February 10, 2020
In Pandya’s tense, sly debut novel (after the collection The Blind Writer) a college lecturer faces accusations of racism and anti-American bias in a California suburb over the course of a fateful week. Having immigrated to the U.S. from India as a child, Raj Bhatt has settled into a quiet life with his wife and children; they have a house in a comfortable neighborhood, their children attend a great school, and they belong to a tennis club. Still, Raj continues to feel like an outsider. Things come to a head when Raj tries to connect with a prospective African-American couple at the club. Unfortunately, an effort to put the man at ease about his purported need to work on his tennis game (“Nigga, please,” Raj says) has the opposite effect, and it earns him accusations of racism by the club’s white members. The next day, he faces another group outraged by his words, this time from right-wing students who organize a protest against him over objections to his credible lectures on the history of American slavery. After a recorded confrontation with them goes viral, Raj begins to reckon with the disharmony in his new life. The taut, heartrending narrative offers deep insight into the ways the characters are shaped by racism. Pandya’s sympathetic portrait of Raj’s quest for acceptance will resonate with readers.
