Rosarita

Reviews

To compare Anita Desai's fiction with that of Chekhov or the short stories of Tolstoy is not extravagant; it is entirely warranted It’s been over a decade since [Anita Desai's] last work of fiction. She’s a writer I’ve loved since my adolescence, whose sharp observations and elegant sentences I admire increasingly as the years go on. Every new work from her is a gift As taut and weird and entrancing as a story by Jorge Luis Borges. If Rosarita is to be her swansong . . . then it’s a magnificent way to go out The three-times Booker-shortlisted writer is back with a poignant novella about one young woman’s thwarted attempt to escape her past . . . a thoughtful read that will delight Desai stalwarts and send newcomers scurrying to her impressive backlist; leaving all hopeful this won’t be her last piece of short fiction A tantalising tale of memory, family and fantasy . . . evocative, subtle and enigmatic. Desai revels in equivocation and possibility, embracing the ambiguity of memory itself to tell a shimmering, sometimes fevered tale in which a mother and daughter are pulled apart and fused together Her writing is sensuous, radical and uncannily perceptive Anita Desai is one of the most brilliant and subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern and western culture All her stories are full of a confidence in human nature that is a rarity and a pleasure to encounter Desai has a wicked, subtle humour . . . and her characters are beautifully described . . . Her writing is polished and mature, with a wit she cleverly underplays Anita Desai writes exquisitely She has the ability to shape and refine a piece of work of her own intense imagination into an independent work of art There is a dreamy and wistful mood to this very short gem, lulling in its revelations and comforting in its gentle appeal. A wonder of a novel. Desai writes powerfully and provocatively . . . Rosarita is a transcendent late gift: both a testament to Desai’s enduring genius as a writer and a wholly remarkable vindication of literature’s power to illuminate the conundrums of human experience. This is a novel of profound philosophical inquiry, pondering the enigmas of the mind and the self, the frontiers of fantasy and reality, and ultimately, whether one person can ever fully imagine and understand the life of another. One of the most gifted of contemporary Indian writers Expand reviews