Review: The Lesbian Cow and Other Stories by Indu Menon

‘The Lesbian Cow and Other Stories’ by Indu Menon is a collection of short stories that focus on the dark aspects of humanity. The tales are, more often than not, bloody and macabre and rarely have what would be considered a happy ending. While they cover several issues, the running theme is love (though not limited to the conventionally romantic one) combined with the thirst for blood, the insatiability of which is contested by several characters throughout the book. It is certainly not for those who like sunshine and rainbows and want their stories tied up neatly. No, the stories in this collection are messy and neurotic and just as unhinged as some of its characters.

The author explores deviously dark places of the human mind and writes about them in such a matter-of-fact way that it becomes all the more confronting to the audience. The brutality of these stories seeps out and the descriptions of blood and mayhem are eerily evocative. The final images especially get imprinted in your mind, and you need to take your time before you can process a story and move on to the next. The twisted characters and the even more deviant endings that they receive are deliciously grotesque.

What makes this collection of stories more than an entertaining bunch of tales is the themes. From revenge and justice to sacrifice and murder, there is something for everyone in it. The author keeps the reader on edge and you never know what she’s going to throw your way with her next story. However, despite all this, there are instances when one starts seeing repetitiveness in some stories. The constant barrage of trauma in different forms might also get a little too much at times and might be tasteless for some readers. In the end, it comes down to one’s own interpretation of these stories.

All in all,

‘The Lesbian Cow and Other Stories’ is a book worth reading. It is raw and raging and unabashed in its approach to storytelling. If you are looking for something dark and delirious, then this one will certainly take you places that you never thought you wanted to go.