The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor – Shikhandin

Description

In her novel, The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor, Shikhandin both challenges and surprises the readers, moving from the narration of the most mundane events to something way beyond. The mother-child theme however remains paramount, with an almost perfect rendition of an infant’s life and thoughts. In the end, all the dots are connected and a new picture emerges. — Shashi Deshpande

Oscillating between the concrete and the abstract, live shadows and people, Shikhandin’s evocative novella The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor traverses through the inner and outer scapes of consciousness of the protagonists, the mother as well as the infant. The expansive range and canvas for action is touchingly experiential, inviting the reader to grapple with the intriguing folds of life and death. — Sukrita Paul Kumar

Bridges the cosmic and the intimate, the too-real and the mystical, with elegant prose and unflinching honesty. — Samit Basu

The Woman on the Red Oxide Floor is a fever dream of birth and destruction, a surprising, vivid, and essential reminder, here at the end of the world, of what human consciousness is capable. — Michael DeLuca