Arresting God in Kathmandu is a fiction novel by Samrat Upadhyay published in 2001. Also his first novel, this book is a collection of nine short stories that deals with the story of love and relationships. All the stories tell different tale but with more or less similar themes.

It deals with the psychological perspectives of the characters dwelling into their social as well as sexual life. Most of the stories deal with the content like extra-marital affairs and some of them are quite unacceptable even in most of the so-called modern and forward societies of Nepal, especially the content of the story The Limping Bride.

Upadhyay usually touches the psychological and emotional aspect of human life reflecting the emotional and psychological situation of his characters. His stories are usually broad and might also be quite offensive for Nepali society, however, most of his stories reflect the reality and give accounts of the events happening in the society we live in making the stories more truthful and realistic.

The book has been translated into French and Greek. He also won the Whiting Writer’s Award for the book. Along with it, the book was picked for the 2001 Barnes and Noble Discover Great Writer Program. His stories have also been read live on National Public Radio and published widely as well as in Scribner’s Best of the Workshops and Best American Short Stories 1999.

Apart from being an award winning writer, Upadhyay is also a new generation Nepali writer whose stories are based on contemporary subject matters and issue. He has also penned three other books, The Guru of Love, The Royal Ghost and Buddha’s Orphan. Besides writing books, he also writes short stories and essays for various other publications. Arresting God in Kathmandu, is a good book describing, as the name suggests, the stories of people living in the Kathmandu valley.