Rules of Desire by Dipika Mukherjee

Rules of Desire Reviews

• 
  Fadillah

  Actual Rating : 3.5/5
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  “The Malays may be muslims now, but they know the chants that make the padi shoot up green and tender from the earth and make the fish embrace the fisherman’s nets without tipping over his craft. They know how to ask the wind to let down her long hair to fill the sails of a boat, and whenever they plant a seedling, they croon a lullaby that restores the child to its mother. Hisham told me all this, for it is still in the spirit of his land.
  - Bleeding Tree by Dipika Mukherjee (Rules of desire)
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  I didnt think this book deserved 2.88 in goodreads - at least in my humble opinion. Some stories were impactful and some were okay but none can be categorised as bad. This is my first book of dipika mukherjee and it definitely will not be my last. There are 17 stories featured in the book that took place in Malaysia, India, China and United States of America. Third Culture Kid (TCK), Racism, Infidelity, Domestic Abuse, Grief are among the subjects of these stories. Her stories were bold - she dared to question a harsh reality regarding minority in Malaysia. I could be wrong but some stories reeks Islamophobia especially when the setting of the stories is in India or the characters were originally from India. I don’t know whether it is the intention of the author given the fragility relation between Hindus and Muslims there. Now it is more relevant with BJP propaganda and all. I could be reading into this too much but i can just help shaking this thought from my mind. Other than that, I think this is the second books i’ve read this year that featured story on Subhas Chandra Bose that were written by Indians in Southeast Asia. It is not biographically writing but it revolved on how his influence and legacy actually affected the Indian community that lived in Malaysia and Singapore at that time. I have to highlight that they didn’t write how good or great he was but rather they were being led on and lied to on the premise of the India’s Unity. My favourite stories would be :
  1. The wife (I watched the India’s daughter documentary and was reminded of one of the parts which they interviewed one of the rapists’ wife and she stood firmly defended her husband. She even said “Am i not India’s daughter too?”.)
  2. Baby’s Breath (How truly helpless one can be that the only way out is suicide?)
  3. The Jazz Bar (A closeted gay couples living a double life)
  4. Desire, Spring, Poetry (Paedophile in the making)
  5. Patriots of the will (The Mishti Lady was being impregnated by Bose)
  Overall, an okay read. Some stories caught you right away and some stories only provide minimal interest and intrigue.
• 
  Regina Ibrahim

  
  Ini merupakan kumcer yang dihadiahkan sewaktu saya aktif menulis cerpen di ruang CUKARIA.
  Beberapa kali bertemu Dipika ketika Georgetown Literary Festival. Orangnya ceria dan bersahaja, namun siapa sangka penulisannya begitu hebat mencengkam.
  Thunder Demons novel debut beliau pernah dicalonkan untuk Man Asian Literary Prize dan dicetak semula oleh Penguin Publishing. Pada tahun 2014 beliau memenangi Gayatri GaMarch Memorial Award. Fiksi fiksi cerpen beliau pernah disiarkan di halaman Chicago Quarterly Review.
  
  Rules of Desire membariskan 17 cerpen hebat tersusun. 6 daripadanya pernah tersiar di makalah makalah antarabangsa.
  
  Penceritaan merangkumi lokasi lokasi pelbagai dari Kuala Lumpur, India sehinggalah Shanghai, mengambil kira harapan manusia, cita cita, kegagalan, ekonomi, golak politik, seksualiti dalam suasana realism tanpa rasa malu sedikitpun.
  
  Pembaca akan jadi terbuai sebaik memulakan cerita tentang wartawan Doppelganger yang beraduk perasaan peribadi dan urusan politik. Kehilangan MH370 dalam Hiraki Berkabung, isteri yang tertindas Baby Breath, Pohon Berdarah tentang kehidupan bohemian moden, hubungan homoseksual dalam Jazz Bar serta macam macam lagi.
  
  Pembentukan watak dan isi penceritaan memainkan peranan penting dalam penulisan, Dipika telah menjalaninya sebaik mungkin.
  
  Saya fikir kumcer ini mampu menjadi rujukan pada mereka yang sering bertanya bagaimana mahu menulis cerpen? Rules of Desire memiliki segala elemen tersebut. (Ia mewakili bijaksana penulis tanpa kompromi meskipun mahu mewakili watak watak yang sedikit dungu, tamak dan penting diri)
  
  I am glad to have taken time to enjoy this excellent collection.
  
• 
  Ruby Jusoh

  Interesting. Some are too short. Some quite impactful. A few brilliant moments. Most stories deal with romance, desires and eroticism. Lots of settings - Malaysia, China, India and US.
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  The first few stories did not really grip me. The ones that I enjoyed are The Jazz Bar (about a gay couple who had to hide their affair) and Baby's Breath (a woman marrying into a higher class). The book touches a lot of fascinating topics that can get rather dark. However, not many details that would just absorb you.
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  3/5. Recommended. I'd say that this serves as a good introduction to the author's body of work. I plan to get her novels for I know she has written a few.
• 
  Ismim Putera

  2 stars. 1 star is for all the credentials and accolades, and 1 star is for all the stories. The stories are, perhaps, unique in their own ways, particularly by the usage of strict literary tone & memoir-like prose. The author explores many themes such as familial piety, marital issues, womanhood and racism. Out of 17 stories, I only enjoyed the first story "Doppelganger". The rest are just fine and I was expecting them to be written in a better way.
• 
  H S. A

  24/2020📚
  
  Rules of Desire : Dipika Mukherjee
  Different from my usual reading stuff. Might interest others 😁
  
  Personal rating: 2⭐️/5⭐️
• 
  Annabel

  2.5