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rpnelson 's review for:
Homeland Elegies
by Ayad Akhtar
This is a dizzying book. Before taking it on, I'd advise a reader to check out an interview (like the one on Fresh Air) with Akhtar. Reality and fiction blur frequently in this novel. In one paragraph you're reading a description of American politics that you know is true and the next, the story of a health care corporation that does not exist, but you suspect does under another name.
Akhtar suggests that this mix of fact and fiction is what it's like being from another culture. You never know where you stand. Tellingly, his father (a doctor who immigrates from Pakistan) ends up returning, while the son (brown-skinned and visibly recognizable as "other") sees America as home.
Akhtar's insights into capitalism, the attractions of fame, racism, and the destruction of middle America are not necessarily new, but they're given a very personal voice in this book that cannot be ignored.
While the book isn't perfect: there are changes of tone that are sometimes jarring; it is compelling, and I would encourage anyone serious about trying to decide what this country should or will become to read it.
Akhtar suggests that this mix of fact and fiction is what it's like being from another culture. You never know where you stand. Tellingly, his father (a doctor who immigrates from Pakistan) ends up returning, while the son (brown-skinned and visibly recognizable as "other") sees America as home.
Akhtar's insights into capitalism, the attractions of fame, racism, and the destruction of middle America are not necessarily new, but they're given a very personal voice in this book that cannot be ignored.
While the book isn't perfect: there are changes of tone that are sometimes jarring; it is compelling, and I would encourage anyone serious about trying to decide what this country should or will become to read it.