THE BEST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE

Young Indians and Indian Americans try to find their footings in the world in this contemplative debut story collection.

In “The Bus,” the opening story, a man embarks on what proves to be a strange and unexpectedly perilous visit to his hometown. In “Summers of Waiting,” a woman living in the U.S. returns to India to visit the dying grandfather who raised her. For Aditya, in “The Immigrant,” his first semester as a graduate student in the U.S. is a struggle to survive. In “The Protocol,” another Indian immigrant seeking to stay in the U.S. takes a chance by marrying an American woman for a visa. Most of Injam’s characters experience deep emotion but don't know how to communicate their love and longing, perhaps constrained by societal expectations of their gender, sexuality, or religion in expressing how they feel. Many of the stories serve as eloquent meditations on grief, but “Lunch at Paddy's,” which tries to be more lighthearted, falls flat. In it, a man named Padmanabham is bewildered by what to serve when his son invites a White school friend to lunch. While some of the humor lands (what kind of grocery store doesn’t stock Maggi?), the story’s attempt to showcase the multifaceted anxieties of recent immigrants doesn’t quite work; why doesn’t anyone, including the two kids plenty exposed to American culture, suggest ordering a pizza? But almost every other story offers readers at least one moment of pure literary satisfaction. Linked by theme and tone, the entries are different enough to merit the reader’s investment in the rich worlds the author creates for each of them. While the collection takes little risk, it offers an array of characters and circumstances that capture contemporary concerns with grace; the language, well-rendered details, and strong story structures combine to deliver revelations. Injam’s title story, in particular, is a testament to his command of the short form.

Injam comes close to fulfilling the promise of his title with these meticulously crafted narratives.