REVIEWER COMMENTS"I’m no Tolstoy, writes Noshir, the protagonist of this zany, effervescent, completely unpretentious novel, with charming modesty. Perhaps even Tolstoy was no Tolstoy except as he is magnified in the glass of history. Nevertheless, he’s surely paraphrasing Tolstoy a chapter later when he writes: “When an untraditional family (single parent, two men, three women, a commune) falls apart, it is a lack of tradition that is blamed, but the actuality is no different from when a traditional family falls apart: a lack of love. That observation, perhaps the core of the book, should alert the reader. ASYLUM, USA is not the little blackbook of a serial bedder. Most writers would have got their characters inextricably knotted in these unlikely entwinements, but Boman Desai is as deft as he is adventurous and sees past the impossibilities of unconditional love into the human condition. A most enjoyable book." Kalpish Ratna, “Green Card Riff,” Womannova Books "This is one of the best books I have ever read on the first generation recent immigrant experience. It breaks all the stereotypes that ABCDs (American-Born Confused Desis [des = homeland, desi = member of the homeland]) and other second generation desis have about those we term “fresh off the boat.” Mr. Desai definitely debunks all the stereotypes and depicts a life that is controversial and at the same time painfully honest. The story unravels through hilarious tales of racism, desire, honesty and love. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK! IT IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST." Riot Grrrl 2001 wrote this review of ASYLUM, USA on Sulekha.com [November 8, 2001] "In short, this is not an Autobiography (sorry Desai Saab, I don’t know if it is), or a Biography, but you can say it has geography, history, a touch of philosophy (was that intentional or just a coincidence??) and of course all the qualities of a good book. Desai Saab, please let me know when you write another book … cos I am waiting … !!" Rashid Khaleel Rahman wrote this review of ASYLUM, USA on Sulekha.com [September 6, 2002] |
ASYLUM, USA
ASYLUM, USA (a summary) Get in. This is a small story – but like a small car (imagine a bug, a beetle, a Volkswagen), you switch on the ignition, phutta-phutta-phutta-phutta-phutta, two or three more phuttas, first gear, second gear, third, fourth, and you’re off. Small story, big story, what’s the difference? both start with the first word. Small car, big car, you switch on the ignition. Fasten your seatbelt. Make yourself comfortable. So begins the story of Noshir Daruvala, from Bombay, India, who wants American citizenship almost as badly as he wants a girlfriend. He imagines he can satisfy both wants by marrying Barbara Baines Percy, the redheaded receptionist at ElectricWorks in Chicago where he’s employed in Shipping and Receiving. Their friendship develops during the lunch hour: he skips lunch to save money for school, she’s on a diet; he practises the piano in one of the conference rooms during the hour, she joins him to listen; he says he was almost deported once, she says he should marry an American citizen, he proposes, she accepts – but, of course, it’s not that simple. She’s gay, charges him for the marriage, it becomes strictly a business proposition, but he moves in with her and her girlfriend and two dogs and four cats in a one bedroom apartment – until he meets Blythe Waters while walking Barb’s dogs. Blythe Waters, a bighearted woman, in the habit of taking in strays, finds Noshir’s predicament irresistible, becomes his girlfriend, asks him to move in with her – but again, of course, it’s not that simple. Blythe continues to take in strays, a stripper down on her luck, a kleptomaniac thrown out of her apartment by her roommates, a sixteen year old runaway from Wisconsin. Noshir is newly impressed with himself sharing a one bedroom apartment now with three women – but when Blythe starts an affair with a poet living upstairs “to inspire him,” Noshir finally packs and finds himself another living arrangement. Along the way Noshir falls into misadventures with a lesbian lawyer, a priest who is also a conman, a witch, a warlock, all shallow interactions from which he emerges unscathed, still callow, until he falls in love. The hopelessness of his love (she’s eighteen, more callow even than him, lives in another town, and has a boyfriend) finally sobers him, complementing the lightness of the novel with a different kind of light, radiant and internal. He ends with the metaphor he’s been driving throughout his narrative: End of road, end of ride, out of wind, out of gas, running on empty, right lane, decelerate, brake lights flash, from phutt-phutt-phutt to phutta-phutta to phutt ... phutt ... phutt ... slow screeech ... stop ... hand brake crrrk ... ignition chlik ... unfasten seatbelt unclick slip. Out. |
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