The Strangest of Fruit

The intrinsic horror in this collection is the suggestion that we are only saved from the constant lurking threat of annihilation by our inept human gestures—the weak joke, the evening cocktail, the petty jealousies, the ill-considered trust of strangers, idle flirtations. In the tradition of Isabel Allende’s magical realism, Ahmed writes of emotions and experiences too large to be contained by mortal characters. In this collection of arresting short stories, we find complex and vulnerable characters wrestling with transitions that exceed what people can easily bear. Ahmed’s miraculous humor keeps these narratives moving in an adept and unlikely cadence, as her themes of love and loyalty, bigotry, colonialism, sexuality, violence and uncanny awareness confront scenarios of liminal spaces—immigrants who wish to assimilate, parents avoiding religious persecution, and especially women and girls contending with life stages in uncomfortable, “othering” circumstances. A cursed lake, a malicious, djinn-infested tree in the village, and a house that can only spew sewage are among the unexpected encounters in this book. The pathos, wit and intense humanity of these stories will make the reader come back to them again and again. The Bangladeshi-American “story” hits a superbly resonant note in The Strangest of Fruit.