- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Chatto & Windus (July 15 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0701169001
- ISBN-13: 978-0701169008
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Anita Desai, in a succession of fine novels and short story collections written over almost 40 years, was one of the first writers from the sub-continent to introduce Western readers to post-Independence India. In Diamond Dust, her latest collection of stories, she expands her geographical and cultural terrain and, with her customary skill and an often sly but tender wit, homes in on the little and larger pinpricks of daily life.
In "Winterscape", a quietly haunting tale, two Punjabi village women try to make sense of the chilly world inside and outside a snowy Toronto window; in several other stories it is summer heat that becomes the catalyst. An ageing couple are stuck in a stultifying Delhi by the visit of an old Oxford friend, who trades on his charm; the family in "Five Hours to Simla", caught up in a road-raging traffic jam, are distracted by a perambulating Universe of hawkers, beggars and hungry curs; a scorcher of an evening on the Cornish coast causes a young couple nothing but misery; young Polly at summer camp in Massachusetts, has fallen under the thrall of Art in the form of her art teacher, until her Miss Jean Brodie enthusiasm takes on the disturbing shape of Miss Mabel Dodd.
Desai's wonderfully deft characterisation and telling dialogue, and the visual precision of her small-scale worlds--little absurdities of manner and mood, small acts of cruelty, intentionally crossed lines, the unheard of cries for attention--are what give her work such pleasure and humane significance. If occasionally the plot lines become too strained, this weakness is more than compensated for by the sheer affectionate regard in which she defines the frailties and expectations of her characters. --Ruth Petrie --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
"One of the best Indian novelists writing in English." - Blake Morrison
Praise for Fasting, Feasting:
"A compelling, mature work by India's finest writer in English."- Independent
Praise for In Custody:
"A remarkable piece of work...magnificent." - Salman Rushdie
"Extraordinarily rich in incident and detail."- Sebastian Faulks
Praise for Fasting, Feasting:
"A compelling, mature work by India's finest writer in English."- Independent
Praise for In Custody:
"A remarkable piece of work...magnificent." - Salman Rushdie
"Extraordinarily rich in incident and detail."- Sebastian Faulks
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Diamond Dust is full of treasures of short stories!, May 16 2007
By Sylviastel - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diamond Dust And Other Stories (Paperback)
If you don't know Anita Desai, the Indian-German writer and author, you should get to know her. She might be the next Nobel Prize winner in literature. This compilation of short stories was picked up by me at a drugstore for only a dollar. The short stories include in this selection are Royalty, Winterscape about an Canadian Indian man and his unusual parentage, Diamond Dust which is truly a tragedy about a beloved animal, Underground about a British couple traveling abroad, The Man Who Saw Himself Drown is an unusual but entertaining story, The Artist's Life, Five Hours to Simla or Faisla, Tepozlan Tomorrow, and The Rooftop Dwellers. Desai's writing style is packed with details and information about the characters, the setting, and the story involved. Desai's writing style is easy to read but you have to read closely to really appreciate her style and language use. I loved Winterscape the best so far, broke my heart in Diamond Dust, was amused by a man who saw himself drown and lived to tell about it, and I'm working through the rest but I bet she doesn't disappoint her readers.
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