I very much enjoyed this beautiful collection of short stories, and have read a number of interviews and reviews to try to gain some insights into the themes linking the various stories. I just finished it on Audible and will be listening to it again now...

In one of the interviews she did on her book tour, the author said the following:
“And that’s what I believe is essential to fiction. That we have a way to make someone’s subjectivity immediate, transparent, real. It no longer becomes theoretical or a matter for ‘argument’ that someone feels pain. We feel what the other person, the character, feels.”

I love that quote, especially I consider that Dr. Bhuvaneswar, a psychiatrist, has been spending much of her time for decades trying to understand her patients’ subjectivity and their pain.

Full disclosure: I have known the author for going on 30 years. We shared a literature class on the canon both semesters freshman year. Her insights blew me away often in that class. This may be her first published book after decades as a doctor and psychiatrist, but I can attest that she has been passionate about fiction and writing, and about many of the themes in White Dancing Elephants, for decades, and the wonderful quality of this work shows it.

I am looking forward to listening to White Dancing Elephants again now and to reading anything else she may write in the future. ( )

Many of the stories in this collection really cut me to my core, even though most of them were only a few pages in length. Some of my favorites were:

- Talinda: in which close friends share secrets that could alter the course of their lives...or might not;
- A Shaker Chair: in which a therapist tries to decipher why she hates one of her clients;
- Jagatishwaran: a beautiful vignette in which a young Indian man grapples with masculinity, identity, and adulthood

Many stories left me with a disquieted feeling, which to me is the mark of a truly effective story. I would recommend this book for fans of Flannery O'Connor who appreciate a tale that will keep them thinking. ( )

"White Dancing Elephants" is a collection of short stories by author Chaya Bhuvaneswar, following all different kinds of people. Though it doesn't contain beginnings and ends, this is a book full of middles. You don't need to know everything about everyone, just enough to get the gist of the story before moving onto the next one in under twenty five pages each.

Check out the rest of my review here!

https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/white-dancing-elephants-... ( )