Too Asian Not Asian Enough

A new collection of short stories from up-and-coming and established British Asian authors that tries to reconcile the gap between the school of Kureishi and the school of Shamsie.

The book's introduction by Kavita Bhanot bravely sets out the message that British Asian writers are pigeon-holed into writing the same types of stories, featuring sarees, arranged marriages, cultural clashes and the like. What she wanted to do was show the diversity of the current crop of British Asian writers and how they wish to be perceived, as writers, free of colour and religion and ethnicity, and just writers. The old adage goes that you will always be described alongside your ethnicity if you have one to label you with.

What follows is a mish-mash of stories that deal with everything from authenticity and hair and coke-fuelled parties to arranged marriages and cultural clashes and the like. You wonder whether these writers would have stood in better stead without the introduction and title, which both seem to be more reductive than the stereotypes they seek to dispell. But this is a minor issue as we're here to focus on the writing.

Great stories from the likes of Niven Govinden, Bidisha and Nikesh Shukla sit alongside efforts from newer writers make this a strong collection of diverse voices to read. Perhaps best is a blissful tender and witty effort from Rajeev Balasubramanyam, who we haven't seen enough from in recent years. Also, noteworthy is Gautam Malkani's excellently arch 'Asian of the Month', which deals with the very nature of authenticity at the heart of this collection's ethos.