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Rita Bullwinkel’s debut novel ‘Headshot’ was longlisted for The Booker Prize 2024 as well as the Center for Fiction Best Debut. It also made it to Barack Obama’s 2024 Summer Reading List. Bullwinkel’s writing has gotten her many accolades. Her short story collection ‘Belly Up’ won a 2022 Whiting Award. Her writings have been featured in various publications. She is the Assistant Professor of English at University of San Francisco in the US. 

Headshot is the story of eight teenage girl boxers. The story is narrated in a series of face-offs during a championship tournament. I hadn’t read anything like it before. The concept was new and refreshing and Bullwinkel keeps the story tight and action packed. As the girls box and compete, you get to know their stories—their past and their hopes for the future, their weaknesses and strengths, what drives them and what makes them tick, and the many characteristics that make them unique. Each girl has her own baggage and hang ups and they are all fighting their own battles, whether it is with themselves or within their families. 

The characters are complex and compelling. There’s Artemis Victor who thinks she’s the prettiest girl in the tournament but who will, even if she wins, always be second best to her sister. Her opponent Andy Taylor is haunted by the image of her father’s dead body. Without him, she needs someone to rely on. Rachel Doricko wears a strange hat and likes to intimidate people. Kate Heffer, on the other hand, is governed by plans and rules and thinks it is what will help her achieve success in life. Izzy and Iggy Lang are cousins. While Iggy has been inspired by Izzy to take up boxing, Izzy doesn’t understand why her annoying cousin would want to copy her. 

The narrative isn’t linear, hopping between the past, present, and the future, and the characters make frequent appearances which allows you to get to know them better. A commonality among the characters is that these are all teenage girls on the cusp of adulthood and they all belong to working class families. The author shows their struggles of trying to break free from whatever holds them back as well as their hopes for the future. I was invested in the story as I wanted to know what became of these girls after the tournament. Headshot isn’t a big book but it’s so nicely written and structured that the story feels complete. 

Bullwinkel has an eye for details and that makes the scenes come alive. I felt like I was watching a match while it happened and the girls were right there in front of my eyes. Even their thoughts and emotions were so beautifully described that I was totally consumed by these characters. The story also anticipates how the girl’s lives will pan out when they stop competing and whether they will even forge a career in boxing. In that way, it also examines what it means to be a sportsperson and how it defines their life. I was especially enthralled by the writing and found myself reading certain passages over and over again. 

The book isn’t that long but there’s a lot to unpack in the story. You might be able to resonate with a character or two or find that you identify with certain traits in different girls. It calls for a lot of introspection and that is what made Headshot an important read for me. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something new and immersive. You won’t be disappointed. 

Headshot

Rita Bullwinkel

Published: 2024

Publisher: Daunt Books 

Pages: 248, Paperback

Colm Toibin, one of my favorite writers, called ‘Small Things Like These’ by Claire Keegan the best novel he read in the year it was published. The book was shortlisted for the booker prize in 2022. Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club in 2024. The book is short, at just a little over a hundred pages, but packs a punch. Even Oprah, in one of the videos on the book club’s Instagram page, says you’ll be thinking about it long after you’ve turned the final page.

The book is dedicated to the women and children forced to work at the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. Built to house women who had ‘fallen from grace’ but promoted cheap labor, Magdalene Laundries were stricter than prisons. Women had to work without pay and were only provided a meager meal at best. Their living conditions were horrifying, with many being forced to eat off the floor or sleep in dank places. In Ireland, the last Magdalene Laundry ceased operating only in 1996.

Set in Ireland in 1985, Small Things Like These follows Bill Furlong, a coal and timber delivery man, as he makes a shocking discovery that will change the course of his life. He’s living a content life with his wife and daughters when he stumbles upon something that involves the church. Bill doesn’t know how to deal with it and despite his wife’s insistence that he look the other way, he can’t help but get involved in it. The book is alternately slow and fast. What I mean by that is there’s a leisurely pace to life in the book but things unravel quickly once Bill discovers the town’s well-kept secret. 

Bill’s life hasn’t been easy. He doesn’t know who his father is and his mother dies when he’s just a child. But all his life he has been shown kindness by strangers who took him in and nurtured him. In a way, he’s come to associate love with kindness. Isn’t what you know of love and how you perceive love shaped by how you were loved while growing up? Bill has received kindness and it’s the only way he knows how to be. This dictates his actions and he can’t turn away when he feels someone needs his help. This might mean giving beggars all the change in his pockets or rescuing someone in trouble.

Despite the brevity, you feel like you really get to know the characters. I can’t fathom how Keegan has been able to achieve that but you come to care about the people in the story. Perhaps that is because Keegan taps into their vulnerabilities and shows you it’s possible to maintain grace under pressure. Bill is a man with a clear conscience and he does his best to live by certain principles. He’s a good husband and a caring father. When things go wrong, he doesn’t buckle. His goodness forces him to stand his ground and do what he thinks is right despite knowing it might be a hard battle. 

I read Small Things Like These in under two hours. It was so engrossing that I wasn’t able to put it down. It’s sad, horrifying, and strangely uplifting at the same time. It shows you what humans are capable of and that cruelty and kindness co-exist in the world and that it’s never one or the other but a mix of both. This is a book you’ll want to buy a few copies of, one to keep and the others to give to family and friends.

About the author

Claire Keegan is an Irish author who is known for her short stories and novellas. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Granta, and The Paris Review among others. Two of her novellas have been made into movies. Small Things Like These has been adapted into a film starring Cilian Murphy and Emily Watson. She has received several awards including The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, The Martin Healy Prize, and The Olive Cook award.

Fiction

Small Things Like These

Claire Keegan

Published: 2021

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Pages: 110, Paperback

If I see a book of short stories by an author I haven’t read, I will definitely buy it. I won’t even have to read the blurb to decide. I just know I will enjoy it. And I’ve hardly ever been wrong. Even if I don’t like all the stories in a particular collection, I will enjoy a few and that will be enough for me to recommend the book to others. The same goes for my recent read ‘Dead-End Memories’ by Banana Yoshimoto. The book has five stories and I more or less like them all. 

Translated from the Japanese by Asa Yoneda, the writing was refreshing. Perhaps it was because I had never read both the author and the translator before. But I enjoyed every bit of it. The stories were beautiful and nostalgic. I could see me and my friends in the characters. All the stories are about women who, after some painful events in their lives, find comfort in small moments of everyday life. 

I was intrigued by the author’s name and I found out that Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of the author Mahoko Yoshimoto whose father is a famous poet in Japan. She is the prize winning and internationally bestselling author of many works of fiction like ‘Kitchen’, ‘Asleep’ and ‘The Premonition’. In Dead-End Memories, Yoshimoto delves into the lives of women who are grappling with some sort of a transition in their lives. There’s a melancholic undertone to the stories but there’s a fair bit of drama too to keep things interesting. 

The women in the stories discover their strengths and weaknesses through varied experiences in their lives. A woman’s romantic life is shaped by the ghosts of a couple who live in the house of her lover. A hard-working editor has a near death experience that completely changes the course of her life—She’s poisoned at work and that changes her relationship with work and her co-workers. Though the stories involve romance, they aren’t centered on it. There’s also a recurring theme of food in the stories despite the stories never overlapping. It made me realize how much of our memories are shaped by the smell and taste of what we eat. 

Despite being short, I found myself taking time with the book as the themes are heavy, calling for a lot of reflection. They deal with abuse, rape, betrayals, and the end of a marriage. What I like about storytelling in shorter formats is that it leaves a lot of room for imagination and introspection. You can draw up your own conclusions and get many opportunities to question your own beliefs. Dead-End Memories is controlled storytelling. Yoshimoto doesn’t beat around the bush and gives you just the information you need to think about the story and their possible path or outcomes yourself. Some call her writing simple and superficial but I found it to be relatable and fun. I highly recommend this anthology. Read it, weep, smile, and think about some things and memories you have maybe long forgotten. 

Dead-End Memories

Banana Yoshimoto

Translated by Asa Yoneda

Published: 2024

Publisher: Faber & Faber Ltd.

Pages: 221, Paperback

In ‘Sex, Desire, and Taboo in South Asia: Religion, Culture of Ability, and Patriarchy,’ the author Dr Tulasi Acharya delves into the complex interplay of sexuality, societal norms, and religious doctrine that shape the sexual taboos in South Asia, especially Nepal and India. 

With a profound academic understanding, the book explores how historical shifts—particularly the rise of patriarchy and the evolution of religious perspectives—have led to a societal repression of sexuality, despite South Asia’s rich heritage of erotic art and literature.

The author offers a fascinating juxtaposition between the open depiction of sexuality in religious art—such as the vivid erotic sculptures found in temples—and the conservative societal attitudes that repress discussions of sex. This paradox, which has perplexed many scholars and travelers, is tackled with precision. The book explains that historically, South Asian societies were more open to discussions of sex and desire. However, over time, as patriarchal structures tightened their grip on women’s bodies and sexuality, these open expressions were overshadowed by moral and religious frameworks that associated sex with immorality and family dishonor.

The text emphasizes that, in contrast to European traditions where sexual taboos also exist but with a different societal framework, South Asian cultures have a more pronounced disconnect between public restraint and private religious expression. Temples, art, and ancient texts like the Kamasutra celebrate eroticism as a part of human life. But this stands in stark contrast to how sex is perceived in daily life. The author identifies this cultural schizophrenia as a product of both religious reinterpretation and patriarchal control, particularly the imposition of rigid gender roles and the regulation of women’s sexual freedom.

The book also discusses how these sexual taboos evolved. The author suggests that these shifts didn’t stem from economic or capitalist pursuits but rather from patriarchal norms that emerged and became institutionalized over centuries. This transformation is further compounded by religious interpretations that often serve to reinforce male power dynamics. As a result, sex became not a natural part of human existence to be explored and celebrated, but something to be controlled, particularly in relation to women and marginalized groups.

What makes the book particularly compelling is its exploration of the intersections of gender, religion, and power. The author provides a nuanced critique of both religious and secular texts, suggesting that while religion offers powerful narratives that could empower women (such as the reverence of goddesses like Kali and Durga), the dominant religious narratives overwhelmingly reflect male-centric values. 

By drawing on feminist scholars like Gayatri Spivak and exploring local subaltern perspectives, the author offers a refreshing and insightful critique of how patriarchal structures have influenced the perception and regulation of sexuality, despite Foucault’s sexual theory which helps understand the discourse of sex.

The book proposes that the key to breaking these taboos lies in education. A recurrent theme is the necessity for improved sexual education and awareness, especially in South Asia, where societal conditioning often stifles discussions about sex. The author argues that a better understanding of sexuality, its significance for human pleasure, and its role in society could lead to a more informed, tolerant, and accepting approach to sex, even within the religious contexts that traditionally promote its repression.

Despite these enlightening arguments, one question that lingers is whether the shift away from taboo and repression can truly happen within the religious framework itself or if it would require a broader secular movement to challenge these deeply ingrained norms. While the author doesn’t claim to have a definitive answer, he emphasizes that change will likely need to start from the grassroots—beginning with schools and educational systems that promote open discussion and understanding of sexuality. Only then, the author suggests, can South Asia move toward a future where sexual freedom and expression are no longer deemed taboo.

Sex, Desire, and Taboo in South Asia is a provocative and timely contribution to the ongoing discourse about sexuality, power, and culture in the region. It challenges readers to rethink the complex relationship between religion, culture, and patriarchal structures, offering new insights into how societal change may be achieved through education and greater awareness.