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Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
I Exist. Therefore I Am by award-winning poet and author Shirani Rajapakse is a heartrending collection of women's stories from the different classes and parts of India. Drink Your Milk and Go to Sleep, the opening story, is not only gut-wrenching, but it is also a horrible eye-opener to the way a lot of women in India are being forced to live their lives. And just when one might think this is the worst story of all, one after the other the terrible tales demand to be read. There's one woman burned by a spiteful mother-in-law, an old woman abandoned by her family, and a smart young woman treated as a slave by her husband. This is a book of fiction that feels as real as the latest news coming out of India regularly.
Shirani Rajapakse's I Exist. Therefore I Am is an unforgettable journey into the world of Indian women and the wretched situations they face for simply being born women. Lyrically beautiful and brutally disturbing, each of these women's stories will leave a strange aftertaste in all readers, men and women alike. I Exist. Therefore I Am is a powerful social commentary on a patriarchal society that has persisted until the 21st century, and exposes the religious and cultural differences existing in our midst. As Shirani Rajapakse's words continue to tell her stories with vivid imagery and troubling metaphors, one cannot help but be affected by it all. And when we finish reading and go on with our own lives, I will not be surprised if that strange aftertaste lingers longer than any of us ever expected.
