White Dancing Elephants

August 20, 2018
Bhuvaneswar tackles the intricate interactions of race, class, and sexuality in this enticing debut. Each narrator is drawn into conflict with a character from an opposing segment of society: a South Asian professor conducts an affair with the white husband of her terminally ill, Korean-American friend in “Talinda”; a black psychoanalyst’s feelings for her “slovenly” Indian patient alternate between lust and “revulsion” in “A Shaken Chair”; and a scholarship student is raped by a WASPy classmate after he helps her cheat on an exam in “Orange Popsicles.” The political charge of each relationship is reinforced by Bhuvaneswar’s articulation of the simmering drama created by them. Even as her narrators vary in status and perspective, many share the “hunger to have a child,” an instinct Bhuvaneswar describes as “primordial.” This “baby hunger” proves a source of tremendous anxiety for her characters, as exemplified in the collection’s title story, in which a young woman addresses her miscarriage: “Just two clear stains, understated, as quiet and undemanding as your whole life had been; only enough blood for me to know.” Though a few stories don’t feel as developed as others, the collection is sharp and provocative, and Bhuvaneswar’s voice rings true.

October 1, 2018

Debut Winner of the Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize, this volume proves its worth from the start with an affecting piece about a woman wandering about London, having just lost the baby she was carrying. She's barely able to focus (people keep asking whether she is all right), yet she can imagine the life her child might have led. From exploited orphans in India and slaves in Renaissance Portugal to Jagatishwaran ("lord of worlds"), trapped in a corner room by mental illness and parental concern but looking outward, and a young boy wondering of his vanished sister "Where did go? But also: How do I bear it, that she left for good?" even as he reads the fable of a woman bargaining with Death over the husband he sent her, imagination is key. Yet the stories remain firmly grounded in physical detail, boldly exploring moments of oppression and violence, and Bhuvaneswar's persuasive, readable style will keep readers absorbed. VERDICT A strong collection from a writer on the rise.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2018
The 17 stories in this debut collection take place around the world, exploring queer and interracial love, extramarital affairs, and grief over the disappearances of loved ones.The book provocatively probes the aftermath--the aftermath of death, of grim diagnoses, of abandonment, of monumental errors in judgment. Passages jump back and forth in time to dissect how the consequences of a fraught event shape and unravel the lives of innocent casualties. In the searing title story, which references the Buddha's birth, the narrator wanders around London while mourning her recent miscarriage. "I lie down now and feel the weight of it on me, a white dancing elephant that I can see with my eyes closed, airy and Disney in one dream, bellowing despair and showing tusks in the other." In the evocative "Talinda," among the strongest in the collection, a South Asian scholar named Narika attempts to justify her affair and pregnancy with her terminally ill best friend's husband, George. "By thinking of Talinda as always being high above me, I could sometimes think of her as being untouched by what I had been doing with George. Like she had too much pride to be hurt by it. Like she had better things to do." In the electric "A Shaker Chair," Sylvia, a "polished, calm, perfect" biracial therapist, is both troubled by and obsessed with her newest client, the "slovenly" Maya. "Revulsion is what she makes me feel," Sylvia confesses to a former supervisor. "The Bang Bang" incisively portrays the transformation of a crotchety father named Millind, whose "immigration history was spotted with failures," into an acclaimed poet and "great man" at the same time his only son disappears. Millind's daughter bears witness, though bitterly, to his newfound fame and resents his apathy toward her missing brother. "As if, because our father had found joy, my brother and his quiet sadness had to become invisible."An exuberant collection.

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September 15, 2018
Bhuvaneswar's compelling stories portray diverse characters grappling with shifts in their lives, the complications of their actions, and the impacts of others. Conflicts play out in various circumstances?strained relationships, failing health, regret?and characters are often poised at crossroads. In Talinda, both she and her friend Narika react to Talinda's diagnosis of terminal cancer as the illness complicates the already off-balance power dynamic between the two, a situation further blurred by Narika's affair with Talinda's husband. Other characters find themselves conflicted over their search for connection amidst life's expectations and unexpected predicaments. In Adristakama, an American travels to India to stop her ex-lover from entering an arraigned marriage; the haunting, contemplative title tale is about a woman in the aftermath of a miscarriage. Orange Popsicles follows a young college student crumbling under the pressure of her two worlds, then navigating the after-effects of a horrifying attack. Internal ruminations run deep, and Bhuvaneswar's 17 tales give voice to a variety of characters, sorrows, and experiences, constituting a striking collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)