I was interested in this hybrid collection because of its fluid approach towards the concepts of gender and genre. I have a cursory understanding of some of the “inherited rage of South Asian women” that Sindu writes of, as I grew up in Southeast Asia and have some knowledge of associated cultural experiences and expectations, so I was excited to delve deeper into this emotional landscape.

The collection is a beautiful experience of feminine rage, empathy, and identity, amidst topics like arranged marriages and the mother-daughter conflict. Chapbooks simultaneously offer intensity and brevity, which allows a reader to easily sample a writer’s creative style and intellectual ideas. The overarching theme of mental health is something I deeply appreciate too, as the topics in Dominant Genes are experienced by many.

The chapbook opens with “Birth Story,” a very short piece where the narrator describes how her mouth is “[stitched] up” by her mother “out of love.” It sets the tone for themes like motherhood and autonomy, where love to the point of over-protection causes a lot of unintended grief when a child doesn’t have space to grow into their own person.

“Draupadi Walks Alone at Night” is a captivating short story where Sindu shares that South Asian women “learn [their] anger through osmosis,” with a mention that it’s still normal for women in rural India to be “married off to their rapists.” We learn about how Draupadi, a queen in the Hindu epic of the Mahabharata, was exiled but still able to have her body “saved” from shame or gambled entirely away by a man, and how “it’s all still her fault” pertaining to a request she made in a past life. The story is interspersed with the narrator’s experiences of gender identity and coming out to her mother. The mother’s response to pray and fast for a “good daughter” contrasts with the narrator’s intent to transform through Draupadi’s rage.

“Banana Tree Wedding” is another memorable piece, where we learn about how the narrators’ parents attempt to “circumvent fate” through an astrologer who specializes in the subject. 

I love how Sindu chose to express the heavy subject matter of this chapbook. Sindu’s ferocious yet still eloquently accessible style pierces through the fog to show us slices of human nature at its core.

Jess Chua is a writer and sketch artist. Her debut chapbook was published in 2023 by Bottlecap Press.

A Musepaper.org essay prize winner, her poems and flash fiction have appeared in 34th Parallel Magazine, Mystery Tribune, and Black Hare Press anthologies. She’s currently working on some short stories and enjoys yoga and art books.

Her website is www.jesschua.com