A review by sometimes_iread
Members Only by Sameer Pandya

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The circumstances surrounding my reading of Members Only by Sameer Pandya probably played a huge role in how I read it (baby was sick and had to be admitted). Thus, what stood out the most to me was the tension that was artfully built throughout the book. It started out small enough, with Raj’s rather inappropriate gaffe, and grew and grew as life threw curveball after curveball at him. As the tension mounted, I kept wondering, what next? How is this mess ever going to be resolved? And it is telling that I refer to all the different problems in Raj’s life as one big mess because that’s exactly how it felt like thanks to the building tension, which really is how people experience their lives anyway. Stress in one area of life almost always spills over into the other aspects because we are a coherent whole and life can’t be compartmentalised that ruthlessly. 

When the climax finally came and all that tension was released, I felt an immense sense of relief. Yes, things can get better. However, after sitting on the book for a while (and having my child discharged), I started to wonder if the ending was too simplistic. Could a social media cancellation that was spilling over into real life really be resolved that easily? Could a career in jeopardy be given a second chance just like that? I just wish that more meat was given to the ending to flesh things out a little more.

That aside, I really appreciated the theme of belonging that ran throughout the book. What does it mean to belong and who gets to dictate the rules regarding belonging? Does a club membership automatically mean that I belong in the club or are there more specific hoops to jump through? Add race and immigration into the bag and things get a lot more difficult to navigate. As humans, the need to belong is a particularly strong one and Pandya writes a compelling argument for belonging in the space that one carves out for oneself, and not what society dictates for one. Now if only it were that easy to follow through.

Diversity meter:

Indian American

Immigration