Review of Rishikesh Lokapure's All Stories Are: Small Stories with Big Weights

Earlier this year, I read The Trees Sing Rishikesh Lokapure’s debut story collection. I loveddddd it. So, when he announced All Stories Are, I knew I had to pick it up. It’s the second book in his series of standalone story collection. And I went into this one with the same expectations as the stories in The Trees Sing.

The stories of this book carries the same slow, laid-back vibe of the first one... but with a different emotional weight. Where The Trees Sing wrapped you in warmth, this one presses a little harder. It has small stories with big weights.

These stories are still character-driven, still deeply human, and still remarkable. I fell in love with them again. A little less, but fell in love.

My Rating:

❤️❤️❤️❤️🤍

“Small stories with big weights.”

Check All Stories Are on Goodreads

Buy All Stories Are on Amazon

What the Book is About

All Stories Are by Rishikesh Lokapure is a collection of six simple short stories. Simple but deep and hard-hitting. About others' crucial moments that we often don't pay much attention to. It's the second book in the series after The Trees Sing, and much like that, it isn't dramatic or elaborate.

What this book does is highlight stories about the lived experiences of disability – blindness, dyslexia, Alzheimer's and others. It's never about the condition itself, but the people. Always the people. Each story is built around a single character getting through a specific, vulnerable moment. Moments that the people around them never stop to consider.

What Works?

These stories are emotional and beautiful. They explore humans' existence in their most vulnerable moments. Rishikesh cares for his characters. Stories seem to be written, as they’re seen... without needing sweeping metaphors or prolong descriptions. I absolutely loved the opening and closing stories. The others were less striking, but still carried the signature warmth The Trees Sing had.

The writing is clean, relaxed and quite visual, without stale, long-winding world-building. Actually, I think that the lack od descriptions lets you imagine the characters in your own surroundings. Loved that. They felt like someone who exist among us.

Also, the stories don’t seek sympathy for people with disabilities. They just show you a person, in a moment, being fully human. They don't frame it as tragedy or inspiration.

What Falls Short?

Compared to the first collection, these stories aren't gentle. All Stories Are book is heavier, more emotionally tolling and a little more piercing than what I expected. That's not necessarily a flaw, of course, but if you came looking for the soft warmth of The Trees Sing, you may need a moment to recalibrate before digging in to it.

Yeah, I know I'm comparing this book to the previous one a bit too much. But it's hard not to when they share the same series of stories. It's just that The Trees Sing set a very specific emotional tone, and Rishikesh deliberately moves away from it with this collection.

Who Should Read It?

All Stories Are is for those who are willing to pause and look inward. It’s a collection of short, contemporary stories with disability and mental health representation. If you enjoy emotional and reflective stories, you'll love it.

Final Thoughts

Even though All Stories Are didn't turn me into a puddle of mush, it still made me all senti. It made me feel the weight of being human. Reminded me of all the moments I've been inconsiderate to other beings around me. And that's a rare thing for a slim collection of six stories to do. It's not like a comfort read, but it's a must read still. And I'm waiting to read what Rishikesh brings out next.

Liked this book review?

Join Book Blabbers WhatsApp group to bond over books, memes and quotes.

Subscribe to Book Blabber's Bulletin to get book summaries, reading tips and occasional hugs in your inbox.