The Hippo Girl and Other Stories is a collection of gut-wrenching heartbreaks by the Bangladeshi author, Shah Taziran Ashrafi. I loved reading it as well as having read it. The distinct characters are seared on my mind. I found it intriguing that the magnitude of emotion delivered back to back isn’t exhausting. There's no respite and I wanted none! Despite the length of the stories, the worlds created by the author are rich in their character dynamics and complex in their politics. The stories have a vast tonal range, which ultimately contributes to how engaging they are.

The thread that ties all the stories together is a sharp focus on people breaking because of the million atrocities committed by the state and/or society. Unfulfilled hopes, responsibilities, oppression, grief, bias, disability, and more come together to paint a picture of a people wounded by Bangladesh’s fragile political landscape. I think most of all, the collection is a meditation on loss.

It's a wonderful debut by an infinitely promising author! I couldn’t recommend The Hippo Girl and Other Stories enough.

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My favourite visuals that will linger in my mind for a while: