quite nice prose and some interesting cross-cultural stuff but ultimately it's just a pathetic male fantasy about being redeemed by a sexually liberated woman with no real personality of her own. two stars instead of one because at least she was age-appropriate.

In my own way, I want to give this book a 3.8 star rating. The writing was fantastic, the characters were well defined, and I was intrigued the whole time. What didn’t work for me was the ending. No spoilers, it just seemed abrupt. I think another few pages would have given the ending more impact. That’s just how I read it. Still, the book was a quick read and I’m curious to read more by this author.

Well written short story about trying to find love after a break up.

I don't fancy myself a critic but this was very bland to me.

At first the words twisted in his mouth, and he spoke to Mrs. Shaw about skiing in general. Only with an effort could he tell her about his fight with Gitu. Mrs. Shaw did not say anything at first. Then she said, “It’s all right if you were that way once, as long as you aren’t that way now.” Listening to her, Gopal suddenly felt angry.“Why do you talk like this?” he asked.“What?”“When you talk about how your breasts fall or how your behind is too wide, I always say that’s not true. I always see

I read the book Faber short story "Cosmopolitan" book in one afternoon.Akhil Sharma delivers on the beginning and middle content of the story. There is the accolade for this story.The beginning was a great, it captures the voice of an Indian man and then expands on from there. Gopal is an interesting character.In my opinion, I could be wrong but I feel the ending lets the reader and story down. It didn't have to be a happy ending or a sad one. Just an ending that it is a fitting to the story: by...

When I read the sentence 'even her nostrils suggested a frank sexuality', I felt like I had found an Indian writer who I had to read more. Akhil Sharma's short story Cosmopolitan makes for a well-written and lightly entertaining read.

a delicious fifty pager on a mature shag

What is a "contented breast", Akhil?

Faber and Faber turn 90 this year and as part of the celebrations, f & f are reissuing 20 short stories from authors on their rosters. At this point I’m not sure if I’ll review all of them but Cosmopolitan definitely deserves a mention.Gopal’s wife and daughter have left him and after sometime alone he starts to fancy his next door neighbour. Armed with Cosmopolitan as his guide, Gopal tries his hardest to woo his neighbor.Cosmopolitan is gently funny. I smiled a few times at Gopal recalling som...

Gopal, recently retired, finds himself alone after his wife leaves him and his daughter moves abroad. He becomes something of a recluse. A romantic relationship kindles between Gopal and a neighbour from across the street, with Gopal's courtship techniques learned largely from reading Cosmopolitan magazine.This was a modern, calm, gently funny, pleasant and wholly competent short story to read. I'm not sure it is one that will lodge itself in my memory for long, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

“You really love me, don’t you?”Nothing that remarkable about the overall plot, but I enjoyed the way it was written. The characters were complex in the short time I got to know them and I think it’s a great insight into new relationships after old ones fall apart. It was like Normal People for married couples.

I enjoyed main character, Gopal and how pure he is attached/ love someone. Also it shows how he struggle with his curious and confused inner child as he is facing culturel diversity in his neighbourhood as well.

Recently retired Gopal is abandoned by his wife, who’s gone to seek enlightenment in an Indian ashram, and his twentysomething daughter, who’s moved to be with her boyfriend in Germany. Alone in New Jersey and unsure how to fill his days, he unexpectedly finds himself in a relationship with his neighbour and fellow retiree Mrs Shaw and begins to read magazines like Cosmopolitan to brush up on courtship after many years of being married.Charming is how I’d describe Akhil Sharma’s short story. I’m...

This is a wonderful short story in from the Faber Stories collection. It is taken from Sharma’s 2017 collection called A Life of Adventure and Delight.Our central character is called Gopal Maurya, an Indian ex-patriot, now living in New Jersey. He has become reclusive, shutters down, sleeping on the living-room couch. His home is untidy and dusty. His wife has left him and gone back to India to seek enlightenment from an ashram. His daughter has left to live with her boyfriend in Germany. He has...

“This is who we are, he thought - dusty, corroded, and dented from our voyages, with our unflagging hearts rattling on inside. We are made who we are by the dust and corrosion and dents and unflagging hearts. Why should we need anything else to fall in love? he wondered. We learn and change and get better.”

(4/30 faber stories)nothing too great about the plot, but i enjoyed sharma’s well-written prose dealing with his idea of relationships and realism.“mrs. shaw suddenly turned to gopal and said, ‘you really do love me, don’t you?’ although gopal had expected the question, he was momentarily disconcerted by it, because it made him wonder what love was and whether he was capable of it.”

RAOn one level a remarkably bland read. But there was something readable about it. Something about the male character's lack of confidence and understanding, his self-recrimination and yet sheer boldness. It was as if his mind and body were at odds. Playing on the notion that a 'modern man' can learn about women from women's magazines. (Imagine women learning about men from lads' mags!) Both characters want to share love, but in very different ways. Of course there's sex: that aspect seems easy....

The attractive neighbour of a lonely retiree asks to borrow his lawnmower. He makes a grab for her in the garage but is fortunate in that she is receptive rather than horrified. A relationship develops between them, and the question is whether it's the kind of relationship he thinks he wants. He is not the most sympathetic of protagonists, but it's a well-written story that reveals his character, and develops it, in a variety of subtle ways.

Faber 90th Anniversary Mini Series #20 of 20Finished. Another shirt story in Faber's series of books. This story is about the relationship between the main character, Gopal, and his neighbour Mrs Shaw. It covers a few months in Gopal's life, and his he so wants a full relationship with Mrs Shaw. Well written. I would say the ending could have been better. Recommend to read