In the crowded cities and the underdeveloped rural towns of modern India, a new generation is entering the prime of adulthood during a time of tumultuous cultural and technological change. These are the characters populating Manik Bal’s collection of thirteen short stories, “Whiskey and Suicide.” Though diverse in terms of education, experience, and social status, the myriad souls in Bal’s extended communities all convey degrees of haunting angst, emotional disarray, and cognitive dissonance, as well as occasional glimpses of contentment.
Most of the stories are more cognitive than narrative; i.e. they are more about what the characters think than what they do. Typically, Bal places his subjects situationally and, through their conversations among themselves and/ or ongoing internal dialog, they engage in impressionistic assessment of the existential significance of that moment in their lives. For example, in “Joes Birthday,” the titular character and his wife, Tara, share volumes in an unspoken glance:
“Joe saw her smiling at herself and gave her a big ‘What the f**k?’ look, and she said sorry with an eye movement both had practiced many times at breakfast when they had a fight the earlier night. ‘Even if it is a mid-life crisis, it is not necessarily bad news. In fact, they have identified certain transitions in an adult life that happen to everyone and it is observed that you do question everything in your forties. It is a meaning making time.’ Tara sounded serious and academic, which she was, with her two non-fiction books a month habit and a job of a corporate counsellor that allowed her to observe many people every day.”
Typically, Bal conjures quotidian scenarios, blends in a variety of people with complex interrelationships, and releases their streams of consciousness to reflect upon key factors in their lives that brought them there. “First Day” recounts a young man’s first day on a new job. In “At It Again,” two children eavesdrop on their parents while they are discussing a real estate deal. The eponymous story, “Whiskey and Suicide,” depicts a group of friends and colleagues drinking and wondering why another member of their clique is absent, and if he might be suicidal.
One of the most visceral stories, “Her Father’s Killer,” takes place entirely in a young woman’s mind as she gazes at her father’s body after having knifed him in the heart:
“She was completely immobilized with a mixture of emotions. Fear? Anger? Relief? She was not sure what was the shade of emotions that was the prominent one in her mind at that moment. She might get into her freewheeling mind rambling that she normally experienced when something major happened. A kaleidoscope of thoughts, music, and voices that zoomed through your mind as they jump tangentially from one to the next. Images that did not mean anything, words that danced chaotically, sounds that did not harmonize.”
The introspective tone can achieve depths of insight, but in some places labored rationalizations come off as not much more than navel gazing, or even whining. It isn’t that their unresolved issues and fears aren’t legitimate; but Bal’s characters tend to be solid middle class, with a sense of entitlement, and who tend to overthink things. A reader might want to shake one of them and cry, “Snap out of it.”
Stylistically, Bal’s prose contains some quirks that can be disorienting to readers. Nearly all of the stories are written in the third person, with a shifting point of view so transitions from one person’s thoughts to another’s are not always clear. Typically, the primary character is alluded to by personal pronouns – he or she – rather than a proper name, which is perhaps intended to suggest a feeling of anonymity or confused identity, but often muddies the perspective even more. The book would have benefited from closer copy editing.
“Whiskey and Suicide” will resonate with readers who can identify with the characters’ generational concerns. Others less invested in those feelings may be frustrated by the stories’ rambling lack of focus and absence of narrative plot.
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2021
Top reviews from other countries
- ColdheartReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2020
Culturally rich and interesting
- Dr. Monidipa DuttaReviewed in India on December 26, 2023
Can I just say that the stories in here were just phenomenal
- Ishani r.Reviewed in India on January 7, 2024
thought-provoking exploration of contemporary Indian life
- Saswati JK RathReviewed in India on December 22, 2020
Happens to be a thought-provoking read.
- shravanReviewed in India on December 23, 2020
Whiskey And Suicide: And other stories - A collection of short stories.
