Flash Book Review: Incandescence by Mehreen Ahmed

By Meaghan Curley

Incandescence by Mehreen Ahmed is equal parts endearing, philosophical, and sentimental.

Ultimately, it’s a love story focused on three generations of the aristocratic but afflicted Chowdhury family as they struggle to understand love, war, infidelity, marriage, each other, and themselves. I’ve read two other novels by Ahmed and this author’s writing only gets stronger. Tender but sharp, I gobbled this whole book up in one day. 

Some of my favorite lines:

“How can one benchmark ethical behavior? Can it be benchmarked at all?”

“Her soul, never at peace, oscillated between here and there.”

“The killers, the army, called themselves human but even the dead seemed more human.”

“Death fed on.”

“Whoever penned the future entries, the diary had to continue. Because life couldn’t be silenced.”