Bodies in Motion: Stories

Bodies In Motion is a collection of linked stories that traces the emotional, sexual, and geographic history of two generations of two Sri Lankan families through the last half century. In these stories we see just how emigrant/immigrant ebb and flow shapes lives, loves and the bonds of family. Like Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, Bodies In Motion transports us to Sri Lanka, a country steeped in centuries of tradition but faced with the modernization of social mores and customs. In a land of arranged marriages and entrenched roles, particularly for women, these stories limn the tugofwar between generations and gender as family members make their own choices about their futures, sometimes bringing them to America, and sometimes taking them back to their island home. In a distillation of intimate moments, the stories chronicle the loves, ambitions, spiritual and sexual quests of the members of each family as they search for meaning to their lives and a place to call home.

Mary Anne Mohanraj teaches fiction at Vermont College and Roosevelt University