Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on contemporary literature. In this essay, Aubrey discusses the moment of quiet epiphany in which the protagonist moves from fear and despair to acceptance and wisdom.

In a San Francisco Chronicle review of Upadhyay's collection of stories, Arresting God in Kathmandu, in which "The Good Shopkeeper" appears, Tamara Straus describes the theme of the story as "the escapism of love." No doubt this is true in a certain sense, but the story is more than a testament to the therapeutic effects of an extramarital affair. It is one of those stories in which much is hidden and unsaid, a quality that makes it, in spite of the simple clarity of the prose, rather mysterious, as mysterious as life itself. It raises questions that must have occurred to many people at some point in their lives...