Review of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

We've seen an explosion of Indian literature over the past few years, but we haven't seen much Pakistani literature. Daniyal Mueenuddin's book of short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, has changed that.

Mueenuddin's linked short stories tackle class issues in Pakistan. We see the viewpoints of the rich, poor, and those who used to be rich and are now poor. We meet an electrician who struggles to support his large family, a servant who uses sex to gain favor, an embittered Lahore judge, a spoiled and wealthy young woman who marries and moves to the countryside, among others. I found myself feeling empathy for all the characters, no small feat when many of them were manipulative and dishonest. Though I have never been to Pakistan, I got a good sense of the country from reading Mueenuddin's stories.

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders was a finalist for the National Book Award last year. This book was one of the best books of short stories I have read in years, and I highly recommend it.

Here is an excerpt from the story "About a Burning Girl": I am a sessions judge in the Lahore High Court. I should tell you at the start, so that you understand my position regarding these events, that despite my profession I don't believe in justice, am no longer consumed by a desire to be what in law school we called "a sword of the Lord"; nor do I pretend to have perfectly clean hands, so am not in a position to view the judicial system with anything except a degree of tolerance. I render decisions based on the relative pressures brought to bear on me.

Just One Pink gives In Other Rooms, Other Wonders a 9.5.

Review of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Is that testosterone that I smell? Yes. Yes, it is, and the odor is coming from Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential. Again, I'm behind the curve-- this book about Bourdain's life as a chef throughout the East Coast came out years ago. Most recently, I think, Bourdain was the chef at New York's Les Halles.

Bourdain's book details his life in the restaurant business and all the good, bad and ugly that transpired. He mostly concentrates on the bad and ugly, which, of course, is much more interesting than the good. Bourdain has a bad boy reputation and freely admits to using heroin and cocaine, among a bunch of other drugs. He talks about bouncing from restaurant to restaurant, plucking the best sous-chefs and other kitchen staff along the way. Bourdain descibes what actually goes on inside a kitchen-- this includes a lot of banter, insults, booze, yelling, and hook-ups. He also discusses how he came to be a chef, that the restaurant business seems to attract people who could not function in "regular" jobs. His tales of sex, alcohol and deceit are definitely entertaining, but he does provide the lay reader with practical information about eating out-- a bonus of the book, I thought.

So if you are looking for an entertaining and frolicking (why this word jumps out at me, I don't know) read about a frenzied chef in New York City and the world he orbits, definitely pick up this book.

Just One Pink gives Kitchen Confidential an 8.

Review of Famous Fathers & Other Stories by Pia Z. Ehrhardt

Women are the main characters in all the stories in Pia Z. Ehrhardt's book, Famous Fathers & Other Stories. And all of these women are struggling with issues of fidelity and love, both familial and romantic. The stories take place in and around New Orleans, which serves as a great backdrop-- it is a city that is recovering, as are most of the characters in some way. Ehrhardt's writing is spare and clear, and I liked that. What I didn't like so much was that each female protagonist seemed to be similar to the next-- I started thinking that all the characters were interchangeable. For example, in the first story in the collection, "Running the Room," the narrator thinks about starting an affair at the same time she is housing her mother-- who is actually having an affair. In "Tell Me in Italian," the divorced narrator is having a torrid affair with a married man and finds out a lot of information about her own father's affair with his grad student. All of the women have considered affairs, are having affairs, or are dealing with heartbreak, which is fine, but I would have liked the narrators to be more distinct.

One of the strongest stories in the collection, "Intermediate Goals," tells the story of a woman named Carrie, who is reeling from her recent divorce. She's at loose ends and spends her time hanging out at bars and visiting a local prison. I also thought "Driveway" was very good. A married woman considers having an affair and thinks about the boredom in the daily life of a wife and mother.

Here is an excerpt from "Intermediate Goals": There's something wrong with my train of thought. Pat and I are at Shoney's, drinking coffee and arguing about money, but I switch off and start to admire his eyebrows, his nose, his analog watch, the new orange shirt he's wearing. I watch him like he's someone else's problem, and I start thinking: wouldn't it be nice if he were mine.

Just One Pink gives Famous Fathers & Other Stories a 7.