Men Like Ours
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"The most promising debut I've read in decades." --Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Our Country Friends
"A genuine and offbeat talent . . . like the writers Ottessa Moshfegh and Tony Tulathimutte, [Bansinath] is dialed in to the aesthetics of disgust." --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 neighborhood 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A suspicious death sparks an investigation and heated gossip in an Indian American enclave in the excellent debut from Bansinath. Matthew Pillai, 55, is found dead in his car on a New Jersey highway, surrounded by pills. The police interview multiple women whose addresses showed up on his GPS record, including recently widowed Anita Sharma, whose late husband, Ashok, was a colleague of Matthew's and introduced him to their neighbors on Willow Road. The nonlinear narrative then dives into the Sharmas' unhappy arranged marriage and move to the U.S. in the 1990s, revealing how in the years since, Anita, who hates America and calls it "death by QVC," constantly criticizes both Ashok and their daughter, Leila. When Ashok brings avuncular Matthew home for dinner, he takes a shine to Leila, 13, and becomes fast friends with the families in the neighborhood, gaining their trust. He encourages Leila's desire to become an actor, paying for her drama classes and taking her to Broadway shows, at first with his wife, Louise, then by himself. By the time Leila is 15, she realizes Matthew has been grooming her for sex, driving the story to its crisis point. Bansinath is an impressive storyteller with a firm grasp on the intersecting story lines, showing how Anita's bitterness drives away Leila, making her vulnerable to a predator. The author also breathes life into the tight-knit community, where neighbors grow jealous of Leila over Matthew's doting on her and badmouth Anita, whom they view as a snob. Readers will be engrossed by this clear-eyed and explosive tale.
