Thursday, March 29, 2012

I Am An Executioner: Love Stories- Rajesh Parameswaran

I Am An Executioner: Love Stories


Rajesh Parameswaran

Knopf, Apr 10 2012, $24.95

ISBN: 9780307595928



These fascinating nine tales provide wonderful Kafka twists to “Love Stories.” All the entries are well written with intriguing protagonists (not all human as a frustrated in love tiger stars in “The Infamous Bengal Ming” and an elephant writes her autobiography with footnotes in “Elephants in Captivity”) giving readers insight into the foibles of love. In “The Strange Case of Dr. Raju Gopalatahan”, CompUSA fires Gopie who takes out a shingle and becomes Dr. G. In the title story, the executioner pleads with his beloved that he is a bureaucrat doing his job, not a psychopath. Savirtri shows how much she loves her husband Ravi when she prepares for their Thanksgiving weekend with him lying dead on their floor. With the “Narration of Agent 97-1702’ investigating Subject 243-66328 and love in the future “On the banks of Table River (Planet Lucina, Andromeda Galaxy, AD 2319)” fans will appreciate this anthology’s amusing metaphysical satirizing of love.



Harriet Klausner

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