A House Is A Body is a collection of short stories about motherhood, love, sacrifice, and the boundaries we place upon ourselves, and those that are forced upon us by others. Many stories explore morally ambiguous situations, and play with themes from Hindu mythology, and Indian society. Almost all the stories are told from a female perspective, and center around women figuring out who they are.

Favorite stories are Earthly Pleasures, about a young artist who is confused as to what her purpose is, Wedding Season, about a lesbian couple who return to India for the marriage of a family member, and Didi, about a young man who brings his nervous daughter home from a sleepover. These stories appear rather simple, but Swamy is great at nestling wide-ranging truths and consequences amongst the ordinary.

All of the stories are deeply rooted in the minds of each narrator. While the plot of a story is sometimes nonexistent, the inner-worlds of each individual populate the story and provide a deep emotional and spiritual weight to Swamy’s writing. Swamy’s language is sensuous and evocative, and it flows over you as you read. The entire collection is unified by this languorous atmosphere that Swamy creates through her writing, which colors and shapes your reading, and wraps you up within each story.

A House is a Body by Shruti Swamy, contains a collection of twelve short stories, most of which originally appeared in journals and are now gathered here together.

If you are looking for a light escape, this volume won't whisk you away to a place where all ends well and you can breathe a sigh of relief at a tidy resolution. But Swamy weaves memorable tales filled with tragedy and pain: a mother frozen with inaction when a wildfire is threatening her home, an artist caught up in a secret relationship, a wife losing respect for her husband as he loses his grasp on reality, a country at war and a wife inside a palace wrestling with the evil acts around her. Themes of longing, regret, and loneliness are pervasive.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This collection of short stories is absolutely beautiful. Haunting, lyrical, deep, and thoughtful. The language was woven in a way that transfixed me. I requested this collection when I was still teaching at a university, and if I had not moved to high school education, I would absolutely be adopting it. It’s a little mature for even seniors, though, as it is quite sexual in nature.

A WONDERFUL collection of 12 short stories that veers from realism to the almost bizarre and yet always with heart. It starts strong with the story of a mother unable to step outside even as a fire rages toward her house. The other stories, including Earthly Pleasures - in which a young woman has a relationship with a god- are less direct. There's some gorgeous writing here. Swamy has a strong voice and the diversity of this collection is terrific. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. As with all short story collections, you might not like all of them but keep this by the bedside to dip in and out of and enjoy one at a time.

I enjoyed this book of short stories and look forward to more from this author. Liked the theme of parenthood

Thank you to Algonquin publishing for sending me a free advances copy to read and review and for including me on this book tour!

This book comes out August 11

This was a lovely little short story collection, ranging from taking place here in America or over in India. The author writes with such emotion that you can feel it radiating off the page in every single story. While the stories don’t connect or intertwine with each other, there are common themes present in all of them that bind them together in a really subtle way.

As with any story collection, I definitely felt like some of the stories were stronger than others. But I think overall it was a nice collection that anyone who likes short stories will enjoy.

TW: some substance abuse, and allusions to sexual abuse of a child. There are also quite a few sex scenes if that’s something that makes you uncomfortable to read about.

Book: A House is A Body
Author: Shruti Swamy
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquin Books, for providing me with an ARC.

This is a collection of short stories, which was a nice change of pace. Normally, I am a big books reader, so having something a little on the shorter side was great. I loved being able to just sit down and read a couple of these story very quickly. With that being said, there was stories that I loved and ones that I was not a fan of. I’ve never read a short story collection where I’ve loved every single story. It’s just hard to do. With that being said, I did love how atmospheric the writing was and I loved the India backdrop.

I liked that we had a mix of stories. Some of these stories were rooted in reality, which I thought the author did a great job with. Others were based on mythology and fantasy, yet others were a mix of reality and fantasy. I thought the mixing of the different genres was great. Shruti handled it very well and didn’t seem to struggle to write either one. I honestly don’t know which ones I preferred. Although I would have to say that the ones rooted in reality stuck with me a little bit more than some of the others.

I loved how emotional this one. Each one of the stories will pull at you and make you feel something. This short book deals with a lot. I love how the author explored some of the toughest subjects out there. We get to deal with mental death, grief, violence, addiction, and motherhood. We get to see how different characters handle these tough aspects of their lives. I love how much thought Shruti put into each one of these subjects and how she made each word hit us.

So, why three stars? Well, like I said earlier, I didn’t love every single story. Don’t get me wrong, this is worth the read, but had I been completely in love with a few more of the stories, then I would had given it a higher rating.

Anyway, this comes out on August 11, 2020.

Shruti Swamy is a refreshing voice. I loved A House Is a Body.. It took me a while to get through because I immersed in it like no other book, but in a good way.

Thank you to Algonquin Books for the free galley in exchange for an honest review.

This debut collection of short stories is a fast and engrossing read. I didn't know what to expect and I'm glad I went in without reading many descriptions of the writing or stories. Each story is taut and draws you in quickly, which is my favorite thing about short stories when it's done well. Shruti Swamy can absolutely do that well!

While the stories share the characteristic of being well written, they are highly unique and deal with a huge range of themes that are equally poignant. The author explores mental health, birth, death, grief, sex, addiction, domestic violence, motherhood, and more via her stories. The themes emerge via the story and are interwoven so well that you feel the characters' emotions as if they were your own.

I am also impressed by the creativity of her writing. The stories span geographic and chronologic distances, from India to California, from present day to long past. They also span fiction genres and bring in some fantastical elements when you don't expect them (Krishna as a high society partygoer who is always in the tabloids? It works, just read it!).

Speaking of Krishna, that story (Earthly Pleasures) may be my favorite. Other faves are The Siege and The Laughter Artist. They are all stunning however.

Though Swamy has accumulated an array of praise for her individual stories, this debut collection will undoubtedly cement her celebrated status. Writing with an acute sense of the physical, Swamy simultaneously lofts her stories into the metaphysical without sacrificing continuity or realism. Though the stories are not linked, there is a resonance throughout, as certain images introduced in one story will reappear in another. The stories are grounded in their places just as the women are grounded in the physicality of their bodies. They are open to desire, their own and that of the world; they drink and smoke and marry; they are mouths and lips and lungs and stomachs. Each story is compelling, tracking a grieving trio in “Mourners” or the tension between two suburban mothers, each testing the safety of the other in “The Neighbors.” The stories stack, gathering momentum as they progress, hitting their peak in the penultimate story, “A House is a Body,” where a young mother must face simultaneous terrors: abandonment, illness, and the spreading heat of a wildfire outside her door. Swamy navigates these anxious moments with a deft hand and proves herself a thoughtful observer of humanity well worth our attention.

For more detailed review, see link.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: A House is a Body

Author: Shruti Swamy

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Recommended For...: women’s fiction, short stories

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Genre: Short Story Compilation

Recommended Age: 17+ (romance, TW sexual abuse mentions/illusions, language)

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Pages: 208

Synopsis: In two-time O. Henry-prize winner Swamy's debut collection of stories, dreams collide with reality, modernity collides with antiquity, myth with true identity, and women grapple with desire, with ego, with motherhood and mortality. In "Earthly Pleasures," Radika, a young painter living alone in San Francisco, begins a secret romance with one of India's biggest celebrities. In "A Simple Composition," a husband's moment of crisis leads to his wife's discovery of a dark, ecstatic joy and the sense of a new beginning. In the title story, an exhausted mother watches, distracted and paralyzed, as a California wildfire approaches her home. With a knife blade's edge and precision, the stories of A House Is a Body travel from India to America and back again to reveal the small moments of beauty, pain, and power that contain the world.

Review: I thought this book was pretty good. It’s comprised of short stories and they’re fairly cohesive. The books are all interesting and have great world building overall. The books are also well paced for the most part.

However, because they’re short stories, some of them don’t have that good of character development, but overall they’re all fairly well done.

Verdict: It’s pretty good! Definitely recommend if you like short stories.

This book was absolutely amazing! Each story hit me in a different place emotionally, and I would have to physically stop reading after each one so that I could take a beat and really think about what I had just read. I can only imagine how emotional it must have been for Shruti Swamy to write. All of the stories resonated with me in some way, but I think "Earthly Pleasures" was my favorite, as I was able to connect with it in my own way. I cannot wait to read more from Shruti!!

This is a lovely collection of stories that hone in on motherhood, femininity, and our most intimate relationships. Swamy uses language beautifully to immerse readers into the interior landscapes of her characters -- emotionally, intellectually, physically, and liminally.

(NOTE: I have an interview coming up with the author at Electric Literature and will add the link here when it is up.)

In her first collection of short stories, Shruti Swamy immerses the patient reader in beautifully flowing language to illuminate snippets of life. Women at a moment of change are observed as one might observe a fellow train passenger or overhear a conversation of strangers, more portrait than narrative. Don't expect to "understand" everything you see and hear as it occurs, but don't be surprised to find yourself having an "Aha" moment sometime later. Because of this, it seems best to read these stories one at a time with time between to appreciate and absorb.

This is a collection of intriguing short stories, but the writing style was too dense for my likes. However, the themes and ideas encapsulated in each story makes this worth the read for anyone willing to take the plunge.

3.5 stars

This collection is a mixed bag for me. There are some stories that feel unnecessarily dark (i.e. the purpose is to be morbid/depressing/hopeless), and I had a hard time engaging with the characters and sadness here. On the other hand, there are some stories that handle grief, abuse, loss, and fear in ways that feel resonant and useful in answering greater questions about humanity.

Overall, this collection is worth the read, but I find myself wanting more of a binding tie versus a grouping of such independent pieces.

This was such a beautifully written collection of stories and I was amazed to learn that this is a debut for Shruti Swamy. I connected with every character in some way and I loved the variety of issues the plethora of characters encountered.

Two queens in varying states of captivity. A woman in the threadbare dress, who meets Krishna at a cocktail party.
Loves worn thin, and the milky smell of children when sick. The laughter artist. What a sublime collection of short stories, a foot in the world and a foot in fable, interrogating the weather of our minds with the same delicacy and respect that it accords to our interactions and movements.

This is a beautifully crafted, insightful collection of stories dripping in surrealism.
Her poetic prose and dreamlike imagery pulls you into the stories and holds you captive. Some stories such as 'The Siege' and 'Earthly Pleasures' focus on mythology, others such as 'The Neighbors' and 'A House is a Body' are rooted more in reality, while others such as 'Blindness' blur the lines between reality and fantasy. Each story is unique in its own right, but the underlying theme in them all is tragedy. Varying aspects of grief, loss and trauma are explored and with stunning insight. Particularly powerful in these sediments are 'My Brother at the Station' and 'Wedding Season.'

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic collection! Such a stunning debut. Shruti Swamy deals so beautifully with characters who are navigating lives often touched by loss. Whether it be of a brother or child, a wife, a sister, or just the loss of a time before they were locked into an oppressive life. Sometimes the grief seems unbearable, as related by one character after losing her son: "I died for a long time. But I opened my eyes and found that I was still living." And so we all must find a way to continue even when it seems impossible. This collection illustrates those attempts, sometimes in strange ways, such as in the wonderful story, "The Laughter Artist." Moving across locations from India, to San Francisco, Germany, and beyond, this collection captures characters in their realist moments as they work through lives that have shifted and altered. While many of the stories deal with forms of grief or loss, longing, other stories provide beautiful visions of love blooming and building, such as in "Wedding Season," offering elegant moments of tenderness. A wonderful collection of stories.