BookBrowse Reviews Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo

BookBrowse:

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere is a rare collection of short stories united by a cohesive theme but broad in its emotional scope. These stories of immigration and separation are raw, honest and introspective.

Texas-based Sindya Bhanoo is a veteran newspaper reporter, having written for both the New York Times and the Washington Post. Now, she turns her focus to fiction with her debut collection of short stories: Seeking Fortune Elsewhere.

A slender collection, Seeking Fortune Elsewhere is composed of eight stories, all of which are around 20-30 pages in length. The tightness and brevity of these tales allow for a cohesive flow and focus that remains across the entire reading experience.

That focus is demonstrated by the book's unifying themes of distance and connection. Bhanoo's stories, and the characters within them, are all tethered in some way to migration and to southern India. Some have emigrated from there; others remain there and eagerly await news from family members who have left.

For example, the collection's first story — "Malliga Homes" — tells the tale of an elderly woman who has been housed in a retirement village by her daughter Kamala, who immigrated to the United States. This is a familiar situation for most of the residents, who have established a kind of hierarchy based on what country their children and grandchildren ended up in.

This initial story takes a critical look at family ties and the things that can loosen or sever them. Parents must sit helplessly as their children build a life, career and family far from home. Shifts in place and perspective lead to a cultural divide between generations, as well as a physical one.

The theme of connection runs deeper than the issue of geography, as is best seen in the story "Nature Exchange." In this story, Veena is a woman in her 30s who lost her only child — a boy of seven — to a school shooting. This loss led to the dissolution of her marriage. In the two years since, Veena has focused her efforts on something that her son wanted, but never lived long enough to obtain: a set of antlers.

When he was alive, Neel enjoyed visiting their local nature center, where he could bring in things he had found and exchange them for prizes. He had his eye on the antlers, and now Veena wants them. She wants to finish something her son started; she wants to do something kind for him. She wants to rebuild her connection to the child she lost, and believes she can do so in this way.

Connection is tested in a different way in the story "A Life in America," in which an Indian professor at a U.S. college finds himself under fire from local newspapers. Chand has spent decades forming familial bonds with his Indian students, showing them kindness and friendship. But now, one has claimed that he took advantage of them by forcing them to do unpaid labor at his house. Miscommunication, twisting of stories and cultural wire-crossing have landed Chand in hot water.

There are quiet moments in this story that tell of racism and xenophobia — such as when Chand's white colleague, a man he has known for decades, always leaves him to pick up the balls after their weekly tennis matches. These small moments offer insight into the invisible inequalities found in everyday life; systemic racism so subtle many may not see it at all.

The characters of Bhanoo's collection are fragile, damaged, beaten by tough experiences, by loss and movement and time. Their everyday suffering will have the reader shed a tear more than once, and the tests of familial bonds and human connections will resonate with anyone who has ever lost something significant or struggled to connect with those around them.

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere is a flawless collection of stories that, on the surface, are about migration and physical distance, but underneath explore so much more; most powerful of all is the impact of loss — of homes, family members or opportunities.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in April 2022, and has been updated for the June 2023 edition. Click here to go to this issue.