The titular story in this collection talks about the fate of 4 Belgian Malinois pups who face a different fate even though they are born to the same mother. Similar to the titular story, every story in this collection has a different outcome united only by the nefarious human emotions.


Almost all the stories have something dark and wicked lurking around the pages. Every story has some whimsical element that gave them a Gothic mood. But again, those elements vanished and we are left wondering about what we read. I particularly enjoyed Alone and Night Watch.


But I can't say the same for the other stories as they brought out uglier human faces other than feeling happy that your enemy died. I loathed Kavyamela and Maoist. The lust and the animalistic need to commit violence is not something that I enjoy but again, it is something that happens everywhere around us. Out of all 9, these two stood out being very male-centric and the most violent.


I also love how all these stories are unfiltered. For a moment, I was back in my class hearing my classmates talking in rapid-fire Malayalam. I didn't understand a word they said, but it was nice to hear them speak. And that is the success of this translation in my opinion. Jayasree Kalathil (see, our first names match) has done a wonderful job in translating without losing the essence of Malayalam.


With that all said, I think this is a collection that is not for the faint-hearted. It does come with a lot of sensitive content like animal abuse and sexual abuse but again, that is what the author is trying to achieve. It is unusual, grotesque but surprisingly well balanced.


Thank you Penguin India and Vivekisms for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.