Sonora Jha
Autore di The Laughter
Opere di Sonora Jha
Etichette
Informazioni generali
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Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Statistiche
- Opere
- 4
- Utenti
- 123
- Popolarità
- #162,201
- Voto
- 4.1
- Recensioni
- 4
- ISBN
- 13
This is a really challenging story that offers no easy answers. I had two significant issues with the book (neither of which ruined my pleasure in the book, but both bugged me and took me out of the story.) The first is Adil, Ruhaba's teenage nephew who comes to live with her. He has become "of interest" to the gendarmerie because he is a Pakistani Muslim. He is seen as taking part in what would be considered standard teen mischief if carried out by a European White kid. Because he is Brown and from a religious and traditional family this truly innocent behavior is read as possible terrorism. As a result, his parents want to get him out of Paris. They send him to Seattle to live with Ruhaba until the heat dies down. Of course US law enforcement is even more interested that the gendarmerie had been, and they begin to investigate Adil the moment he steps on US soil. I liked Adil. He was smart and wise, but Jha never forgets that despite his intellect and wisdom he is also a child. My issue is that Adil is not dimensional, he is this sweet innocent flower. I really wanted more conflict for him. My second issue (which, again, did not ruin the read) was the constant references to the 2016 election. Jha hits too hard on the hubris of the centrist Democratic faithful who did not harbor any doubt that Hillary would be elected and who believed that everything would be fine if that happened. I am not saying this did not occur. I had someone close to me who stopped talking to me because I said I thought there was a strong chance Trump would win. It was as if she believed I might summon that end by speaking it aloud. Anyway... 2016 was a defining moment in America, and I like that Jha set this this in the days (and much of it just hours) just before the cataclysm of the Trump presidency. That said, she referred endlessly to the election. At every gathering people were watching coverage or lamenting Trump's buffoonery and stupidity but she never explicitly ties America's vilification of fact-based analysis, civility, competence, compromise, decency, and intellect to what is happening in the story. I understand the tie-in, but in 20 years no reader will.
All in all a challenging, funny utterly heartbreaking book written by someone who really understands the academic milieu and has been in a lot of committee meetings. (She totally nails that.) I would recommend this to most readers, but especially anyone to who works in academia.… (altro)