3 Review(s)

The living, pulsating and ever-changing entity that is Kerala is best represented by its astute, critical and deeply insightful writers of the Malayalam short story, and in Feeling Kerala, a selection of some of the best and sharpest narratives from the region is now translated and curated for English readers to love and cherish. While staying true to its literary form, these stories provide a tour into the heart and soul of contemporary Kerala and aim at getting past the twentieth-century characterizations of the state, say, as defined by communist egalitarian spirit or matrilineal families. After all, Kerala is unique in more ways than one, thanks to the heightened experience of migration and transnationalism, among other things. This collection also succinctly encapsulates the varied landscapes of Kerala: the highlands, the coastal areas and the growing urban centres. They move in and out of homes and take the readers into older spaces-convents and panchayats-and the new spaces of the capital-airports and tourist resorts-as well as the world of criminals.