I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

In author Karen Chase’s ” Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState,” two tales, one from the past and one from the future, showcase a love born of outsiders and the connections we share together.

The Synopsis

These two stories explore love and beauty in the context of fear and threats. Jamali Kamali is a book-length poem about two men who lived in 16th century India. Little about them is known but they are buried together in a small tomb in Delhi. For hundreds of years, the story that these men were lovers has been passed down through the generations. Jamali Kamali is a fictional account of their love, longing, separation, and death. ZundelState, a novella in verse, takes place a thousand years in the future in a repressive land where history is banned, and dreaming has vanished. Joe, a lover of history, is rebellious and secretive. Marianna is a model worker for the State where she works in the HistoryShit Apparatchik Division. They fall in love against all odds. These two tales of outsiders, one from the distant past and the other from the far-off future, echo and reflect upon each other in surprising ways.

The Review

This was such a wildly creative and emotional read. The author did an incredible job of finding just the right balance between lyrical writing styles and engaging storytelling, with each story giving readers an emotional depth that instantly draws them in. The writing style was perfectly captured in the beautiful imagery capturing each scene between the two characters, from moonlit encounters between one another to the sounds of wildlife beckoning from the surrounding forest and so much more, and each verse touched upon the heartfelt connection not only between the characters, but the reader and the characters themselves.

The second story in this collection draws parallels between itself and the first story, while owning its own unique creative take on the genre. The exploration of what happens when public life is the rule of law and private individuality is oppressed felt very relevant to many of the issues facing our world. The themes of social conformity and oppression were intertwined beautifully with the character’s love story.

The Verdict

Author Karen Chase’s “Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState” is a passionate, heartfelt, and engaging read. It is a unique yet memorable story that is a must-read today. The inclusivity and raw beauty of the author’s poetry and storytelling will stay with readers long after the final tale ends. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

About the Author

Karen Chase is the author of two collections of poems, Kazimierz Square and BEAR, as well as Jamali-Kamali: A Tale of Passion in Mughal India, a book-length homoerotic poem, published in India in 2011. Her award-winning book, Land of Stone, tells the story of her work with a silent young man in a psychiatric hospital where she was the hospital poet.

In her memoir Polio Boulevard, Chase brings the reader back to the polio outbreak of the 1950s that crippled our country. In her lively sickbed she experiences puppy love, applies to the Barbizon School of Modeling, and dreams of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Larooco Log: FDR on the Houseboat, a project that grew directly out of her memoir, follows Franklin Delano Roosevelt during a Florida winter when he lived on a houseboat, attempting to regain use of his paralyzed legs. History Is Embarrassing, her collection of essays, was published in 2024, and Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState, in 2025.

Karen Chase’s poems, stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The Gettysburg Review and Southwest Review, among others. Her poems have been anthologized in The Norton Introduction to Poetry, Andrei Codrescu’s An Exquisite Corpse Reader, and Billy Collins’ Poetry 180. Chase and her husband, the painter Paul Graubard, live in Western Massachusetts.

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