Tldr; “Within” is a series of 30 short stories. The stories vary in quality but I liked reading about the diversity of the South Asian experience.

In “Within,” Aditi Wardhan Singh tells 30 short stories, each one featuring a different South Asian woman as a protagonist.

I appreciated how the stories tackled a variety of heavy topics such as homophobia, abuse, and infidelity. By having diversity in the protagonists of each story, Singh was able to avoid some of the common South Asian tropes in literature. Families could be toxic or supportive; characters could be immigrants or second generation Americans; characters could be Hindu or Muslim.

The stories vary in both length and quality; some stories read like poetry, while others actually have a plot. I found some stories more engaging than others. Many of the stories are too short to broach such heavy topics, which resulted in me not being able to connect with the characters. The stories I found most compelling were ones to which I could relate, such as the challenges of being an American-born South Asian and the movement to normalize periods in South Asian communities.

Overall, I loved the diverse South Asian representation in this book but found the actual stories to vary in quality.

I'll be honest. I requested this book from NetGalley on a whim. I normally am not a fan of short stories or poetry but the description really piqued my interest. I am very glad that I gave in to the impulse because I really enjoyed this book. I have always been interested in learning about other cultures and this book was informational without being an information dump.

One of the things I like most was that the stories were of different lengths. Some were a quick read while others you had time with. I also liked that the stories were a bit random. That all the sadder stories weren't lumped together. There were some stories that I liked for than others. Confidence and Acceptance were my absolute favorites. Honestly, though with Acceptance, I wish is was a full book instead of a snippet because it was really beautiful.

Many of these stories felt so real. Even though there is no way I could fully understand certain experiences, the author wrote in a way where I still felt for these characters despite my brief time with them. There are times when I wanted to cry and some when I laughed.

Honestly, I apologize for my review being so short but I really feel that these stories need to be experienced. It's definitely worth the read and the buy. You will not regret it.

#bookreview #rant

Within - Short Stories for the Evolving Multicultural Woman by Aditi Wardhan Singh is a collection of 30 short stories. According to the blurb, these stories are told from a desi perspective. The desi tone is set right from the enchanting cover and the fonts in the titles.
Unfortunately, the desi effect spills over to the writing too. In fact, the vocabulary is as desi, or even more desi than the perspective itself.

What I liked –
The cover–is soothing and appealing.
The story titles–are apt to the stories. Singh has named each story after an emotion, and the stories convey the same.
Almost all the protagonists are women.

What did not work for me -
Out of the 30 stories, 21 stories garnered 2 stars.
Innocence, Magic, Confidence, Perfection, and Compassion–these stories lingered around 2.25 stars.
Only Pride, Frustration, Dignity, and Acceptance reached 2.5 stars.

Overall, the stories are lacking in terms of content. Most of them are too short and finish even before the story has sunk in. And the poor writing style adds to the discomfort.

The colloquial narration with an overdose of Hindi sentences, and a literal translation from Hindi to English further dampened my reading pleasure.

Sharing a few examples from different stories –
“Toh this day is not just yours, na.”—I was flustered with so many sentences ending with ‘na.’
“I gotta go. Please email me the recipe. Yeh bol rahe the he wants to have those during the weekend.”
“Baba and I are solid.”—these lines are spoken by a woman whose daughter is about to get married. I couldn’t picture a woman that age speaking in this manner.

There is minimal ‘show don’t tell.’

I couldn’t feel for any of the characters. I know it’s difficult to form deeper bonds with characters in short stories, but here, I couldn’t find it in me to care for any of the characters. Forget caring, I can’t even recollect a single name!

I found it difficult to overlook the glaring editing errors too. The tenses jump like a toad in a thunderstorm. But that's not all! Apart from the jump in tenses, there are a lot of structuring issues. E.g., in Kindness, the daughter is 8-years-old when the story starts. Hardly 15 sentences later, she is mentioned as 6-years-old.

Apologies if this review feels like a rant, but trust me I am not ranting. I am being honest and upfront in sharing my experience. No book is loved by all readers, and I am sure, this book will find its fair share of love and appreciation.

Within, did not work for me.

Rating - 2.1/5

Within - the collection of stories felt like one big heartfelt hug!! Each story deal with a certain situation that we all might have come across at some point in our lives. Aditi turned those stories to say a loveable message. Its more special to me as I could relate to many of these stories as an Indo-American myself. Binged them in a day, no regrets, only hearts!!

Many thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the reader’s copy.

This book felt like a hot cup of tea. It was so refreshing to read diverse stories that were not watered down for the audience. It was authentic and tender.

One of my favourite tender moments was “But he will never feel what she does. Because he never felt what she did.”

Please pick this book up to read! 4 stars

Thank you for this beautiful ARC in return for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Raising World Chjildren LLC for presenting me with an ARC of this book in exchange of a honest review.

WITHIN is a must pick-up for all Desi readers. It shines light on so many struggles and snippets from the daily lives of multicultural women.

I initially this wouldn't be as interesting as a normal novel as I thought it would be similar to an anthology, but boy, I was so wrong. WITHIN, as the author states, is a collection of various short stories. Yes, short as in actually short and not 8-10 pages long. The chapters vary from 2 pages to 6 pages and are so interesting to read through. I was hooked into the lives of all these women from the point I laid my eyes on this gorgeous cover.

I especially loved how the book handles trauma, prejudice and stereotypes while also incorporating the Indian culture into it. It also sets a perfect vibe so you're immediately hooked no matter where you're starting from. It's also perfect for tea-time reading since the chapters are very short but meaningful.

WITHIN shows us an insight of all the things women go through via their routines, be it anything. As a person of South Asian descent, this really filled my heart and I'd definitely read anything that's similar to this. This is an amazing book and I'd like everyone to pick this up and share some love!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Within is an amalgamation of short stories that sheds light on the various experiences of Desi women. I appreciated Wardhan Singh's approach on enveloping the stories with the culture and traditions of India. Many of the stories give you a chance to stop and reflect, with a moral that encourages the reader to consider their own journey. The cover is simple yet gorgeous and the content within will truly take you through a myriad of emotions that will stay with you long after you close the final page. A true celebration of a women!

Whenever people ask me about why I enjoy reading, I always say I get to explore new places, new times, new lives, however, this book was different because it felt like coming home. I don't often read short stories, something about them leaves me unsatisfied more often than not, but I think short stories were exactly the right medium for this kind of book. I don't read many books featuring Desi people because so often, they are written by people of other cultures who do it wrong, but everything about these stories was familiar and comforting, from the casual mix of Hindi and English, to the classically Desi approach to topics like love, marriage, money, family, vocation, and so much more. As someone who emigrated from India as a child, this book was so relatable and made me think back to my own childhood. For other stories, it was like opening a window to see potential futures. While people of other cultures can definitely read and enjoy these stories to appreciate Indian culture, as a Desi woman, reading these stories felt like being seen and understood for the first time in such a long time. Which brings me to the second part of my review, the focus on female voices and female stories. I cannot say how much I enjoyed reading about women and their lives and their ideas because so often, female voices are silenced, and Desi female voices even more so. I especially loved the queer voices that were included in the stories, because in Indian culture, so often, they just aren't talked about or acknowledged. In this book, they were given their own place to tell their stories, and what beautiful stories they were - authentic, heart-wrenching, and yet stories that needed to be told.

Whether you're looking for casual stories to entertain you for a short while, or looking for a book to find yourself within or just exploring a culture that may not be your own, these stories have something for everyone. "Within" has the subtitle of 'Short Stories for the Evolving Multicultural Woman' and I truly think it lives up to its name.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. It was well written with each story being compelling and hard to put down and allcontaining well developed characters. Each story was different and so I was engaged the whole way through the book. I read it really quickly