Within: Short Stories for the Evolving Multicultural Woman by Aditi Wardhan Singh

Description from NetGalley:

Introspective stories that we often tell to each other over coffee or chai to our closest friends. Told from the Desi perspective these 30 stories provide you with an opportunity for self-reflection. Aditi has taken these Indo-American life experiences and woven them into sparkles of literary fiction that are very quick reads.

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My Review:

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.