After-Taste of a Half Lived Life (Barnali Roy)

The book is a collection of nine short stories set in contemporary India. The stories explore family dynamics, different types of relationships within families, often with a strong woman in the centre. The setting is urban India, with the protagonists belonging to the "upper middle class". Some stories challenge societal norms, some show a different aspect of a relationship and some show how the mundane can also be special. One common theme in all stories, is the desire to move forward - a very human attempt to leave things behind if they are not working, and take steps into an uncertain future by changing things and taking charge. So each story ends with hope - for a better tomorrow, a brighter future because the person at the centre of the story decides to take things in their hands and own their destiny.

On the flip side, the characters in the stories are simple and lack complexity or depth. All stories have similar settings and protagonists, who could actually belong to the same extended family. The descriptions are sufficient for readers of the same background (Indian, upper middle class) to understand the nuance, but anyone outside of this societal set up, may struggle with decoding the contours of relationships. The writing is straight forward and simple and so are the story lines, hence not much is demanded of the reader in terms of effort or investment. 

I did not understand why Roy decided to call the "Aftertaste of a Half Lived Life". Roy does not explain this in the Author's Note and neither is this the name of one of the short stories (as is usually the case with such collections). The title led me to expect stories that end with sadness and melancholy, but that is not the case!

It is an easy read and one where you can identify characters with people in your life or perhaps even yourself!