‘The Menstrual Coupé’: These experimental stories about women’s lives and sexuality are a revelation

The short story genre for translated Indian fiction is flourishing both in the publisher’s eyes for undiscovered gems and the reader’s growing interest in literature beyond the anglophone world. The Menstrual Coupé by Shahina K Rafiq is one such instance this year. It is a collection of short stories and flash fiction translated by Priya Nair from the Malayalam. This collection dissects the different ways girls and women experience life and act in a world radically opposed to their existence. Set in Kerala, the stories bring to the fore the voices that would otherwise have gone unrecorded,

Strange women, stranger situations

From the very first story, readers get a sense that the collection is anything but a straightforward feminist project of liberating women. Rafiq takes her characters and puts them in strange situations right. In “The Genie”, a woman dreams of a djinn and begins constructing her life around it until she realises that the apparition will always be a step ahead of her. The sixth story, “The Book Release” is of a murderer who attends book releases and kills men for their “trashy” taste in writers. The twenty-four stories in this volume are a revelation. They ensure the reader is entertained while stitching a searing fabric of women...

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