Mira Sethi Books In Order

Publication Order of Collections

Mira Sethi is a Pakistani model, actress and literary fiction author best known for her 2021 novel Are You Enjoying?
She is the daughter of Jugnu Mohsin and Najam Sethi. Mira attended Cheltenham Ladies College, Wellesley College, and Oxford University. She’s worked as an assistant editor for The Wall Street Journal, and as a contributor for the newspaper majoring on Pakistan’s politics.

In 2011, Mira Sethi returned to Pakistan to major in an acting career at the same time majoring in journalism and writing fiction stories. In 2021, she published her debut novel, Are You Enjoying, the story of a young woman who discovers the anesthetizing pleasures of an illicit love affair among other short stories.

Are You Enjoying?
Mira Seth’s debut book is a collection of short stories that bring modern Pakistan to life in bright color. It’s an interesting glimpse into the culture about which most of us might make assumptions and the refreshing perspective the author offer will have you take a second look.
Her characters are uniquely woven as they leap from the pages and chapters; their voices, opinions, and choices are often bold, and at times their actions seem defiant.

Their world is a blend of the contemporary world underpinned by tradition- while their culture is a blend of both.
The young folks aren’t dismissive of their customs that have held the society together, even though, at times they are less sympathetic. They feel deference, have respect, but they know their own desires, their own minds, and will at times do whatever it takes to obtain their desires even if it means breaking the rules.

We are introduced to Mehak, a very young actress determined to make a name for herself. But when her morals keep her back on set, her integrity, values are tossed to one side. There’s another story that introduces us to ZB, a woman who clearly knows how to stand her ground. She is married to a politician, but it’s she who has the true power and influence. Her son seems to have left his career overseas through loyalty and dedication to his mother, giving her support that seems unnecessary, but impliedly expected.

His wife dreams of going away and declares all the women from the husband’s family to be total control freaks and longs to break away from such. As we can see, ZB is a woman highly motivated by cause- she is determined to rescue anyone that’s been shunned away by society or victimized by the outdated culture. Their home is quite wealthy and such she turns her attention to the poor and left fortunate- but in the end, the reader is left questioning what her real motivation really is.

In another story, we meet Javed, a man who’s quite reserved as he embarks on an affair, but in the long run, he’s not immune from all the sadness that life throws at him both in love and in work. His pain is sincere, but to the outside world, he’s a man who remains unmoved.
Throughout the collection of these short stories, we get to see raw feelings of the characters that are in most cases conflicted and not sure about the right path to follow.

It’s not surprising to see the battle between modernity and tradition- where customs are to be respected but are no longer acceptable in the modern world.
The characters seem to ignore the unspoken rules they are required to obey and they instead risk it all to follow their inner desires as they rebel against the customs that might in previous life moderated them.

The characters are not immune to emotions, loss, hurt, and sorrow. But just like Javed, they may choose to suppress their pain and face the world with blank and non-committal expressions.

They probably feel that personal feelings have no place in the career or feel the pressures of obligations. Mira Sethi’s characters are all honest, in their thoughts and stories and they express their feelings without reserve.

None of the stories is narrated from the first-person point of view but their unique personalities are unravelled through their interaction with others and their own reflections. For instance, in the story of Soni, upon realizing the fruitless nature of her love affair, she assesses her behavior and hesitance to take action. But she truly knows that without intervention, she will forever continue suffering.

Mira Sethi’s book title Are You Enjoying is a question that’s directly asked to the characters themselves and not the readers but offers the readers a chance to reflect and relate the stories narrated to their own lives.

In your created reality, and in the illusion, you’ve created to make your inner self happy, are you truly happy? And on reflection, how many would respond YES, to such a question?