Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love

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Other stories in the collection are diligent, sometimes close to sentimental: a tale about a student friendship gone awry in adulthood and another about a couple coping with repeat miscarriages are sensitive, seem personal and yet are thinly written. Qureshi is feeling her way with this form, and it’s to her credit that so many of these stories succeed. It’s a form she clearly reveres, with the titular allusion to Raymond Carver, and there is a whiff of Alice Munro in Qureshi’s sadly estranged mothers and daughters. Qureshi’s stories feature a cast of – mostly – youngish women of Pakistani heritage, often struggling with overbearing, judgmental and oppressive mothers, blindly insensitive male partners, or both. These tales vividly capture the experience of feeling constrained by family expectations, but also of not quite fitting the norms of British culture either. The two best stories had a magical, fable-like quality and were emotionally complex. A lot of the remaining stories sort of blurred into one. The writing has a real force but sometimes I wished we could truly enter the minds of other characters/types in the book. A luscious debut . . Qureshi is a dab hand at yanking the rug out from under the reader. Her immersive, poignant stories - written mostly in understated prose - often have a sting in the tale . . I fell for this lyrical, moving collection and the woozy intensity that infuses many of its stories. Qureshi creates gripping plotlines and vividly drawn characters and - most importantly - she is a writer with something to say. - i

What annoyed me a bit though is how it seems most of the stories had a [Pakistani] Muslim woman with white man trope. One of the book's silliest tales, Superstitious, features a woman who loses her boyfriend unexpectedly and attributes it to passing by a purportedly cursed tree. While this voice gives the collection its throughline, it also means that the stories blend together. No one story particularly stands out – although The Jam Maker, which won Harper’s Bazaar’s Short Story Prize in 2020, is undoubtedly the book’s strongest – but, rather, the collection works as one voice exploring the similar themes through different angles.What can I do?’ she asked. You can fight, I thought , you can fight for your daughters. But then again, who was I to speak of such things Not only that— i experienced the angst of teenage love all over again; falling in love during the summer, and getting heartbroken by fall; peacefully outgrowing my friendships and leaving them in my past; encountering a past flame, and attaining closure after all these years; falling out of love from a seemingly-perfect marriage; and even the utter joy of childbirth after waiting for so long to conceive. Set across the blossoming English countryside, the stifling Mediterranean, and the bustling cities of London and Lahore, Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love illuminates the parts of ourselves we rarely reveal. Qureshi's stories keenly identify the everyday tragedies of feeling profoundly unknown or unheard, of holding secrets and misunderstandings . . . These tales vividly capture the experience of feeling constrained by family expectations, but also of not quite fitting the norms of British culture either . . . Qureshi takes the reader plausibly inside the inner recesses of characters' hearts and minds. Premonition beautifully recalls the intensity of a first crush, developed via "a private symphony of glances", before a bewildering first kiss leads to disaster. And she captures how such incidents can, in adulthood, seem insignificant and still life-defining . . . there are so many striking images to relish. -- Holly Williams ― Observer The first story, Premonition, explores the idea of damaging gossip in the desi community, its negative impacts on a girl's life, and how life comes full circle. It is a thought provoking story and set the momentum right.

An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from Caleb Azumah Nelson, the no.1 bestselling, award-winning author of Open Water Set between the blossoming countryside of England, the South of France and Tuscany, and the bustling cities of London and Lahore, Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love shines a light on the parts of ourselves we rarely reveal.Made up of 10 stories, each drawing you into a vivid world full of emotive writing, beautiful yet subtle insights into a culture that may be new to you - exploring what cultural differences may be/feel like to those who find themselves at those inevitable we crossroads. Motherhood, love, marriage, friendship, lust, adolescence, loss are just a few themes explored.

The following story, Small Difference, is complete confusion as a woman travels to Italy with her boyfriend and parents while also having trouble comprehending her own emotions. I have no idea what the author was attempting to say. Huma Qureshi writes the inarticulable distances between mothers and daughters, the consuming ache of longing for someone not yet kissed, the invisible, irreparable breaches in friendships or between lovers, with such pitch-perfect precision, such lightness of touch. These are stories of fierce clarity and tenderness - I loved them. -- Lucy Caldwell, author of IntimaciesFour of the 10 short stories in Huma Qureshi’s debut collection are set on holidays. In Summer, a grown-up daughter invites her mother along on a family trip to the south of France, with fraught results. In Foreign Parts, tensions arise between Mark and his wife, Amina, during a visit to Lahore. In Waterlogged, a tired mother nursing a newborn is irritated by her partner while staying at a genteel B&B in Oxford. And in Small Differences, Tasneem feels alienated while holidaying with her boyfriend, Simon, and his family in Tuscany. In the second tale, Summer, a mother-daughter argument over cultural influences and differences in viewpoint takes on complexity and has a depressing conclusion. It had the potential to be promising, but it ended so frantically that I had difficulties comprehending it. First, I must say that I would never have heard of the brilliant writer, Huma Qureshi, without reading a wonderful review of this collection of short stories by my goodreads’ friend, Paromjit. Her review inspired me to read this book, so thank you, Paromjit. Because I am not tech savvy, I have no idea how to properly thank her, so I will encourage my fellow readers to read this book.