Cover Image: We Move

We Move

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Member Reviews

This is a debut short story collection. The characters are all intertwined together.
I did feel like I wanted more from the stories. This is often the case with short stories

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An absolutely fantastic debut. It’s short stories with a theme running through them. I am very excited about what comes next. Hopefully a novel because the characters in this book were relatable and really interesting.

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Incredible!

It's difficult to articulate how amazing this book is. I read it months ago but wanted to sit with my thoughts before reviewing and I still don't quite have the words. I'm very surprised by some of the low reviews as each story was so richly told and engrossing. It's rare to find short stories in London which aren't full of cliches or stereotypes about it's inhabitants but We Move avoided all of that.

Each character in each story felt like someone I would pass in the street or see in my local shop. Some characters felt so known to me that I couldn't help but smile as their stories unfolded.

I'd definitely recommend and would buy in hardback to keep.

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A brilliant collection of short stories from an up and coming talent. Gurnaik's writing brings alive the ordinary, everyday details of life that often go unnoticed and this is what I loved most. The collection opens with a story about a couple who find themselves left with a family friend's car on their drive, so decide to use it to do big supermarket shops and even go to Ikea – things they don't usually do as they'd have to carry everything on the bus or pay for a taxi. Such a simple pleasure, and yet so relatable and enjoyable to experience the characters' joy.

There were lots of lovely little storylines throughout that made me smile - my favourite was perhaps The Piano., about a man who puts his deceased wife's piano out on the street. As people begin to visit the piano and sit down to play, relationships are formed and friendships made, which help the widower to feel joy from the piano again as he listens and watches from his window. It's so beautiful!

The relationships feel genuine and believable, and each story leaves you wanting that little bit more.

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Honestly, when I read the description of this book, it sounded like something I would love to read, a book that I usually go for. Once I read it, I enjoyed reading it but I can’t say I loved it or that it lived up to my expectations.
This book contains 17 short stories, that are all set in the same neighbourhood in London. The stories follow different people but some have overlapping characters. Some characters and their stories intertwine with each other, too.

Through these short stories, I learned quite a lot about the British South Asian Community, their traditions, culture, and past, present and future hopes.

There were quite a few stories that I loved and got so engrossed in them, that I wished it was more to those stories and the characters. I wished that some of the characters had their books, so I can read more about them and their stories and lives. Those stories were also beautifully written, with characters so real, that it felt you are there with them, feeling what they are feeling.

However, quite a few stories were hard to read and felt without a purpose in between the more moving stories. At times I had to put the book down as I wasn’t following or understanding the purpose of those few stories. For me, they felt a bit out of place in this book.

Overall, this book is a great read if you want something short in between longer books or if you just want something easy to read. Also, I do recommend it if you want to learn more about the British South Asian communities and their lives in the UK.

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A collection of short stories; some of which were entwined. Most of the stories only held my interest to a certain extent as I felt that the way in which they were written was a let-down. There were too many words and details that felt unnecessary and they didn't add anything to the story. The writing lacked focus and meandered.

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A very enjoyable quick read - short stories, good dialogue and snippets of life of multiple generations of immigrants in West London.

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A collection of short stories that failed often to capture my interest. This was a pre release but the spelling and syntax spoilt my enjoyment.

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A set of shorts, loosely connected by characters whose stories loop together.
Johal has written stories with the South East Asian population in mind, from the immigrants to the first/second generation, detailing their experiences.
An easy read, but since the characters and stories all intertwined, I do wish that there was more detail to really enhance the shorts.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I read this really quickly, it is a fun and easy collection of short stories that is written with a really beautiful quality and contains a cast of rich characters that I loved reading about. A very enjoyable read.

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A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A collection of short stories with a vague connected thread rooting them in the British South Asian community in West London near Heathrow Airport. Like most short stories, some are stronger than others here, and I enjoyed Johal's writing style. But so many stories felt unfinished and were just too short to feel purposeful.

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