South Asian American Archives

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid [in Booklist]

30 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Pakistani, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW Twice Booker-shortlisted author Mohsin Hamid’s opening sentence immediately recalls one of western literature’s most notable first lines: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Hamid’s transformer here is Anders, “a white...

The Emma Project [The Rajes series, Book 4] by Sonali Dev [in Booklist]

17 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Sonali Dev concludes her Jane Austen-inspired Rajes series, narrated once more by Soneela Nankani, who ensures familiar continuity throughout the quartet. Interestingly, as if Emma wasn’t mainstream enough, Dev includes a snarky summary early on: “Emma is an overindulged, albeit well-meaning, brat who is looking for...

The Loophole by Naz Kutub [in School Library Journal]

21 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Naz Kutub commingles the preposterous and poignant, heightened with myths of lost love. Shawn K. Jain is a sensitive cipher, opening with Kutub’s author’s note that includes content warnings about abuse and expulsion, both of which happen to Sy, the 17-year-old Muslim Indian gay son...

Lunch from Home by Joshua David Stein with Niki Russ Federman, Ray Garcia, Preeti Mistry, Mina Park, illustrated by Jing Li [in Shelf Awareness]

14 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Indian American, Jewish, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Repost, South Asian American

Journalist/author Joshua David Stein (Notes from a Young Black Chef) goes back to school in Lunch from Home, a delectable celebration of comfort foods with origins from all over the world that converge in a single classroom. "This story [is] based on the lives of four...

What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri [in Booklist]

31 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW While novels told from an animal’s point of view are that unusual, an entire story collection with non-human narrators seems rare. Even more striking is the stupendous quality of Talia Lakshmi Kolluri’s breathtaking debut. Deep bonds define Kolluri’s heart-pulling protagonists, who too often face...

Such Big Dreams by Reema Patel [in Booklist]

16 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW Novelist Reema Patel and narrator Lavanya Gandhi prove ideally paired, symbiotically making their debuts. Patel, a Toronto lawyer with experience in Mumbai’s human-rights legal sector, draws on her experiences to create Rakhi, a 23-year-old office assistant at Justice for All. Rakhi caught the attention of...

Honor by Thrity Umrigar [in Booklist]

08 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW Sneha Mathan returns for her third outstanding collaboration with Thrity Umrigar, their shared Indian heritage again enhancing their author/narrator symbiosis. Accents, genders, ages, backgrounds, and emotions abound, but Mathan embraces diverse characterizations with effortless ease. In a remote Indian village, a young Hindu widow has...

Keya Das’s Second Act by Sopan Deb [in Shelf Awareness]

23 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

New York Times journalist Sopan Deb wrote poignantly about family in his memoir, Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me. He turns to fiction in Keya Das's Second Act, further exploring how parents and children can become detached and, perhaps, discover new paths to lasting connections. As...

Face: A Novel of the Anthropocene by Jaspreet Singh [in Shelf Awareness]

11 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Jaspreet Singh's third novel, Face, presents a mesmerizing narrative. "In this new epoch most stories rhyme with crime," Singh opens. (Indeed, two murders on two continents will happen by novel's end.) This clever beginning introduces strangers Lucia and Lila ("correct pronunciation: Leela"), who meet in...

Circa by Devi S. Laskar [in Shelf Awareness]

10 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Devi S. Laskar's sophomore novel, Circa, is an intense meditation on multigenerational grief and loss. Laskar (The Atlas of Reds and Blues) adopts an uncommon second-person narration for Heera, born in New York and raised in Raleigh, N.C., by Indian immigrant parents. She's American by birthright,...

Talking Stories for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month [in Booklist Reader]

05 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Cambodian, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Indian American, Korean American, Lists, Pakistani American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian American, Southeast Asian American

Short-story collections can be uneven, but readers will be consistently impressed by these extraordinary, resonant, and exhilarating debuts by a dozen diverse writers. Afterparties. By Anthony Veasna So. 2021. Ecco. So’s nine electrifying stories magnificently create an interconnected Cambodian American community. So’s death in December 2020 at just...

Booklist Backlist: Diverse Debut Story Collections [in Booklist]

21 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Cambodian American, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Chinese American, Fiction, Indian American, Korean American, Laotian American, Latina/o/x, Lists, Mexican American, Pakistani American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian American, Southeast Asian American

Short-story collections can be uneven, but readers will be consistently impressed by these extraordinary, resonant, and exhilarating debuts by a dozen diverse writers. Afterparties. By Anthony Veasna So. 2021. Ecco. So’s nine electrifying stories magnificently create an interconnected Cambodian American community. The most autobiographical is “Human Development,” in...

People Change by Vivek Shraya [in Booklist]

03 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American

Multi-disciplinary artist and writer Vivek Shraya (The Subtweet, 2020) continues her thoughtful, deliberate self-narrations. Her latest essay collection centers change: “If I were to have anything resembling a higher purpose, I’d now say that it’s to evolve and to model evolution. To demonstrate the beauty...

How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani [in Booklist]

25 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Indian American, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South Asian American

The second of Veera Hiranandani’s novels with geneses in the award-winning author’s Indian Jewish family history is ideally paired with versatile Priya Ayyar. For Hiranandani’s The Night Diary, Ayyar persuasively drew on her own South Asian heritage. Here Ayyar ciphers Hiranandani’s maternally-inspired latest, channeling her...

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo [in Booklist]

18 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW Eight distantly connected stories, mostly centering isolated women, comprise Sindya Bhanoo’s exquisite debut. In the opening O. Henry Prize-winner, “Malliga Homes 3,” a recent widow in Chennai is relocated to a retirement home by her rarely visiting Georgia-based daughter. “Nature Exchange” focuses on the...

Incense and Sensibility [The Rajes series, Book 3] by Sonali Dev [in Booklist]

27 Dec, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

Sonali Dev continues to channel Jane Austen via the Raje family with her third in the series, familiarly, gratefully voiced by Indian American favorite Soneela Nankani. Dev opens with a literal bang: California gubernatorial candidate Yash Raje is shot during a rally. His physical recovery...

Girlhood: Teens around the World in Their Own Voices by Masuma Ahuja [in Shelf Awareness]

16 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Biography, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

What began as a series by journalist Masuma Ahuja for The Lily (a product of the Washington Post) expands here into the enlightening Girlhood. Ahuja gathers "colorful and rich" accounts of 30 girls from 27 countries that reveal similar themes: longing for adventures, big dreams, growing pains, and figuring...

Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration by Sofija Stefanovic [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Black/African American, Eastern European, European, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Repost, South Asian American, Southeast Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW The expectation of consistent quality among 36 global voices seems daunting, but editor Sofija Stefanovic admirably achieves this in a majority of these stories. Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration began on "one of the best-known stages of New York City" – the "plush...

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri [in Booklist]

27 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Translation

Pulitzer Prize-winning polyglot Jhumpa Lahiri’s second title in Italian arrives in her own translation, narrated by Italian American Susan Vinciotti Bonito. Despite Bonito’s fluency in their shared language, her noticeably youthful timbre isn’t initially convincing as Lahiri’s unnamed, 40-something protagonist. And yet Lahiri’s unadorned, sharply...

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu [in Booklist]

22 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American

For always, Kalki – with his matching blue skin – has been told he’s a god, the tenth and final incarnation of Vishnu. His godliness supports the family’s Tamil Nadu ashram, where he lives with his controlling father, loving mother, uncle and his wife, and...

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