Scan barcode
A review by kjulie
Members Only by Sameer Pandya
5.0
How is it possible that I loved a book, that made me this anxious, so much?!!
How can I explain this... it’s a story about Raj, a tennis playing anthropology professor, and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. This book could have been so awkward (Raj tells a really bad joke and immediately regrets it, plus he’s accused of racism by his students), but instead it’s a very honest expression of the challenge and cost of trying to find belonging, of being a person of colour in a society made by whiteness, of being vulnerable in your place of work. It is the portrait of a crisis moment (turned up to 11), and how those moments shape us and are shaped by us. I’ve been wanting to read more contemporary fiction, and I’m so glad I picked this up.
How can I explain this... it’s a story about Raj, a tennis playing anthropology professor, and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. This book could have been so awkward (Raj tells a really bad joke and immediately regrets it, plus he’s accused of racism by his students), but instead it’s a very honest expression of the challenge and cost of trying to find belonging, of being a person of colour in a society made by whiteness, of being vulnerable in your place of work. It is the portrait of a crisis moment (turned up to 11), and how those moments shape us and are shaped by us. I’ve been wanting to read more contemporary fiction, and I’m so glad I picked this up.