Men Like Ours
A Novel
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- 17,99 €
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- 17,99 €
Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE INSTITUTE FOR IMMIGRATION RESEARCH NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARD
"Bindu Bansinath's Men Like Ours shows that the Immigrant Novel is not dead yet. Absolutely hilarious, mesmerizing, and disturbing." --Gary Shteyngart, The Guardian
"A genuine and offbeat talent . . . like the writers Ottessa Moshfegh and Tony Tulathimutte, [Bansinath] is dialed in to the aesthetics of disgust." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times
From a brilliant new voice in fiction, a darkly comic and moving story about death, life, and community in a South Asian suburban enclave of New Jersey.
When Matthew Pillai is found dead, slumped over the wheel of his BMW, the women of Willow Road are roped into the investigation of their friend's death.
At the center of the case are the Sharmas--Anita, a widow whose late husband introduced Matthew to the neighborhood, and her boundary-pushing daughter, Leila, who called him Uncle. To Anita, who has been in freefall since her arrival in the United States as a young woman, Matthew's presence offered hope, including a promise of betterment for Leila. The truth, however, is far stranger.
In this darkly funny debut, the women of Willow Road find that despite their internecine quarrels, casual backstabbing, and generational feuds, in the end, there is no one to turn to but each other.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Bindu Bansinath’s darkly funny debut mystery opens with a dead man in a BMW and a neighbourhood full of women who already have opinions about the whole thing. Matthew Pillai, a regular visitor to the tight-knit South Asian enclave of Willow Road, is discovered collapsed behind the wheel of his car, prompting the residents to begin sorting through the aftermath, along with years of gossip and grudges. Among those affected most by his death are Anita Sharma, a widow just barely managing a life shaped by disappointment, and her daughter, Leila, whose complicated connection to Matthew turns the novel into something more complex and unsettling than a simple whodunit. Around them, aunties gossip, mothers judge, daughters push back, and everyone keeps score. Bansinath is especially sharp on the status games and household politics of a community where women are expected to protect everyone except themselves. Men Like Ours is a cutting and emotionally precise mystery where the real investigation is into what people choose not to see.
