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Transit For Beginners
‘Rheea Mukherjee takes her own characters by surprise. The choices they make lead to the most extreme of outcomes, forcing them to scrutinize their own lives ruthlessly. Desires surface, flaws become starker, and human instincts are aroused from dormancy. The reader is left breathless, and strangely satisfied at the lack of easy closure and convenient solutions.’ – Arunava Sinha
‘A stunning collection…evocative, nuanced, and assured’ – Prajwal Parajuly
The blurring of truth and the ready acceptance of lies as two strangers meet in Changi International Airport. A teenager living with her disabled mother discovers her own sexuality and ambition in the unlikeliest way. A girl tells us of her first love, and why it will never see a future. The neglected housewife of an artist dishes out more than just delicious food to feel loved. A man battles against his own moral code and his hunger for life. Just a few of the stories that reexamine lives in South East Asia and allow bizarre urban hallucinations to float into the most mundane moments.
‘A stunning collection…evocative, nuanced, and assured’ – Prajwal Parajuly
The blurring of truth and the ready acceptance of lies as two strangers meet in Changi International Airport. A teenager living with her disabled mother discovers her own sexuality and ambition in the unlikeliest way. A girl tells us of her first love, and why it will never see a future. The neglected housewife of an artist dishes out more than just delicious food to feel loved. A man battles against his own moral code and his hunger for life. Just a few of the stories that reexamine lives in South East Asia and allow bizarre urban hallucinations to float into the most mundane moments.
168 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2016
84 people want to read
About the author
Rheea Mukherjee
5 books67 followersRheea Mukherjee's work has been featured in Scroll.in, Huffington Post, Chicago Review Of Books, Electric Literature, Southern Humanities Review, Cleaver Magazine, Out of Print, and Bengal Lights, among others.
Her debut novel The Body Myth is forthcoming in the U.S (February 2019) by Unnamed Press. Her previous fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart and was a semi-finalist for the Black Lawrence Press award. She co-founded Bangalore Writers Workshop in 2012 and currently co-runs Write Leela Write, a Design and Content Laboratory in Bangalore. Rheea Holds an MFA from California College of the Arts. She is represented by Stacy Testa from Writers House.
www.rheeamukherjee.com
Pre-Order THE BODY MYTH: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Myth-Rhee...
TRANSIT FOR BEGINNERS: Wide:https://kitaabstore.arcadier.io/User/...
Her debut novel The Body Myth is forthcoming in the U.S (February 2019) by Unnamed Press. Her previous fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart and was a semi-finalist for the Black Lawrence Press award. She co-founded Bangalore Writers Workshop in 2012 and currently co-runs Write Leela Write, a Design and Content Laboratory in Bangalore. Rheea Holds an MFA from California College of the Arts. She is represented by Stacy Testa from Writers House.
www.rheeamukherjee.com
Pre-Order THE BODY MYTH: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Myth-Rhee...
TRANSIT FOR BEGINNERS: Wide:https://kitaabstore.arcadier.io/User/...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 1, 2016
First published in The New Indian Express
Literary fiction is tough to write, and tough to get published. Getting a first book out can take years—years in which several stories are placed in different literary journals and rejection letters are collected for volume length work almost as a ritual. This means that a first book, when its time comes, more often than not contains writing done during a considerable period of time, all through which the writer was also honing her craft.
Rheea Mukherjee’s debut collection of stories ‘Transit for Beginners’ (Kitaab, Singapore) seems to exemplify the above. In that lie both its refreshing value and its minor shortcomings. One can see the gradual development of a talented writer in the book: the other side is the variance in quality within the fifteen stories in the collection. This reviewer pondered whether the title itself was a private joke: a here-to-stay writer emphasizing her transition from early beginnings.
That is unlikely, though. For ‘Transit for Beginners’ is also the title of one of the stories in the collection, perhaps its strongest. At Changi Airport, a woman in her early twenties and a slightly older man decide to spend the hours before their next flights together. The woman, who is also the narrator, isn’t the most politically correct person. In the beginning of the story, she goes into the airport bathroom to freshen up. Discretely trying to wash her armpits, she feels comfortable seeing that other women are also making full use of the bathroom. The exact description is revealing: “Luckily for me there were a bunch of Bangladeshi and Indian women who were using the bathroom as some sort of hostel. By this measure, I looked far more sophisticated.” Are we to assume that those women are using the bathroom as a hostel because they are Indian / Bangladeshi? If yes, the narrator’s assumption of sophistication derives from something over and above this identity – it is class. But with the man, Rudra, who is from the same class, greater sophistication cannot be assumed. Thus starts a game of one-upmanship, which soon turns into banter. Going further, banter comes to resemble an authentic human connection with some erotic potential. But the end changes everything, and the woman emerges the worse from the transitory encounter.
One of the strength of Mukherjee’s collection is how comfortably it traverses a wide spectrum of that grand edifice called the Indian middle class. ‘Transit for Beginners’ is about globe-trotting yuppies, ‘Sweetie’ is about a meager household where sexual abuse takes place, ‘Reckless’ is about the strenuous love relationship of an entry-level IT professional, ‘Hungry’ is about the moral conundrums of a steward at a shady hotel, and so on. There are also some stories like ‘The Rectification Still’ and ‘A Larger Design’ that are focalized on characters’ personal losses, and do not need to rely on the class dimension.
Overall, ‘Transit for Beginners’ signals the arrival of a promising new voice in the Indian scene.
Literary fiction is tough to write, and tough to get published. Getting a first book out can take years—years in which several stories are placed in different literary journals and rejection letters are collected for volume length work almost as a ritual. This means that a first book, when its time comes, more often than not contains writing done during a considerable period of time, all through which the writer was also honing her craft.
Rheea Mukherjee’s debut collection of stories ‘Transit for Beginners’ (Kitaab, Singapore) seems to exemplify the above. In that lie both its refreshing value and its minor shortcomings. One can see the gradual development of a talented writer in the book: the other side is the variance in quality within the fifteen stories in the collection. This reviewer pondered whether the title itself was a private joke: a here-to-stay writer emphasizing her transition from early beginnings.
That is unlikely, though. For ‘Transit for Beginners’ is also the title of one of the stories in the collection, perhaps its strongest. At Changi Airport, a woman in her early twenties and a slightly older man decide to spend the hours before their next flights together. The woman, who is also the narrator, isn’t the most politically correct person. In the beginning of the story, she goes into the airport bathroom to freshen up. Discretely trying to wash her armpits, she feels comfortable seeing that other women are also making full use of the bathroom. The exact description is revealing: “Luckily for me there were a bunch of Bangladeshi and Indian women who were using the bathroom as some sort of hostel. By this measure, I looked far more sophisticated.” Are we to assume that those women are using the bathroom as a hostel because they are Indian / Bangladeshi? If yes, the narrator’s assumption of sophistication derives from something over and above this identity – it is class. But with the man, Rudra, who is from the same class, greater sophistication cannot be assumed. Thus starts a game of one-upmanship, which soon turns into banter. Going further, banter comes to resemble an authentic human connection with some erotic potential. But the end changes everything, and the woman emerges the worse from the transitory encounter.
One of the strength of Mukherjee’s collection is how comfortably it traverses a wide spectrum of that grand edifice called the Indian middle class. ‘Transit for Beginners’ is about globe-trotting yuppies, ‘Sweetie’ is about a meager household where sexual abuse takes place, ‘Reckless’ is about the strenuous love relationship of an entry-level IT professional, ‘Hungry’ is about the moral conundrums of a steward at a shady hotel, and so on. There are also some stories like ‘The Rectification Still’ and ‘A Larger Design’ that are focalized on characters’ personal losses, and do not need to rely on the class dimension.
Overall, ‘Transit for Beginners’ signals the arrival of a promising new voice in the Indian scene.
December 21, 2016
I usually let several books steep at once. I need to have many, simultaneously dog-eared, because I have to hop. I get restless. I always want more quality sensory input per unit of time. Not with this one. The characters, the stories, each so vivid, humanly funny or stark, with just the right amount of failing to be palpable - relegated all the other books I'd normally hop back-and-forth between, back to their shelves. If you're looking for a clear and new lens to look at people and stories through, Transit for Beginners is the book you've been waiting to pick up.
December 20, 2016
The characters in Rheea's stories are real. They are flawed, as all of us are, and that makes you feel an empathy with them. They tend to stay with you long after you're finished reading them. The imagery in some of the stories is so effective that I've found myself recalling some characters/situations months after I read them -- and in one case, I was quite convinced that I had been in a particular scene myself, in real life.
April 30, 2016
Please visit http://guptakaushal.blogspot.in/2016/... to read the complete review of the book.
The book, Transit For Beginners stories, consists of 15 short stories with the following titles, Unspeakable, Hungry, Transit for Beginners, Sweetie, Reckless, Wedding Guests, A Good Hostess, A Good Arrangement, A Larger Design, The Reflection Still, Cheat Day, Cigarettes for Maya, Doldrums, Sway, Keeping Pace. All of these stories, talk about a topic that we usually don't speak about and letting them stay with us, not for betterment though. The stories are written in an interesting manner which keeps the reader's mind occupied with the characters. Almost all the characters of the book display determination as their attribute, trying to reach a solution, human emotions are given priority without anything being overdone and there is detailing even of the minor settings which make these stories impressive. At some places, the narration appeared repetitive to me but this may have been done deliberately to re-emphasize the situation which justifies the same.
The book, Transit For Beginners stories, consists of 15 short stories with the following titles, Unspeakable, Hungry, Transit for Beginners, Sweetie, Reckless, Wedding Guests, A Good Hostess, A Good Arrangement, A Larger Design, The Reflection Still, Cheat Day, Cigarettes for Maya, Doldrums, Sway, Keeping Pace. All of these stories, talk about a topic that we usually don't speak about and letting them stay with us, not for betterment though. The stories are written in an interesting manner which keeps the reader's mind occupied with the characters. Almost all the characters of the book display determination as their attribute, trying to reach a solution, human emotions are given priority without anything being overdone and there is detailing even of the minor settings which make these stories impressive. At some places, the narration appeared repetitive to me but this may have been done deliberately to re-emphasize the situation which justifies the same.
October 5, 2016
Stories that nudge you to test boundaries, take a peek beyond the staid 'normal' faces which people present to the world, and wonder at the mysteries locked away within the people around us. Why would a beloved young daughter jump out of the window of a speeding bus? Except that her mother and aunts had jumped from rooftops before her?
Shalini, whose brother's tragic death 'manifested as a reckless unforgiving pain that would tear her body with its violent claws' , while she tries to put up a brave face before the world, and the demands of her job.
In this collection of sensitive and skillfully crafted short stories,Mukherjee creates characters who face difficult, painful choices, making them come to terms with their own flaws and inner strengths. Uneasy questions arise. These stories disturb you just enough to halt complacency from settling in.
Read this if pat, convenient resolutions leave you dissatisfied. Read these stories to probe beyond the superficial masks of everyday Indian lives
Shalini, whose brother's tragic death 'manifested as a reckless unforgiving pain that would tear her body with its violent claws' , while she tries to put up a brave face before the world, and the demands of her job.
In this collection of sensitive and skillfully crafted short stories,Mukherjee creates characters who face difficult, painful choices, making them come to terms with their own flaws and inner strengths. Uneasy questions arise. These stories disturb you just enough to halt complacency from settling in.
Read this if pat, convenient resolutions leave you dissatisfied. Read these stories to probe beyond the superficial masks of everyday Indian lives
April 17, 2019
The debut short story collection by Rhea Mukherjee is one of those books that introduces you to a set of characters you have seen so many times but you wished you’d meet them somewhere. Before her first novel The Body Myth comes out in India, I think it is a good introduction to her brilliant writing.
The collection starts off with a story of an inexpressible affection that was intricately bound with the childhood memories of a woman who tries to recreate a glimpse of that moment by having the same snacks they used to have then. The awkwardness during their being alone is told in a melancholy, accepting tone. And it is the way the narrator remembers that made me emotional.
Next up, ‘Hungry’ is a light-hearted story that urges you to take the leap for love. Then the title story makes a remarkable impression by telling a story of two strangers meeting in an airport and telling lies to each other. The class consciousness, the judgemental remarks, the internal power game between them bordering on flirting are quite exciting to read. ‘Sweetie’ is a story that finally urges the girl to attack the lurking abuser and still manages to keep the family going. Her victory of being able to defend herself without making a scene begins her courageous battle ahead.’Wedding Guests’ is probably the longest story in the book and it is a very empathetic study of a deeply hurt parents trying to make peace with his son’s chosen life partner, his lifestyle. 'A Larger Design' is a strange story about the urge to kill oneself. Insanity and negative thoughts are examined closely in here.
Only hope is that the bleakness is temporary, that the line of normalcy blurring “with the hesitation in her daughter’s smile” is temporary.
In ‘A Good Hostess’, the wife tries to induce love and affection in her husband (who is a painter) by giving him small doses of sleeping pills. It reminded me of the movie ‘Phantom Thread’, but unlike there, the effect of pills diminishes with time and oneday the husband catches an inspiration and instead of falling asleep on her arms, he starts drawing, and the wife, exhausted after a long day of cooking and serving, accepts her defeat.
Grief is a common theme flowing in each story, sometimes in thin rivulets, sometimes in volcanic outbursts. The characters are trying to cope up with the absence and during adjusting themselves in their new realities, the vulnerabilities trickles out. The first story 'Unspeakable' is about the grief of never being able to relive the spontaneity of childhood love, 'Sweetie' is about a mother and daughter grieving about a son and brother, 'Reckless' is about a girl getting over the loss of her brother and then her lover, 'The rectification Still' is about the loss of a friend, 'Sway' is again about the loss of a son. Grief is a monster to many characters of the book.
Yet they find a way to cope, sometimes by going to zumba classes, sometimes by crying in mother’s arms. I think it is a fine collection of stories that I’d easily recommend to someone looking for good stories with a lot of heart and courage.
The collection starts off with a story of an inexpressible affection that was intricately bound with the childhood memories of a woman who tries to recreate a glimpse of that moment by having the same snacks they used to have then. The awkwardness during their being alone is told in a melancholy, accepting tone. And it is the way the narrator remembers that made me emotional.
Next up, ‘Hungry’ is a light-hearted story that urges you to take the leap for love. Then the title story makes a remarkable impression by telling a story of two strangers meeting in an airport and telling lies to each other. The class consciousness, the judgemental remarks, the internal power game between them bordering on flirting are quite exciting to read. ‘Sweetie’ is a story that finally urges the girl to attack the lurking abuser and still manages to keep the family going. Her victory of being able to defend herself without making a scene begins her courageous battle ahead.’Wedding Guests’ is probably the longest story in the book and it is a very empathetic study of a deeply hurt parents trying to make peace with his son’s chosen life partner, his lifestyle. 'A Larger Design' is a strange story about the urge to kill oneself. Insanity and negative thoughts are examined closely in here.
Insanity, she thought, although expansive and potet, could be kept in check. It could be wrapped, stuffed, pushed and coddled into submission.[...]Two sisters lost from jumping from the buildings and the other to poisoning herself with a generic brand of rat poison.
Only hope is that the bleakness is temporary, that the line of normalcy blurring “with the hesitation in her daughter’s smile” is temporary.
In ‘A Good Hostess’, the wife tries to induce love and affection in her husband (who is a painter) by giving him small doses of sleeping pills. It reminded me of the movie ‘Phantom Thread’, but unlike there, the effect of pills diminishes with time and oneday the husband catches an inspiration and instead of falling asleep on her arms, he starts drawing, and the wife, exhausted after a long day of cooking and serving, accepts her defeat.
Grief is a common theme flowing in each story, sometimes in thin rivulets, sometimes in volcanic outbursts. The characters are trying to cope up with the absence and during adjusting themselves in their new realities, the vulnerabilities trickles out. The first story 'Unspeakable' is about the grief of never being able to relive the spontaneity of childhood love, 'Sweetie' is about a mother and daughter grieving about a son and brother, 'Reckless' is about a girl getting over the loss of her brother and then her lover, 'The rectification Still' is about the loss of a friend, 'Sway' is again about the loss of a son. Grief is a monster to many characters of the book.
The monster has unfurled from her insides -- like a giant wave that looks grand, yet harmless, but knocks you down just the same.
Yet they find a way to cope, sometimes by going to zumba classes, sometimes by crying in mother’s arms. I think it is a fine collection of stories that I’d easily recommend to someone looking for good stories with a lot of heart and courage.
March 23, 2019
Loved the variety of characters and scenarios the stories explore. Human beings can be a complicated lot and the short stories cover various sides of people and topics we tend to shy away from or keep under wraps. We need more of writing like this to make talking about these things easier and more mainstream.
June 11, 2017
Very enjoyable and insightful. Mukherjee' characters breathe fire.
August 15, 2016
I have mentioned this book in my blog post here:
https://michellewendydcosta.wordpress...
https://michellewendydcosta.wordpress...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews