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A review by kjcharles
The One Who Wrote Destiny by Nikesh Shukla
A really engrossing family saga. It's split into four stories of one family: the father, a Kenyan Asian come to the Midlands in the 80s and coping with hostility in the immigrant community as well as racism from outside; his daughter who becomes a computer programmer and wants to live her life as a Brit without considering race; his son, a stand-up comedian who uses race and immigration in his sets but prefers to joke rather than confront; and, jumping back in time, his mother-in-law, who looked after the children when their mother died.
This is one of those books that on any synopsis sounds really depressing. Nisha, the children's mother, dies young of a hereditary form of cancer; her daughter's story starts with a terminal diagnosis. The whole novel is about human weaknesses: feeling scared, bullied, letting aggression and cruelty slip by with a bowed head because confronting it so easily leads to losing your job, or violence. The author doesn't hold back on the racist violence meted out to South Asians, or the ongoing racism of the TV and comedy circuit, or on the human toll of making compromises with vile people. And the whole book is a meditation on destiny and the inevitability of failure and death. Woop.
Nevertheless, it *isn't* depressing because it's so real and human. The little connections, the moments of happiness, the real love among flawed people all come through strongly and make this a story of hope and endurance and survival, and making the most of the life you've got. Shukla is extremely strong at writing flawed, weak men who are afraid and do the wrong things: his male characters are emotionally vulnerable in a way we don't often see men depicted in fiction. (Notably, his women are less flawed and stronger.)
A hugely engaging read and very well written. Highly recommended.
This is one of those books that on any synopsis sounds really depressing. Nisha, the children's mother, dies young of a hereditary form of cancer; her daughter's story starts with a terminal diagnosis. The whole novel is about human weaknesses: feeling scared, bullied, letting aggression and cruelty slip by with a bowed head because confronting it so easily leads to losing your job, or violence. The author doesn't hold back on the racist violence meted out to South Asians, or the ongoing racism of the TV and comedy circuit, or on the human toll of making compromises with vile people. And the whole book is a meditation on destiny and the inevitability of failure and death. Woop.
Nevertheless, it *isn't* depressing because it's so real and human. The little connections, the moments of happiness, the real love among flawed people all come through strongly and make this a story of hope and endurance and survival, and making the most of the life you've got. Shukla is extremely strong at writing flawed, weak men who are afraid and do the wrong things: his male characters are emotionally vulnerable in a way we don't often see men depicted in fiction. (Notably, his women are less flawed and stronger.)
A hugely engaging read and very well written. Highly recommended.