Not So Stories

“Because every day of freedom is a small act of victory against those who would rob you of it.”

Not So Stories is a response to Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling that I confess I have never read, but according to the blurb, it’s a book rooted in British colonialism. Even without knowing this information, it is clear that the stories in Not So Stories are all against the different aspects of colonialism, explotiation and racism. While I sometimes felt like I lacked context for the stories, I still enjoyed reading them.

I’m not going to write an individual review for every story, but I’m going to list my favourites from the collection:

🐈 queen by joseph e. cole (this is the one the quote I started with is from)

🐈 best beloved by wayne santos

🐈 saṃsāra by georgina kamsika 

🐈 the cat who walked by herself by achala upendran 

🐈 how the simurgh won her tail by ali nouraei

🐈 how the camel got her paid time off by paul krueger

My rating: 🐪🐪🐪🐪/5.

I’ll start by saying that this collection of short stories is not a children’s book, it’s not designed to be read as an alternative bedtime story collection. I do think that some of the stories could be read to children, and certainly, the messages they impart are worth sharing, but adults and young adults can read this collection also, and should.

These stories are hugely varied, some taking the source material of the Just So Stories and producing very similar sounding stories (addressing the reader as ‘best beloved’ and so forth) while others have different styles, some taking place in the modern day. It’s a collection inspired by the original matter, but it goes vastly beyond anything you might imagine from the cover and initial blurb.

One description of the book puts it best “bringing together new and established writers of colour from around the world to take the Just So Stories back, to interrogate, challenge, and celebrate their legacy.” This is exactly what this collection does.

There were some stories that stood out for me, I particularly enjoyed the reworking of The Cat Who Walked by Himself (now The Cat who walked by Herself) and also How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off both of which were excellent reworkings of original Kipling Stories that I can just about remember from childhood.

I’ve read two collections of short stories from Rebellion Publishing now, first Infinity Wars and now Not So Stories and I have been thoroughly impressed by both. From the authors selected to write to the way the stories are collated both are exceptional. My problem with collections like this is often that I don’t feel there is enough depth so I get easily bored, not the case with Not So Stories.

One author who stuck out to me as a familiar name was Jeannette Ng who, some readers may recall, wrote Under the Pendulum Sun which was a book I enjoyed (even though parts of it got a little too weird for my tastes). But all the writers in this collection are of interest to me and I’ll have to keep an eye out for future works.

I’m not going to arrogant enough to suggest that I, a white lady, can fully comprehend the nuances of a collection such as this, in many ways this wasn’t written for me. However, I can recognise that this book is an important one, and a vital part of the movement to challenge the normalisation of colonialism.

Should you read this? Absolutely.

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.