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Review title: Slapdash
Product review: This book is subtitled "Stories and a Reminiscence." I'll go with the latter, but in all honesty, there is not, technically speaking, a single short story in the entire book. Instead, there are a lot of doodlings and undeveloped ideas for short stories. A couple of these "stories" are simplified retellings of Indian mythology (although they are incomprehensible without notes), but most of them are little formless vignettes about the author's childhood and youth. Once in a while there is a poetic image or a minor epiphany, but not one of these "stories" has a plot. Although this is a thin book, it was a struggle to finish it. I do not know what Mr. Chaudhuri's novels are like, but after this inept gathering of "stories," I would be loath to read them. He has talent, but mere talent is not enough. Good fiction writing needs craftsmanship and structure. There is very little evidence of either in this book.
