Aerogrammes: And Other Stories

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From the highly acclaimed author of Atlas of Unknowns (“Dazzling . . . One of the most exciting debut novels since Zadie Smith’s White Teeth”—San Francisco Chronicle; “An astonishment of a debut”—Junot Díaz), a bravura collection of short stories set in locales as varied as London, Sierra Leone, and the American Midwest that captures the yearning and dislocation of young men and women around the world.   In “Lion and Panther in London,” a turn-of-the-century Indian wrestler arrives in London desperate to prove himself champion of the world, only to find the city mysteriously absent of challengers. In “Light & Luminous,” a gifted dance instructor falls victim to her own vanity when a student competition allows her a final encore.  In “The Scriptological Review: A Last Letter from the Editor,” a young man obsessively studies his father’s handwriting in hopes of making sense of his death. And in the marvelous “What to Do with Henry,” a white woman from Ohio takes in the illegitimate child her husband left behind in Sierra Leone, as well as an orphaned chimpanzee who comes to anchor this strange new family.   With exuberance and compassion, Tania James once again draws us into the lives of damaged, driven, and beautifully complicated characters who quietly strive for human connection.Amazon.com ReviewGuest Reviewer: Karen Russel on Tania James's *Aerogrammes* *Karen Russell, a native of Miami, has been featured in The New Yorker’s debut fiction issue and on The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 list, and was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. She is the author of the short story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and the novel Swamplandia!, one of the *New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of 2011. Fans of Tania James's sensational debut novel, Atlas of Unknowns, already know her to be a writer with the panoramic scope and liveliness of Charles Dickens, the sure-footed lyricism and emotional precision of Jhumpa Lahiri, the rocketship ebullience of Junot Diaz, and a voice and vision that are inimitably her own. Now those of us who have been eagerly awaiting James's story collection have a reason to celebrate—Aerogrammes is sensational. After reading Atlas, I became a James evangelist, raving to friends that she was a natural-born novelist, her gifts perfectly adapted to the large canvas of the novel. Now, with Aerogrammes, Tania James reveals that she is a master of the short story; I felt that I learned so much about craft by reading Aerogrammes. Each of these nine extraordinary stories is expertly structured, moving inexorably towards conclusions that feel both surprising and true. By turns ebullient and poignant, pinwheeling and wise, they are always devastatingly candid when it comes to their central preoccupations: exile and identity, the faultlines inside a family, grief and love. James's prose sparkles on the sentence level, her imagery pulsing with color and surprise (“Chilean flamingoes with their knotted knees”). Her first sentences are masterpieces in miniature, and you can feel the storyteller's pleasure that hums through every line of the collection. From “Ethnic Ken”: “My grandfather believed that the guest bathroom drain was a portal for time travel.” From “Girl Marries Ghost”: “That year, thousands entered the lottery for only a handful of husbands.”What I most admire about Aerogrammes is James's commitment to making her stories both comic and consequential—the humor always underscores some powerful insights into her characters' innermost natures. She is such a generous writer, deeply sympathetic to her characters' yearnings, a compassionate chronicle of even their craziest schemes and their stillborn ambitions (Mr. Panicker waits in vain for his son to visit him in "Aerogrammes"; Minal Auntie scrubs at her dark face and dreams of a paler alter ego dancing in the glow of a huge trophy in "Light and Luminous"). James lets us laugh at her protagonists' predicaments without ever making them the butt of the joke. Equally at ease in the first and third-person points of view, James creates characters who are wonderfully particular—I especially loved the widower who assuages his grief by burying roadkill, and Minal Auntie, a middle-aged dancing teacher who blames her students for her failure to ascend the Everest of the India Day competition (“Pinky, when you call to Krishna, don't make that sexy face”). But while the characters of Aerogrammes felt wholly original, the collection's themes are universal. These stories explore homesickness in all of its varieties: that of men and women who leave their birth countries, of children who outgrow their parents, of grandparents who outlive their usefulness to their children, of haunted people separated from their loved ones by oceans and decades, shipwrecked in the present to read the tea leaves of letters and photographs, brittle memories (one son, on trying to analyze his father's handwriting: "The rest of the letter is in Malayalam, and thus illegible to me"; a woman who returns to visit her chimpanzee "brother" struggles to recover their wordless language).I was awestruck by Aerogrammes, scenes of which have stayed with me with the vibrancy of my own memories thanks to the potency of James's prose. I would recommend this collection to anyone looking for proof that the short story is joyfully, promiscuously, thrillingly alive.ReviewA San Francisco Chronicle and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012“Tania James’ stories are funny, deeply tender, and each-and-every-one memorable. Aerogrammes is a gift of a collection from a talent who only grows.”—Nathan Englander “By turns rib-shakingly funny and poignant, pinwheeling and wise, these stories are always devastatingly candid when it comes to their central preoccupations: exile and identity, the fault lines inside a family, grief and love… Proof that the short story is joyfully, promiscuously, thrillingly alive.”—Karen Russell“These are stories that map out a fresh new world between America and South Asia with a rare blend of humor and sensitivity. Surprising and affecting.”—Romesh Gunesekera“From an Indian wrestler in 1910 England to a marrying ghost who plots a return to flesh, James writes the kind of stories I’ve always loved, by turns absurd and hilarious but also deeply consequential. James has got range and a phenomenal heart. Not to be missed.” —Junot Díaz“At every turn, James’ prose is crisp, observant and carefully controlled…James projects a deep emotional intelligence.” —Kirkus Reviews “Although most of the characters in these nine immaculately crafted short stories share a common native land—Kerala in southern India—their range of emotions is brilliantly diverse…James understands the nuances of emotional displacement.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“A skilled storyteller…a refreshingly authentic new voice.” —Library Journal “Fleeting ties and temporary alliances underscore James’ zestful exploration of the elusive connections inherent to most relationships…Lushly exploring themes of identity and recognition, singularity and community, James crafts taut, complete worlds populated by complex yet recognizable characters who ultimately achieve catharsis and obtain enlightenment, often through unplanned and unconventional methods.” —Booklist “First-rate…James’ prose is clean, deep, limpid; the stories she builds throw strange, beautiful light on completely unexpected places…real, fresh and worthy.” —San Francisco Chronicle“Agile…authentic and deftly drawn.” —Washington Post“Like all great fiction, James’s stories emerge from a strange and beautiful source of inspiration, then proceed to transcend it…still and elegant.” —Huffington Post“Jam-packed and hectically lovely…flawless.” —DBC Reads