A series of short stories translated from Tamil by Martha Ann Selby who also introduces and explains the stories. This is not something I normally read and although it is very well written I found it a difficult read.

Thankyou to netgalley, the publisher and the author for sending me this ARC.

I am landing somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars for this one.

In this collection of stories translated into English from Tamil, Dilip Kumar tells about the life of everyday people living in modern day southern India. We see people living and working in Chennai and other communities. There was a lot of talk of death and dying in these stories, whether an elderly person considering suicide or the death of a beloved "grandmother" figure.

<i>And yes, your guess is correct: he is a poet. And this you will know for sure: great poets never die of illness. They only commit suicide. </i>

What I got overall was a sense of community but that even in a community overflowing with people there is still the existence of loneliness. The stories were in turn funny, crude, dark, and deep. This is a good collection to slowly savor over some tea and idli.

"Cat in the Agrahram and Other Stories", by Dilip Kumar and translated from Tamil by Martha Ann Selby, is a collection of 14 short stories set mainly in the Ekambareshvarar Agraharam, in Chennai, the capital of the Indian state Tamil Nadu. "Agraharam" is a street or streets occupied by orthodox Hindus, and the majority of the characters from the short stories are inhabitants of the agraharam.

The collection opens with a light-toned, comical story, "Crossing Over", about Gangu Patti, an old woman who despite her hard life, in her old age is an energetic, humorous woman who becomes the confidant of the women in the agraharam. The collection closes very differently, with a very heavy story, the only slightly political story, "The Path", that takes a short glimpse at a man waiting his execution after having been arrested and tortured by the police in what was the time of the police state during the Tamil insurgency. The stories in between these two differ in tone, from more comical/ satirical to a more sad and disheartening tone. My favorite stories apart from the opening and closing ones which I loved, were "The Mirror", "The Crowd", and "The Solution". "The Mirror" is among the stories with a more disheartening tone, following a day in the life of a homeless couple with a young child. "The Crowd" and "The Solution" are both more comical, about how the people in the agraharam come together to wake up someone who had passed out, and to get rid of a dead rat from the drinking well. The title story, "Cat in the Agrahram", is also quite memorable and follows a devout matriarch who is annoyed at an old cat that comes and visits her home and steals milk during religious ceremonies. Even though not a favorite, I did appreciate the metaphor and the irony in that short story. Having said that, I found all the stories to be very good, but these that I mentioned spoke more to me personally than the rest.

The characters in the stories are regular people, and while neither of them is in the spotlight for a long time, since these are all short stories, I found them to be memorable. Some are old and some are young, some are religious and some are not, some are kindhearted and some are ill willed. The glimpses we get from their lives amused and saddened me, sometimes both at the same time. There is a lot specific to the Indian society I'm sure, but a lot also felt universal to people all over the world. Characters come back in stories in which they are no longer the protagonists, which I felt was a great technique to make the reader feel even more immersed in this world of the agraharam, since they are able to recognize familiar faces.

There is even more packed into this short collection of short stories. Differences between the different languages spoken in India (mainly Tamil and Gujarati, but other languages are also mentioned), differences in castes, religions and many others under the surface I'm sure. A reader more familiar with Indian literature and life than myself, would probably be able to unpack a lot more. The best I could do was go back to the introduction written by the translator (which is something I don't typically do) to try to learn more about what inspired the writer to write these stories, the experience of translating them for the English-speaking world, and the occasional hidden meanings that may lay in these stories. The introduction was very interesting and I absolutely recommend going back to it if you enjoy the stories.

Looking back on my reading journey, I believe this is the first piece of literature translated from an Indian language that I have read. It will most definitely not be my last. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Northwestern University Press for the privilege of reading this collection of short stories in exchange for my honest opinion.

I took nearly eight weeks to read these stories, not because they were difficult to read, but because they were such a deceptive pleasure. These stories can be read and enjoyed for their own sake, but I was also fascinated by what I learned about these stories along the way, as well as about the author and his intentions, from the outstanding introduction written by translator Martha Ann Selby. I kept toggling from story to introduction and back again, and taking my time made the book all the more rewarding for me.

Dilip Kumar is a native speaker of Gujarati who chooses to write in Tamil. That's interesting to Selby (and me, too) and she gives much information in the introduction about Kumar's linguistic/literary choices, and how they reflect both his personal experiences as well as his literary intent. Almost everything I've read of contemporary Indian fiction has been written in English, and with the needs of an international, English-speaking audience in mind. English is a national language of India, of course, but it isn't a native language of India, and sometimes I feel that Indian authors writing in English are using their art to explain India to the outside world. Kumar's stories in contrast are written for insiders, for Tamil readers. As an English-speaking American I'm entering these stories as a trespasser, or at best an ignorant tourist. I want to emphasize that my alienation didn't make these stories harder to read. Instead, it made them richer to read.

My thanks to Martha Ann Selby for her work in translating and explaining Kumar's stories to me, and thanks to Northwestern University Press for publishing them and for providing me with a review copy.

I generally enjoy reading books in translation as they offer insight into other cultures, but try as I might, I just couldn't get into this book of stories. I haven't entirely given up on it, I have just put it aside for a bit. It will probably appeal to some one else, it just wasn't my book.

Hilarious from the beginning... I could picture the scene in each story. The stories are very interesting.

The characters in Dilip Kumar’s “Cat in the Agraharam and Other Stories” inhabit a banal yet strange world. Alternatively relatable and bizarre, they are people who leave a lasting impression on you despite their lives being lodged deep in the deadening routines of life.

“There are really no heroes to speak of in Dilip Kumar’s stories” says Martha Ann Selby, the translator, in her preface to the book. Yet, each one has an aura of their own, evoking pity or sadness. Most of the stories are laced with a biting irony and you feel the loneliness that the central character is going through. You feel their emptiness, their despair. Gangu Patti, for instance, is the foul-mouthed octogenarian who doles out advice on everything from career choices to sexual issues to the young women of the agraharam. Her manner of speaking grates on you but you see that it comes from soul-crushing disillusionment, and that she doesn’t mean anything by it. In fact, the more expletives she uses, the more she loves you!

The stories set across Coimbatore and Chennai give a revealing insight into middle-class living, customs, and thoughts. They speak of a universal struggle with identity, sexuality, and boundaries. They are like a peephole that gives you “conversational vignettes.” And none of this would have been ever revealed to me without Martha Ann Selby’s masterful, brilliant translation. This is the first Indian translation by a non-Indian that I have read, and I never felt the difference. Selby has not just translated words in Dilip Kumar’s work but the heart and soul of it.

I leave you with a passage from the last story in the collection, which is about Comrade K. who was a writer. The passage contains a critic’s thoughts about Comrade K.’s stories. But he could very well be talking about Dilip Kumar himself. It sums up with great accuracy what I felt after reading Cat in the Agraharam and Other Stories. It also shows the high level of self-awareness that Dilip Kumar has for his writings to mirror them within his own story.

“The bitter world that Comrade K.’s writings unfold, the spontaneity of the people without class consciousness who inhabit that world, and their coarse logics deeply impressed me. Moreover, the simplicity and maturity of his language have the power to effect a wondrous calm in a reader’s mind. With a persistent undercurrent of violence and sexuality, his works constantly unsettle society’s basic values, and keep pushing us towards life’s enduring questions. His characters trample established social mores and understanding. Comrade K. gently teases life’s abstractions through the realities of human physicality.”

4stars! Great book! I'm the perfect audience for short stories. Excellent

Special thanks to NetGalley and Northwestern Universal Press for my ARC of this wonderful thought provoking short story collection. Bravo!

This collection of short stories is unique in many aspects. Author juggles between several stories from Southern part of India and other from various part of the world. Most of the stories are about people and situations from everyday life. The culture and societal settings are described beautifully to bring out local customs. There are some unusual characters but while you read, you can relate it to some incident in your life or someone you know in world around you.

In the opening story, an elderly women who has touched the death and came back several times, remembers her past as a young girl who went through unspeakable horrors and took decade to come out of it only to become an unusual agony aunt who gave practical solutions to sexual problems of shy girls and women. A letter which is written to wealthy brother but falls in wrong hands after his death. A wife who refuses to say a word while leaving the home or after staying back. The uncertainty of old age to which all promises are meaningless. A mother and son who went hungry through the day for promise of a better future. A woman who gets terrified looking at her own reflection first time in the mirror and distances from her husband. Several more such stories will keep you spellbound while you adore the characters.

There are some stories which start in a promising tone but deliver less than expected. There are some characters who needed to be worked upon before being included in the book. Overall enjoyable read.

3.5 stars.


This is an intimate, short collection of stories about community, death, and intertwined cultures in a South Indian village. Sickness and regret fill these pages. The characters are all facing some kind of ailment, whether financial or physical, and some are considering suicide. And yet, there’s a life and humor behind the words, a subtle hope that maybe love can conquer after all. The writing is accessible yet lovely, really pulling you in and leaving you satisfied at the conclusion of each piece.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Northwestern Press for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Dilip Kumar's "Cat in the Agraharam" is both extraordinary and completely ordinary. Detailing the lives of everyday lovers, wanderers, singers, poets and country girls, Kumar's Tamil translations offer a glimpse into South India that is rarely portrayed in modern day life. By turns crude, romantic, simple and honest, Kumar shapes his stories with a masterful touch. This collection is just what is needed in these dire times, a touch of color and life!

Absolutely loved this book.Its a collection of short stories translated from Tamil.Blending the Gujarati life with living in Chennai these stories offer a rare look into two cultures that are intertwined.
Beautifully written.Completely immerses you into life in South India.Almost like taking a trip there.
Thankyou Netgalley for this ARC

This may be a challenging read for some mostly because of the names, which are difficult to pronounce for Americans. It also seems like a lot of translated works loose something in translation, and I think that happened here. The author certainly has talent and most of the stories are quite well crafted. This is "literature" and not a light read. Probably best for those that want an intellectual read.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

This book was received as an ARC from Northwestern University Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I did not expect this coming from this type of book. First off, I could not pronounce the names and words expressed throughout the stories and through the middle of one of the stories, I had to get my dictionary to help me understand the plot and theme of the story. I am a fan of using sophisticated vocabulary in literary writing but as I was reading I could not grasp the meaning just from the sentence, I had to get my dictionary and honestly, I get frustrated real quickly when I have to do that. Cats are a very popular topic throughout our library and I thought this would be a collection of literary cat stories but it was far from the other side of the spectrum. I know a lot of our community members and readers are not at this level of reading and like me, will be frustrated real quick.

Due to the difficult vocabulary and the high literary reading level, we give this book 2.5 stars.