Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quick read (though I had to get it in Large Print because my eyes are so bad), I had initally thought it was about a Pakistani's experience with prejudice following 9/11. Turns out it's more about his disillusion with American culture and a relationship along with a touch of homesickness. It was easier to relate to the guy than I expected, very good read.
I didn't love the narrative style, but didn't hate it, and get why he did it. It was an interesting point of view, but the ending...if that was more allegory then I missed the meaning. Yes to all of his prior experiences - but for him to be targeted and assassinated in Lahore at the end is so extreme and unjustified it took some of the credibility from other parts for me.
An interesting concept that didn’t quite deliver. It’s stylistically exhausting. And an almost too obvious allegory. Changez, once a Pakistani living the “American Dream,” is now back in his home country regaling his experience to an unnamed American traveler. I was saddened by the post-9/11 racial subjugation he endured, but his knee-jerk reaction to the attacks made me incredibly sick and uncomfortable. Point taken, dude.
CONTENT WARNING: too long and too personal for a book review!!!
So it's taken me longer to think of how to review this book than to read it!!!
First of all, the narration and flow of this book are insane, it hooks you from the very first sentence and it's just so hard to put the book down. Part of it is because it is written as if it was the literal transcription of what a man in the streets of Lahore is saying: he tells a story, using the 2nd person, to another character, with little interjections such as "Oh you're done with your drink? Let me order another one before I continue my story" - but this whole 2nd person thing makes it almost as it was stopping _you_ in the streets of Lahore and telling you his story. Plus very well written idk how to describe it but i really vibed with his use of beautiful vocabulary and very like immersive description of things. Anywhomst,
Onto the content........ Man!!!! Imo this book talks about the hegemony of the capitalist definition of "the good life". You know the premise: an individualistic, consumerist, status- and profit-driven definition, successfully exported to the rest of the world. The story takes you into the pursuit (and achievement) of the American dream by a young Pakistani man, lures you into it in all its meritocratic splendor - and once you're equally seduced, it unveils the dark foundations and principles sustaining it.
This book affected me greatly because 1) i am a child of capitalism after all, already seduced by this narrow idea of success long ago, and 2) I read it at a time where I've been faced very closely with two (seemingly) opposed sets of values: the individualistic vs the communal, the transactional vs the altruistic, the hustle vs the enjoyment, the strife for 'more' vs the strife for 'enough', even the urban vs the rural.
I too left my country in this pursuit of a "good life", left for a country where hints of the dualisms abovementioned keep on popping up, and it is only in recent years that I stop, reconsider, recalibrate - what does a good life mean to me, and is that contradictory with the life I'm living now? What does this mean for me and my future, which choices do I need to make? OH WELL.
TL;DR: as you can see this book has touched me deeply and there is for sure some bias but I can confidently say itll be an interesting read for anyone! Shout out to @Ivetypie, 4ever grateful for the tip xoxoxo
So it's taken me longer to think of how to review this book than to read it!!!
First of all, the narration and flow of this book are insane, it hooks you from the very first sentence and it's just so hard to put the book down. Part of it is because it is written as if it was the literal transcription of what a man in the streets of Lahore is saying: he tells a story, using the 2nd person, to another character, with little interjections such as "Oh you're done with your drink? Let me order another one before I continue my story" - but this whole 2nd person thing makes it almost as it was stopping _you_ in the streets of Lahore and telling you his story. Plus very well written idk how to describe it but i really vibed with his use of beautiful vocabulary and very like immersive description of things. Anywhomst,
Onto the content........ Man!!!! Imo this book talks about the hegemony of the capitalist definition of "the good life". You know the premise: an individualistic, consumerist, status- and profit-driven definition, successfully exported to the rest of the world. The story takes you into the pursuit (and achievement) of the American dream by a young Pakistani man, lures you into it in all its meritocratic splendor - and once you're equally seduced, it unveils the dark foundations and principles sustaining it.
This book affected me greatly because 1) i am a child of capitalism after all, already seduced by this narrow idea of success long ago, and 2) I read it at a time where I've been faced very closely with two (seemingly) opposed sets of values: the individualistic vs the communal, the transactional vs the altruistic, the hustle vs the enjoyment, the strife for 'more' vs the strife for 'enough', even the urban vs the rural.
I too left my country in this pursuit of a "good life", left for a country where hints of the dualisms abovementioned keep on popping up, and it is only in recent years that I stop, reconsider, recalibrate - what does a good life mean to me, and is that contradictory with the life I'm living now? What does this mean for me and my future, which choices do I need to make? OH WELL.
TL;DR: as you can see this book has touched me deeply and there is for sure some bias but I can confidently say itll be an interesting read for anyone! Shout out to @Ivetypie, 4ever grateful for the tip xoxoxo
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
fast-paced
Heartbreak, introspection, being an immigrant, racism. Beautiful.