Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love
Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love by Huma Qureshi
Reviewed by Jess
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After reading How We Met and feeling so connected to her story, when Huma Qureshi returned with this short story collection, we as a book club jumped on this book immediately. It’s a collection of fictional tales about the impact of silence and biting your tongue in relationships, between mothers and daughters, best friends, lovers, families. All of the stories are really contemporary (one might even say very stereotypically middle class!) and the underlying themes in all are a great thread that takes you through this examination on what it means to belong to someone, yearn for something or be your true self.
Huma’s words are lyrical and truly take you deep into the snapshot in time, what the character is feeling, the intensity and rush of emotion in the moment. The rhythm and ease of the stories make them easy to fall into, and still satisfying even though they’re not full novellas in and of themselves. I know that Too Much is the standout story for many; it did shock me to see such a fraught mother-daughter relationship displayed so starkly and I know many of us who read it were inclined to call their moms ASAP! It’s the little nuances and everyday familiar scenarios laid out in the context of what we indeed do not say, that make you catch your breath as you read.
My normal reading patterns often mean I pick up short story collections when I’m in a reading rut or I want something easy to digest. But Huma’s book isn’t like that at all - it deserves your time and consideration as a whole book, as the stories complement each other and each one expands your heart slightly more than the one before. For the record, my favourite stories were Firecracker, The Wishes, and Premonition in particular; such a powerful opening story on a young crush gone sour, and the power dynamics that young boys can leverage on girls.
