"She looked at Krishna. Was there recognition in her eyes? No, she hadn’t even awoken to new life when he found her. And yet."

Shit, man. This whole story is so intense and intensely thoughtful; it's one of the few zombie stories I can say I like. ( )

A wonderfully unique take on the zombie story, showing the phenomenon of the return of the dead from a different cultural perspective. While bathing in the river Hooghley in Kolkata, low caste Krishna finds the floating body of a woman. From a Western perspective, the way he simply moves it to shore and continues to bathe is shocking, as is the complete disinterest of the other bathers. When he later sees on the news that she is amongst the newly risen dead, he feels some responsibility toward her and rushes to claim the body and protect her.



This short tale wonderfully explores what it means to be alive and the possibility of an afterlife, as well as the appalling violence against women in India and that it is so often simply a fact of life.



Stunningly good, possibly the best story so far. ( )

This free story can be found here:

http://www.tor.com/2016/02/10/breaking-water-indrapramit-das/ ( )