We of the forsaken world … by Kiran Bhat: book review

Note: I received a free copy for independent review.

We of the forsaken world … (2020) is a collection of sixteen stories about sixteen individuals in four parts of the world, told by four different people. Under the headings Translations, Relations, Their Decadence, and Our Ascent, the four worlds—the tribe of the silt, a global village, the lake of the sacred salt, and black city—are falling apart.

These are nameless worlds, nameless places, and nameless individuals, but with familiar problems: a migrant, the chief’s first wife, a preacher, the carpenter’s daughter, the magician, the famous singer, the peanut vendor, the convenience store owner, a member of a tribe who has lost everything …

From all walks of life, all ages, all backgrounds, all circumstances—people want to change their life, their town, and themselves. The novel’s themes range from deforestation, homelessness, fame, servitude, narcissism, youth, age, and retribution. All push the boundaries of respect.

In essence, this is a novel about humanity, for better and mostly for worse. It is both linguistically simple and conceptually complex: a deeply intense book with a pure and intellectual hold on language and its geographical reach. Beautifully written, well told, pushing the boundaries of narrative logic in a delightful way.

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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