#Review: The In-betweeners by Khem K. Aryal

The In-Betweeners is the kind of book that doesn’t chase drama; it lets life do the work. These stories sit in the soft, uncomfortable spaces of migration—between countries, between languages, between who one was and who one is becoming. Khem K. Aryal writes with remarkable restraint, trusting small moments to carry large emotional weight. A man shopping for glasses, a mother waiting for a call, a teacher reduced to anonymity—nothing here is loud, yet everything lingers.

The prose is clean, precise, and deeply observant. Aryal favours simplicity over flourish, using silence, repetition, and ordinary routines as literary devices to expose alienation and quiet grief. The characters feel achingly real, not because they are extraordinary, but because they aren’t. They endure. They adapt. Sometimes they fail quietly.

The episodic nature of a short story collection means some pieces land harder than others, and a few end just when you want them to go deeper. But that incompleteness feels intentional—mirroring immigrant lives that rarely arrive at neat resolutions.

What makes The In-Betweeners memorable is its tenderness. It doesn’t romanticise displacement, nor does it despair. Instead, it observes—with empathy, patience, and honesty—the cost of building a life elsewhere.

Find this book here.