A House Is a Body: Stories
Aug 2020 · Sold by Algonquin Books
star
3 reviews
Ebook
224
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
About this ebook
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 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.
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 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.
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 ...
Discover more
Ratings and reviews
3 reviews
Joelle Egan
- Flag inappropriate
August 14, 2020
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.
About the author
Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection A House Is a Body, which was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and was longlisted for the Story Prize. Her work has been published by the Paris Review and McSweeney’s and anthologized in the O. Henry Prize Stories. Her debut novel, The Archer, was published by Algonquin Books in September 2021 and has been longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She lives in San Francisco.
Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection A House Is a Body, which was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and was longlisted for the Story Prize. Her work has been published by the Paris Review and McSweeney’s ...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
