Short story collections are always hard to review because so much depends on the individual stories themselves. In this one, for example, I wasn’t blown away by the first couple of stories but then the rest of the collection was spectacular and totally made up for it.

Several themes run through the stories here, indicated by the title which is also one of the stories. These is much emphasis on corporeality, both through sexuality and just the general “feeling” of being in a body. “The Laughter Artist,” for example, is narrated by someone who prides herself on all the laughs she has created but is also struggling to overcome the grief of her divorce. Other stories take on magical elements, like Earthly Pleasures, one of my personal favorites. Most of the stories have domestic settings and are best described as character-driven.

To me, the stories in this collection combined some of Jhumpa Lahiri’s insights on being Indian/Indian-American, with Otessa Moshfegh’s dark humor, and Haruki Murakami’s meditations on grief and loneliness mixed with magical realism. Swamy’s prose is beautiful and sparse in all the right places. Reading this short collection was an enjoyable journey, and I can’t wait to read more of her writing.

4.5 stars rounded up

Thanks for Algonquin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: loss of a child; natural disaster; infidelity; divorce