MAD COUNTRY

I read this book before going to Nepal. I learned very little about the uniqueness of Nepal.

I wasn't entirely sure what I thought about the stories in this book as I worked my way through it. So many of them seemed to be about people who are, for want of a better way to describe them, lost souls; people who lack something in their lives. On the surface they seem to be reasonably well adjusted, or at least to know what it is they want from their lives. But as each story progresses, they all have strange, often disturbing transformations, slipping easily into different realities.These stories are about metamorphoses, the most jarring of which are people of privilege who slip into lives of less privilege and (seemingly) greater simplicity. Sofi, an American girl, loses herself in the Nepali culture, insisting on becoming Nepali, and forgetting about her old life in Ohio. But underneath the new surface and new name is the old Sofi, who is betrayed by her own needs. Anamika, is a successful business woman with a truant son and disabled husband. Her adept manipulation of others fails her, and she is arrested and held in prison where she undergoes a profound change, a rejection of all she'd held dear, and we see her essential character as being quite different from what we had first thought.These are stories which require a good deal of thought. They don't easily give up their meaning, and even seem to lead nowhere in some cases. But when taken as a whole, as pieces of a larger narrative, they describe our desire to escape life's difficulties, and the way in which our own personalities will always color those escapes.Well worth your time.

It is difficult to write a comprehensive review of a series of stories. Indeed, for me, it is always a temptation to try to do an “overall evaluation”, but this approach is often unsuccessful, because they are really separate entities, and some I relate to better than others. Another thing that makes this effort challenging is that I really know next to nothing about Nepalese culture and history.The longest story in the collection – really a novelette – is “Dreaming of Ghana”. In its 90 pages, Upadhyay creates a confusing domestic drama; his main character, Aakash is for some reason a “major problem” for his parents because, it seems, he “lacks ambition” although he is obviously a nice person with a strong streak of compassion. I was completely unable to relate to the parents’ attitude, and was not clear on any of the motivations portrayed in this story.As for the title story, “Mad Country”, if such a horrific sequence of events really could occur in Nepal, it is so totally appalling that I have no real way to relate.None-the-less, these narratives do form an intriguing collage, and readers who are interested in what may be a “cultural experience” should find this book worthwhile.

Samrat Upadhyay has the gift of being able to view the world with both a zoom and wide angle lens at the same time. He sees the small details within the larger cultural and socioeconomic milieu. Most of the stories contained in this collection take place in Nepal, a country I know little about, and one of the stories takes place in the United States. Reading these amazing short stories placed me inside a world very different from my own. What I can say with surety, however, is that the commonality of human nature and the struggles that people face, often go beyond culture and place.The stories are varied and I loved all but one. Working in the field of mental health, I especially appreciated 'Beggar Boy' about a young man whose life experiences have been so difficult for him that he is playing out a fantasy wherein he becomes someone else. 'What Will Happen to the Sharma Family' made me laugh as well as appreciate the issues that many families face despite variances in family dynamics. 'Freak Street' caught the struggles of a young woman hoping to find herself. A hippie in Kathmandu, she ends up living on Freak Street and becomes so ensconced in the family she stays with and the cultural milieu surrounding her, so much so that she changes her name and forgets about her previous life in Ohio. 'Mad Country', the title story, shows how one's stance in life is as precarious as the political environment of a particular time and place. No one should get too comfortable with their life status because all can tumble down at the drop of a hat. 'Fast Forward', the opening story, is about a young woman who runs an investigative journal and soon realizes that her fame and the truth are not suitable adversaries for the current political regime. The last story, 'America the Great Equalizer' looks closely at race, loss, and the disenfranchised.I don't know why, but lately it has been difficult for me to get into short stories. This all changed when I picked up 'Mad Country'. Each story is separate but there are a few connected characters if the reader pays close enough attention. The stories are mesmerizing and written by a pro, an author whose view of the world is complex and wise.