Fear and Poverty
It seems a deeply ironic title – probably intentionally so – given this novel tells 5 stories of lives of Indians which seem mostly to be trapped in a state of fear and want and poverty. One of its protagonists...
South Asian
Feeling like an American
I doubt I can do justice to this very original, remarkable book. But here goes anyway. Described on its cover as a novel, but somewhere between a memoir and an essay, Homeland Elegies is a scorching examination of the author’s...
An uncommonly multicultural family with common problems
At its outset, Dava Shastri’s Last Day seems pleasantly nonconformist. The eponymous central figure is a self-made billionaire. Despite having been brought up in the US as an Indian-American, she does not suffer from ethnic existential angst. She marries a...
Simplistic treatment of intolerance
Thrity Umrigar wrote a nuanced and sensitive exploration of the Indian employer-servant relationship in The Space Between Us, but sad to say, her latest novel Honor displays little of that nuance or sensitivity. There are two women at the center...
Miles to go, during a pandemic
A very topical novel indeed, written from the perspective of itinerant migrant labourers in India who journeyed home on foot when the national Covid lockdown gave them no other option. This is the (fictional) story of 15-year old Meher’s family,...
Quiet delight
Since I have devotedly followed the entire No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and mildly enjoyed a handful of other McCall Smith novels too, I was delighted to find he has placed this new one in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon),...
Rehoming books in Bangalore
‘I have all kinds of medical problems’, said the middle-aged lady. ‘Swollen foot, bad knees, stomach problems… and the doctors said there was nothing they can do!’ She was pleased to find a copy of Home Remedies by TV Sairam...
Sloppy and cloying
I admit it is not unusual for me to select a book because it is written by a South Asian writer. Munaweera is one such, an American-Sri Lankan (who had also lived in Nigeria), before settling on Oakland, California. What...
Sweet, carbonated, but readable
Indra Nooyi’s memoir opens with a charming anecdote. In 2009 she was invited to the White House to meet India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. When Obama introduced her, Manmohan Singh exclaimed, “Oh! But she is one of us!” And the...
An interesting debut, imperfectly executed
We first encounter our protagonist, Hayat, a 2nd generation Pakistani American lad, in college, but very quickly, the narrative goes back to a time when Hayat was 10 years old. He lives with Muneer his mum, and Naveed, his dad,...
Husband pic’n’mix
This third novel of Sahota’s is mostly set in rural Punjab, in 1929; whereas his first two novels were British-based for most part. However, there is a parallel storyline happening in 1999, of a British Asian 18 year old who...
The best Marigold Hotel is definitely the film
An entertaining film was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, raised from complete lightweight status by the quality of the acting. It turns out to have been based on a book which recently came my way at the library. Deborah Moggach’s...
Shaped and marked by the war in Sri Lanka
As befits a philosophy graduate from Columbia, the novel opens with a contemplation of the notion of time and its elusive nature, before introducing us to Krishan and his home life in Colombo with his mother and aging grandmother. ...
The seedy underbelly of the model minority
It is no secret that the Indian-American middle class community is ambitious and competitive. Immigrants with professional backgrounds and advanced degrees who arrive in a new country typically push their children to even higher achievements. Many novels have described the...
A diversity of American Muslims
Growing up in Karachi, Anvar was the rebellious, non-conformist kid in the family, snarkily resenting his perfect older brother Aamir. [Aamir] has gone through life checking all the right boxes that a model desi boy should check. […] Somehow he’s...
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