Naked Voices, Stories & Sketches is one of the most authentic collections showcasing the best of Saadat Hasan Manto as a great storyteller and an honest commentator of all times.
In this collection of sixteen stories and three sketches, Manto brazenly celebrates the warts of a seemingly decent society, as well as its dark underbelly — tired and overworked prostitutes in The Candle's Tears or Loser All the Way; ruthless as also humane pimps in The Hundred Candle Watt Bulb and Sahay; the utter helplessness of men in the face of a sexual encounter in Naked Voices and Coward; and the madness perpetrated by the Partition as witnessed in By God! and Yazid. In one of the three sketches, which form part of this collection, the author brilliantly reveals himself to the world in a schizophrenic piece titled Saadat Hasan, calling Manto the Writer a liar, a thief and a failure! And in another titled In a Letter to Uncle Sam, Manto superbly couches his anti-imperialistic views in an innocent letter from a poor nephew to a capitalist and prosperous uncle in America.