first novel. 15,000 first printing.

United States

Random House]

This first collection of fiction by Anjana Appachana provides stories that are beautifully written, the characters in them carefully and respectfully drawn. All the stories are set in India, but the people in them seem somehow displaced within their own society—a society in transition but a transition that does not come fast enough to help them. Appachana manages to capture the pervasive humor, poignancy, and self-delusion of the lives of the people she observes, but she does so without seeming to pass judgments on them. She focuses on unexpected moments, as if catching her characters off guard, lovingly exposing the fragile surfaces of respectability and convention that are so much a part of every society, but particularly strong in India, with its caste system, gender privileges, and omnipresent bureaucracies.All life seems to be prescribed; these characters bravely or cautiously confront the rules and regulations or finally give in to them resignedly—any small triumphs they achieve are never clear-cut. One of the most unusual aspects of many of the stories is the way in which they are informed by but never ruled by the author's feminism. She never lectures her readers but lets us see for ourselves: a bride caught in a hopeless marriage where she has given up all rights to any life of her own, a hapless college student who is confined to campus for minor infractions just at the time when she had an appointment for an abortion, a young girl who keeps the dark secret of her sister's rape, a woman executive and a digruntled male clerk both trapped in the intricate bureaucracy of their business firm and the roles they must play to survive there. By turns warm, gullible, arrogant and bigoted, all of these characters live their lives amid contradictions and double standards, superstitions and impossible dreams. Appachana's vision is unique, her writing superb. Readers will thank her for allowing them to enter territory that is at once distant and exotic but also familiar and recognizable.

"Incantations" and Other Stories

Rutgers University Press

This first collection of fiction by Anjana Appachana provides stories that are beautifully written, the characters in them carefully and respectfully drawn. All the stories are set in India, but the people in them seem somehow displaced within their own society—a society in transition but a transition that does not come fast enough to help them. Appachana manages to capture the pervasive humor, poignancy, and self-delusion of the lives of the people she observes, but she does so without seeming to pass judgments on them. She focuses on unexpected moments, as if catching her characters off guard, lovingly exposing the fragile surfaces of respectability and convention that are so much a part of every society, but particularly strong in India, with its caste system, gender privileges, and omnipresent bureaucracies. All life seems to be prescribed; these characters bravely or cautiously confront the rules and regulations or finally give in to them resignedly—any small triumphs they achieve are never clear-cut. One of the most unusual aspects of many of the stories is the way in which they are informed by but never ruled by the author's feminism. She never lectures her readers but lets us see for ourselves: a bride caught in a hopeless marriage where she has given up all rights to any life of her own, a hapless college student who is confined to campus for minor infractions just at the time when she had an appointment for an abortion, a young girl who keeps the dark secret of her sister's rape, a woman executive and a digruntled male clerk both trapped in the intricate bureaucracy of their business firm and the roles they must play to survive there. By turns warm, gullible, arrogant and bigoted, all of these characters live their lives amid contradictions and double standards, superstitions and impossible dreams. Appachana's vision is unique, her writing superb. Readers will thank her for allowing them to enter territory that is at once distant and exotic but also familiar and recognizable.

"Incantations" and Other Stories: An Important New Young Voice From India

Fear and Lovely

Mallika is a painfully shy young woman growing up in the heart of a close-knit, sometimes stifling New Delhi colony. Though she is surrounded by love, her life is complicated by secrets that she, her mother and her aunt work hard to keep. After suffering a trauma aged nineteen that causes her to lose three days of her memory and spiral into a deep depression, Mallika must find a way out of the abyss, back to herself and those she cares about. But she must also hide her mental illness from her community. In a narrative that unfolds elliptically from the perspectives of Mallika and the seven people closest to her, the astonishing story of these characters' intertwining lives emerges. For Mallika's family, childhood friends and the two men she loves are also hiding truths. As each gives voice to contending with their own struggles, secrets and silences shatter. As irreverent and funny as it is serious and anguished, Fear and Lovely is a tender, character-driven story of love, longing, terror and healing that will keep you turning pages, and won't let you go.

Literary

Verve Books

This beautifully written, lyrical novel of love and deception centers on the intensely personal world of seven marvelously wrought characters. Set in a brilliantly vivid India, the drama nonetheless resonates in all countries and cultures, as each of the characters tells her story and the truth behind the greatest secret at the heart of the novel is revealed Readings in Phoenix. Print ads .

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Appachana, Anjana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Appachana, Anjana

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Appachana, Anjana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Incantations and Other Stories

Listening Now

Listening Now

Listening Now

"Incantations" and Other Stories

"Incantations" and Other Stories: An Important New Young Voice From India

Fear and Lovely

Fear and Lovely

Listening Now