Veera Hiranandani

An important and uplifting collection of short stories by South Asian American writers featuring South Asian American characters and themes.

The Door Is Open: Stories of Celebration and Community by 11 Desi Voices was conceived and edited by Hena Khan and is a wonderfully uplifting collection of short stories by and about South Asian Americans. The stories capture vibrant slices of community life and precious family moments, all connected through the social hub of the local community center.

While each story comes from a different author, common threads run throughout and tie the parts into a wonderful whole. Each story is a gem in its own right and self-contained, and there is a much-appreciated section about the contributors at the end of the book that includes each one’s previous works for readers to seek out and binge. The main characters are middle-grade students, for the most part, with younger and older siblings, parents, uncles, and aunties in supporting roles, and the diversity of the cultures and religions of South Asia are represented. There are stories of joy and sadness, coming-of-age moments, personal triumphs, and many emotional moments to absorb. Readers not part of the represented groups can also enjoy all the stories, relate to many of the depicted situations, or learn something new and interesting. There are several very teachable moments to share.

I recommend THE DOOR IS OPEN to middle-grade and chapter book readers, especially those interested in South Asian American culture, community, and experiences.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.… (mehr)

In this stand-alone companion volume to Hiranandani’s Newbery Honor title, The Night Diary (2018), a boy in post-partition Bombay grapples with the bitter realities of surviving trauma.

After leaving their beloved home in Mirpur Khas, which is now part of the newly created Pakistan, 12-year-old twins Amil and Nisha are living in Bombay with their doctor father, paternal grandmother, and beloved family cook. While Amil (whose late mother was Muslim and father is Hindu) is grateful for their newfound safety, he’s haunted by memories of their flight. Nisha kept a diary during their journey, and when she suggests Amil should draw to express his feelings, he begins sketching the family’s new life. In addition to harboring complicated, painful feelings around his mother’s death in childbirth, a result of complications from his breech positioning, Amil realizes while engaging in his art that his emotions are more intense and complicated than ever. These feelings come to a head when a classmate who was orphaned during the religious violence desperately needs his help, and Amil must decide what to do. This book is a masterpiece of nuance, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. Readers with ancestral connections to the Partition will especially appreciate its layered exploration of the lives of survivors, but Hiranandani provides enough context, skillfully woven throughout, that readers of all backgrounds will find it accessible and absorbing. Final art not seen.

A quietly brilliant, deeply insightful story of living in uncertain times. (glossary, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

-Kirkus Review… (mehr)

Twins Nisha and Amil, their Papa, their Dadi, and family friend Kazi survived the Partition and have settled in Bombay (now Mumbai), where Papa is working as a doctor in the hospital and the twins are going to school. However, conflict still flares up, many people didn't survive or are stuck in refugee camps - including Amil's new friend and classmate, Vishal - and Gandhi threatens another hunger strike for peace. Amil misses when his only cares were about having fun; he longs for a friend and a bicycle. Unlike academic Nisha, who now writes stories instead of letters to Mama, Amil struggles in school, though he loves to draw and is very observant.

From the Author's Note:
...The Night Diary...is a story of survival. This book is about what happens after - after we survive and experience something life-changing and traumatic...
...how do we heal after a traumatic experience as individuals and as a society? How are we forever changed in both good and bad ways? It depends on the amount of support we have. It depends on the privilege we have. It also often depends on just plain luck. And...if we're lucky enough to survive, then how do we support the survivors who've had less support, less privilege, and less luck?

Quotes

"Different religions, same reasons." (Kazi to Amil, 23)

He wondered what else people saw in him that he couldn't see. (30)

...that blank and unfocused expression of someone hiding all the bad stuff inside. (59)

"What are we even worth?"
...
"I think the reason that a person feels like they're worth something is usually that someone else helps them believe it." (Vishal and Amil, 143)

Why did it seem that everywhere he turned, he discovered a new line - its only purpose to divide people even more? (168)

"Imagine if every person who wasn't suffering helped one person who was." (Kazi, 182)… (mehr)