Were it not for the inevitable dampening effect of translation from Urdu to English, this book deserves at least 5 stars. Ismat Chugtai was a brilliant writer, expressing her views with candor, vivid imagery, and a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor. She dares to address and expose seriously taboo topics at a time when the role of women in society was so suppressed and inhibited it makes the present day seem utopian. Like a true iconoclast, she probes questionable societal norms that most followed blindly, and still do. The only disappointment in this book is that it reads like someone's paraphrasing of Chugtai's stories; the translation, although mostly accurate, erodes the true flavor of her writing and really misses the mark sometimes.

The book takes a look at the society of her times and provides a witty, inciteful look at it