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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
I debated whether to give this four or five stars, but decided it didn't reach to the level of a book that I love for me. It is very well written, feels like autobiographical essays and stories of the child of Pakistani immigrants and their experiences in America, and very thought provoking. Mostly a downer, but there are some funny parts.
I found myself utterly compelled by some parts of this book but lost /confused as to the relevance of other elements - it felt like there were a few too many digressions that didn’t connect for me.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Such an interesting work, tempting the reader to assume a factual memoir rather than what the author has repeatedly called a work of fiction. In any case, a vehicle for a unique, thought-provoking perspective of what it means to be Muslim in America.
I don’t know how to write this review because the words I have for it - moving, brutal, honest, stirring, inspired - are all so cliché. Akhtar is a poet of prose and a well of artistic and historical references (too many of which were unfamiliar to me). Though fiction, so much truth lies in these pages about one man’s American experience.
Pulitzer Prize winning author Ayad Akhtar traverses his adult life through the context of religious and racial relations in America, culminating in Trump’s 2016 election. A meditation on being Mulsim American with immigrant parents, Akhtar rewrites his conversations with his father and paints illuminating moments of racism and inequality in this novel, that isn’t dissimilar to his real life. Homeland Elegies takes on the air of a compilation of essays, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. Akhtar expresses a deep divide between his father’s love for America, and his own disbelief in the American dream, yet captivates his reader through an eternal desire to keep searching for the supposed greener grass his father speaks of. Deeply personal and soothingly poetic, Homeland Elegies challenges the American identity and Akhtar’s identity, coalescing in the discombobulated, but nonetheless unbreakable, sense of home.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For the first third of this book, I was too preoccupied with trying to figure out the line between fact and fiction to really enjoy it. For the middle third, I had given up my constant questioning and just succumbed to the story. For the last third, I was fatigued by the sadness and negativity and mostly just wanted it to end. It may be realistic, but it's not what I typically go to fiction for. The book was incredibly well-written and thoughtful, so the rating is more a reflection of me than the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Islamophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
slow-paced
(Still not totally sure if this is fiction or a memoir...perhaps a bit of a confounding blend of both?)
I always love the opportunity to learn new things. This book certainly offered that!