01076nam a22001457a 4500003000200000005001700002020001800019082001100037100001800048245003100066260004300097300001100140520076600151650001300917020260604121318.0  a9780143472049  aRAF Z   aRafiq, Zahid   aWorld with its mouth open   aGurugram bPenguin Random House c2025  a177p.   aIn eleven stories, The World With Its Mouth Open maps the inner lives of the people of Kashmir as they walk the uncertain terrain of their days, fractured from years of war. From a shopkeeper’s encounter with a mannequin, to an expectant mother walking on a precarious road, to a young boy wavering between dreams and reality, to two dogs wandering the city, these stories weave in larger, devastating themes of loss, grief, violence, longing, and injustice with the threads of smaller, everyday realities that confront the characters’ lives in profound ways. Although the stories circle the darker aspects of life, they are―at the same time―an attempt to run into life, into humor, into beauty, into another person who can offer refuge, if momentarily.  aFiction