Former journalist Zahid Rafiq's resounding debut collection, The World with Its Mouth Open, offers 11 stories that distill quotidian moments--a walk, a job search, new neighbors--into opportunities for deep insight. Reflecting his own background, Rafiq's characters live in Kashmir, a disputed territory on the Indian subcontinent uneasily governed by India, Pakistan, and China. They navigate the demands of family and community, struggling to survive amid chaos and violence.
Rafiq's title haunts "Crows," about a young boy subjected to vicious beatings from an in-demand (by desperately ambitious parents) tutor who absolutely won't accept underperformance: "Do you know what is waiting out there?" he ferociously rebukes, "The world... with its mouth open," ready to devour the unprepared. For a while, at least, the boy has a concerned, compassionate friend who bears witness by being the one to tell his story.
Victims reliant on others to record and remember their lives--and deaths--are many here; that indirect exposition seems to be Rafiq's clever reminder of an inevitable interconnectedness, even among strangers. In a society debilitated by destruction, Rafiq deftly finds glimmers of humanity, even among anthropomorphized canine residents in "Dogs" who, like their bipedal counterparts, exhibit bonded loyalty and exhausted disconnection. His characters have doctor appointments, get fired, fall in love, help and hurt each other. Rafiq writes succinctly, almost curtly, encouraging readers to piece together elliptical details to deduce the rewarding narrative: promises, flowers, ancestral grave plots eventually reveal why a young man has come to the cemetery alone in "Flowers from a Dog." Hauntingly astute, Rafiq is a storyteller to watch--and closely read. --Terry Hong