Londonstani

I decided to ignore the negative reviews and give this a shot. First of all, you should know that GM read a lot of really dark novels prior to writing this. He was influenced by some of the best horror writers. So imagine those elements combined with a teenager's identity crisis. So cool! For the haters, I'm not sure what to say. Maybe you don't see the hilarity of what GM is getting at? Awesome book. Thanks for the read to the author and bravo to this publisher for giving the public something new and different.

This debut novel by financial journalist Malkani is well worth reading and deserves much respect for its brilliant recreation of a particular form of urban patois. Set in Hounslow, in West London (adjacent to Heathrow Airport), it revolves around four South Asian teenagers who style themselves as hard rudeboys. Or rather, three rudeboys, and one new hanger-on who narrates the tale. The story more or less concern the antics of the foursome as they cruise around the hood, posing in their flash cars (actually belonging to their parents), acting tough while skiving off from studying for examination retakes. Eventually, a cell phone scam they run brings them into contact with a wealthy playboy from their hood, who brings them in on a much more profitable scam, and in touch with the high life. All of this is fairly interesting, but mainly a backdrop for a larger (and often quite funny) exploration of immigrant assimilation, cultural authenticity, racism, class, and youth culture. A good portion of the book involves how these British born and bred teens negotiate their identities. On the street they are self-styled hoods, while at home they are obedient, deferential children. In contrast to their immigrant parents who kept a low profile in order to assimilate, these boys demonstrate their unwillingness to assimilate by maintaining a high profile. Similarly, they blend a variety of South Asian cultural attitudes and styles with that of American and British black culture. This is all teased out in the interactions of the boys, as well as a subplot involving the arranged marriage of one of the boys' older brothers, and another subplot involving a sexy Muslim girl. The material could easily become didactic or dry in the wrong hands, but in Malkani's rendering, it comes alive through the freshest, fizziest dialogue since Trainspotting. And like that book, the combination of Punjabi, Black, British, and Text Message slang might intimidate some readers (especially older ones) at first, after about ten pages, most will be comfortable with it rhythms. What keeps the book from being truly excellent is the problem of what the narrator is doing hanging out with the other three. He's clearly been a bit of a nerd or non-entity his whole life, and just why these status-obsessed rudeboys would more or less adopt him is never satisfactorily explained. While it does make sense that you would have an outsider or newcomer narrate this story so that they can explain everything that's self-evident to the other main characters and present an opposing viewpoint, the dissonance between him and the others never goes away. There's also a "gotcha" twist at the end that adds nothing and only raises further questions of plausibility. Nonetheless, the book is an entertaining and thought-provoking fictional look at a particular subculture that anyone with an interest in modern Britain should check out.

When I first bought the book and decided to read it, I didn't think I would be blown away to the extend that I was after reading it. I actually purchased it right after I returned from a summer spent in London, and being of South Asian decent, I was actually expecting something a bit more laid back, light and less intense than this novel was. I'm glad it was the opposite. Malkani creates characters that personify those parts of what it means to be a part of the British Asian diaspora. I think what I enjoyed the most were the references to places like "Nandos", and terms like, "Rudeboy" and "Safe" because they are so a part of British Asian, and well, current-day British culture. Even Southhall, Punjabi singer, Juggy D gets a mention in the novel! "Londonstani" offers insight into the underworld of some of the things that go on in British Asian culture, but at the same time, especially with its ENDING, reminds us, that not everything that glitters is gold, and the overall themes, and experiences that the characters go through in the novel, ARE NOT only limited to British Asians, but also are a inherent part of growing up, NO MATTER what your culture is, no matter what religion you are, or the color of your skin. And that's the beauty, and the key to what makes this novel so special. At the end of the day, people are people no matter what. One of the most important things I found about this novel, was that it shed light onto the fact that Asian people aren't just "model minorities", they aren't just "barbie-doll Bollywood types", they are real people, with real feelings, just like any other creed on the planet. Which in nations like Great Britain, the US and Canada, those points tend to be forgotten. "Londonstani" shows us what it means to be human. I've suggested this book to Asian-Americans, British Asians, and non-Asians alike. And I absolutely cannot wait to see what Malkani will write next! This is really one of my favorite books ever!

This was a good read. Much of the book is written in dialect, similar to how Irvine Welsh captures the Scots accents of his characters, so it helps if you're at least passingly familiar with British slang and idioms. But if you can get over the occasional stumble (and there is a glossary in the back), _Londonstani_ is an insightful and educational look into the desi subculture in London. While it's true that the book features crime, and "gangsta" type characters, it is not an exploitation novel. In truth, it's more _The Outsiders_ than _Goodfellas,_ with even a few _Catcher in the Rye_ moments. Malkani knows his characters and he makes them believable, flawed and human. Watch out, also, for Malkani's tricks of the language. There are more than a few sudden turns here, where you think you know what's going on throughout an entire chapter, and not until the very last paragraph do you realize that what you thought was going on was really something else again. Indeed, it's not until the very end of the book that we realize the full tragic proportions of Malkani's troubled main character. Recommended. I look forward to Malkani's next book.

A very chill look at what is taking place on the streets of london from a fictional perspective which allows the reader to go deeply into the underground second generation immigratn society of London, in a way the film 'Dirty Pretty Things' did. Here we are given an insight into Sikh-Hindu culture in London, a twist on the new book 'Londonstan' this book highlights the non-Muslim immigrants but explains how far multi-culturalism is basically a scam and that on the street people naturally group together in other units not expxected by the white religio-tolerance upper classes such Ken Livingston. Here we see some positive themes such as Hindu-Nationalism and Sikhism portrayed humanely as human beings rather than the 'intolerant' stigma attached to them in the media. We also see the hypocrisy of Muslim youth who openly harass non-muslim women but are willing to kill those who dare to talk up a Muslim girl or are willing to killt he girl to prevent her from 'dishonoring' the family. A very hip and honest account that keeps it real rather then lies to us, the way the media is so good at doing. Seth J. Frantzman