Finalist for the 2021 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction “A House Is a Body will not simply be talked about as one of the greatest short story collections of the 2020s; it will change the way all stories–short and long–are told, written, and consumed. There is nothing, no emotion, no tiny morsel … is nothing, no emotion, no tiny morsel of memory, no touch, that this book does not take seriously. Yet, A House Is a Body might be the most fun I’ve ever had in a short story collection.” –Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Dreams collide with reality, modernity with antiquity, and myth with identity in the twelve arresting stories of A House Is a Body. Set in the United States and India, Swamy’s characters grapple with motherhood, relationships, and their bodies to reveal small but intense internal moments of beauty, pain, and power that contain the world.
In “Earthly Pleasures,” a young painter living alone in San Francisco begins a secret romance with one of India’s biggest celebrities, and desire and ego are laid bare. In “A Simple Composition,” a husband’s professional crisis leads to his wife’s discovery of a dark, ecstatic joy. And in the title story, an exhausted mother watches, hypnotized by fear, as a California wildfire approaches her home. Immersive and assured, provocative and probing, these are stories written with the edge and precision of a knife blade.
A House Is a Body introduces a bold and original voice in fiction, from a writer at the start of a stellar career.
Don’t miss Shruti Swamy’s debut novel, The Archer (available September 7, 2021), which has already been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
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Shruti Swamy holds readers taut and watchful like the dog and cobra staring at one another in the final story in her debut collection, The House Is a Body. Some stories capture single moments, like this one. The title story happens in the five minutes a mom has to evacuate with a feverish daughter because of a forest fire. Other stories emphasize vigilant waiting. Artists in two stories drink while they work. Their lives drift past in moments they compose as they can catch them.
The stories themselves also seem to observe their characters. In one story, Krishna makes several unexpected but timely appearances in a painter’s life. Two mythical queens in Siege perform a secret rescue maneuver away from guards’ eyes. The effect is a sigh of relief. Even if everything is not right with the world, an omniscient narrator beholds it as beautiful.
The stories speak hope. In the first story, a bride reveals her feeling of emptiness to her husband. Then she becomes pregnant. In this and other stories, despair and joy make room for each other. In Mourners, four family members remember a loved one who passes, leaving a baby. A young lesbian in Wedding Season watches wedding ceremonies, realizing the weight of her life choices. In the midst of the ordinary, an epiphany becomes more luminous.
Characters reverse roles or take on each other’s identities in a sobering display of empathy. In My Brother at the Station, a girl sees who she thinks is her long lost brother. She wishes to put herself in his shoes, to ask him, “what is it you see, that I cannot?” (42). In other stories, mothers notice ways they become their own mothers. Wives wonder what life is like, unattached, or in the hands of another man.
The collection explores interconnectedness in a celebration of senses. Turmeric and clove baths, the milky smell of babies, frangipani flower musk, the smell of sex, the sounds of laughter, Krishna’s blue skin – these lift objects off the page and into noses, mouths, eyes and ears. The House Is a Body is a full frontal exposure of detail. The result is a reality in which to revel, no matter the cost.
Shruti Swamy binds together the twelve short stories in her debut collection A House is a Body by providing each with an exploration of missed connections-with others or with self. Winner of the O. Henry prize, Swamy demonstrates in this sampling her facility with language and an ability to evoke a strong emotional response in the reader. She sets her stories in both the U.S. and India, with diverse narrators and points-of-view. Some of the entries are grittily realistic, while others contain elements of dreamlike fantasy. In “Wedding Season,” two women travel to a family event that requires them to hide their true relationship from the other attendees. “The Neighbors” depicts a young mother who longs to reveal spousal abuse to a new acquaintance but cannot manage to bridge the gap between them. A fantasy story that is set in an unknown time and place, “The Siege” also centers around two women. In this tale, a queen tries to comfort a young wife who has been captured by her husband as an entrée to war between two factions. “Earthly Pleasures” includes an amorphous manifestation of the Hindu God Krishna as he appears in the life of an artist. “Didi” takes the male perspective, as a father attempts to reconcile his loss of one child with his reluctant love for another. The strongest story in the collection is the titular “A House is a Body.” A woman whose husband has abandoned her is left to care for her sick daughter just as a California wildfire rages toward their home. A slim volume that is skillfully curated, A House is a Body is a lovely introduction to a talented short-story writer with a unique voice and a gift for storytelling.
Thanks to the author, and Algonquin Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Everyone, read this short story collection – I don’t usually go for short stories in my read and this one really surprised me and I LOVED IT!! A HOUSE IS A BODY was a riveting collection of deep soul searching stories written in a prose so magical I was immersed into this debut.
A collection of twelve stories spanning the globe set between the United States, India and beyond, with each story unique and touching upon important themes about family, parenthood, sisterhood and brotherhood, and most of all, love. With a dream like quality, and very unique style of writing which I loved and devoured, Swamy transported me through these stories into worlds and experiences both fantastic and mythologic, and reality as well.
The stories were very well written and very poignant. Though this could be read in one sitting, I enjoyed the stories individually taking the time to savor and reflect first, then moving on to the next story. Just like a box of chocolates, each had its own unique flavor and I just never know what I will be getting next, but they were all oh so good.
I highly recommend this amazing short story collection. I am excited to see how you will savor this highly anticipated collection.