Hinge

Very pleased to read Anvar Alikhan's review of NOTTTHH in India Today this week.

Not Only the Things That Have Happened is a kind of literary diptych, like those artworks that consist of a pair of painted surfaces joined in the middle by a hinge, so that they face in two very slightly different directions. It is the poignant pairing of two hinged stories, of a mother and a son who were separated by circumstances many, many years ago...We hear the story from various angles: From Tessiebaby, Annakutty's half-sister; from Father Paul, the empathetic village priest; from Gretchen Oster, the woman who first adopted Asa, and managed to lose him. The result is a novel that is complex, yet so elegantly written that it manages to read lightly and pleasurably, without ever showing its inner workings. And that is what makes it so special. Koshy, who divides her own life between India and Portland, Oregon, is able to capture the worlds of both the protagonists, in Kerala and in the US, with admirable authenticity and acuity.  

It is a remarkably self-assured work, and it feels slightly humbling to be in the presence of a literary talent like this. I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more of Mridula Koshy in the times to come.

 Read the full review here.