Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Kinda like eating a really good piece of dark chocolate -- rich with detail, both deeply bitter but also velvety/sweet, and it took me a few sittings to get through. His writing is superb.
Loved reading this book and the introspection with which Akhtar looks at his intent in his communication and interactions with others compared with the often warped impact that ends up happening. Especially with his characters who often have complex mixes of motivations, Akhtar shares a unique perspective of a critical but loving experience as an American.
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. It wasn’t terrible, but I found it a bit of a slog to get through. Some parts were obviously better than others, but overall I either missed something (which is entirely possible) or this was just meh
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Beneath this hugely political novel is an awfully emotional and estranged father-son relationship that is tested during different times and in the place they called home, Pakistan. B+ (83%/Very Good)
I wish I could offer a content rating and a style rating. Homeland Elegies was not my style of book, and I didn't connect well with the story or the story telling. At the same time, I continued reading and finished the book because the content of the story itself felt important. As a White American I don't understand life in any skin other than my own, and any time I can "step into" the life of a nonWhite American it's important for me to do so. I'm glad I stuck it out. Good fiction challenges thinking, to me, and that's a role it should often play in our lives. This did that well.
Incidentally, Akhtar wrote this in a fascinating way. Some reviewers have said they have no idea what's true and what's not and where the novel ends and the memoir begins. It made my head spin at times as I tried to navigate that. Five stars for that creativity.
Incidentally, Akhtar wrote this in a fascinating way. Some reviewers have said they have no idea what's true and what's not and where the novel ends and the memoir begins. It made my head spin at times as I tried to navigate that. Five stars for that creativity.
There's quite a bit of debate on whether to treat this book as a novel or a memoir. It reads like a memoir, including lots of verifiable facts that match or are "true enough" to Ayad Akhtar's real life, but he calls it a novel, and has pointed out many literary fabrications and flourishes in the book, without allowing it to be pared down to fact-checking. It was certainly as compelling as a novel, and I rarely read memoirs. If I were still in grad school, I'd probably get off on arguing about it's literary style and merit. I probably would even now, if someone in my circle knew & cared enough to engage me on it. :( On the other hand, no big loss.
I don't really care whether or how much of this is fiction. I loved it because it is a painful analysis of the United States from the perception of a privileged, second-generation, American born citizen of Muslim, Pakistani parents. Akhtar is almost exactly my age, grew up in a nearby area, was similarly drawn to literature and theatre, and, of course, his experience in this world has been entirely different. 9/11 and the subsequent wars in the Middle East certainly expose him to more of the nastiness of America, but his intellectually & academically informed feelings, bolstered by the freedom of birthright citizenship, don't change much in the book (if I remember correctly). If you're looking for a classic protagonist, his father, with a traditional immigrant's love of the US, is the most altered by the decades he spends here, though many characters compete for "most damaged" status.
I highlighted the hell out of this one, but here is perhaps the most succinct observation (he's quite a wordsmith) that stuck with me:
"being American is not about what they tell you - freedom and opportunity and all that horseshit. Not really. There *is* a culture here, for sure, and it has nothing to do with all the well-meaning nonsense. It's about racism and money worship - and when you're on the correct side of both of those things? *That's* when you really belong."
There's plenty of far more analytical and intellectual analysis to be found here if that's what you're looking for, but sometimes the tried truths are the most illuminating
I don't really care whether or how much of this is fiction. I loved it because it is a painful analysis of the United States from the perception of a privileged, second-generation, American born citizen of Muslim, Pakistani parents. Akhtar is almost exactly my age, grew up in a nearby area, was similarly drawn to literature and theatre, and, of course, his experience in this world has been entirely different. 9/11 and the subsequent wars in the Middle East certainly expose him to more of the nastiness of America, but his intellectually & academically informed feelings, bolstered by the freedom of birthright citizenship, don't change much in the book (if I remember correctly). If you're looking for a classic protagonist, his father, with a traditional immigrant's love of the US, is the most altered by the decades he spends here, though many characters compete for "most damaged" status.
I highlighted the hell out of this one, but here is perhaps the most succinct observation (he's quite a wordsmith) that stuck with me:
"being American is not about what they tell you - freedom and opportunity and all that horseshit. Not really. There *is* a culture here, for sure, and it has nothing to do with all the well-meaning nonsense. It's about racism and money worship - and when you're on the correct side of both of those things? *That's* when you really belong."
There's plenty of far more analytical and intellectual analysis to be found here if that's what you're looking for, but sometimes the tried truths are the most illuminating
I liked the personal anecdotes, and felt much more invested by the end compared to the beginning. Most of the political commentary (Trump bad, Islamophobia, America decaying) was pretty ordinary, though it might feel novel to someone else I guess. The writing is pretty solid but sometimes feels overdone
This read so much like an autobiography that I kept having to double check that it was, in fact, fiction. A fascinating meditation on identity and capitalism and nationalism. I will be thinking about it for a long time. Beautifully writing as well.