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Buddha of Suburbia
Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
7 posts | 28 read | 24 to read
Karim Amir lives with his English mother and Indian father in the routine comfort of suburban London, enduring his teenage years with good humor, always on the lookout for adventure--and sexual possibilities. Life gets more interesting, however, when his father becomes the Buddha of Suburbia, beguiling a circle of would-be mystics. And when the Buddha falls in love with one of his disciples, the beautiful and brazen Eva, Karim is introduced to a world of renegade theater directors, punk rock stars, fancy parties, and all the sex a young man could desire. A love story for at least two generations, a high-spirited comedy of sexual manners and social turmoil, The Buddha of Suburbia is one of the most enchanting, provocative, and original books to appear in years.
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TheEllieMo
The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

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spinedestroyer
Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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review
Emilymdxn
The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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Pickpick

I wasn‘t sure at first but it won me over! A sweet, funny, lightly profound but not pretentious Bildungsroman about an Indian boy/man growing up in 80s London trying to be cool and arty. I appreciated the bisexual representation (yes I am a broken record 💖💜💙). The ensemble of characters was hilarious and very realistic, and I loved how it examined class in Britain. #1001books

Don‘t get the audio tho, the recording quality was really bad

tournevis Glad to know. If you can track down the BBC mini-series, it's great and the soundtrack is by David Bowie, as is appropriate. 5y
Reggie I read a short story collection by him last year and they were so good and well written but Jesus they were real downers. All had to do with the deaths of marital relationships. 5y
Emilymdxn @Reggie that‘s so odd cause this one I felt like was really hopeful overall even though it had some bleak bits 5y
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Emilymdxn
The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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Off to a bad start with the audio quality being FAR from perfect on this one, but I‘ve wanted to read this for so long that I‘ll stick with it and try to enjoy the words despite the sound quality.

tournevis Tell us how it is as a book, please. I only know the BBC mini-series and the glorious soundtrack. 5y
Emilymdxn @tournevis loving it so far!! I can imagine it would work great on tv 5y
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JosephK
The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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Pickpick
RaimeyGallant Welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon Some of us put together Litsy tips to help new Littens navigate the site. It's the link in my bio on my page in case you need it.
6y
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batsy
The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi
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#rockinmay #immigrantsong also made me think of Asian Dub Foundation's raucous and radical "Fortress Europe" ("Safe European homes built on wars / You don't like the effect don't produce the cause"). Best paired with The Buddha of Suburbia, a bawdy, witty classic of a child of immigrants in England in the late 70s. It's also a trenchant exploration of class at the start of the onslaught of Thatcherism. Thx @Cinfhen, this was fun to think about.

batsy Also this excellent and moving, if complex and flawed (in terms of gender politics) book by Selvon. 7y
Cinfhen That is such an awesome book cover! I 😍everything about this post...including those incredible lyrics 🎵🎵🎵thanks for posting and sharing ❤️ 7y
batsy @Cinfhen Yeah, I love that cover :) Thanks for doing the prompts; I was always behind on everything last month lol. But hope to do some this month 💜 7y
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Tonton Musically linked in my head with The Fine Young Cannibals... 7y
batsy @Tonton Nice. It's been so long since I've listened to them 7y
Tonton The Raw and the Cooked! Roland Gift acted in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, which is sort of similar to Buddha of Surburbia..at least it came out about the same time I think. 7y
batsy @Tonton I haven't watched the movie and did not know that! So cool. Will try to track it down. Loved My Beautiful Laundrette. 7y
Tonton Yes! So did I! 7y
Redheadrambles I was thinking of using this book for a #readharder prompt. Which is POC goes on a “spiritual journey” it‘s hard to tell from the synopsis if this could pass on that front ? It sounds fun anyway so it‘s on my TBR list. 7y
batsy @Redheadrambles I would say it's the antithesis of that 😁 It's very satirical and sharp and cynical about how spirituality is used as a shortcut for other things. A great read but don't quite think it fits the prompt? Unless you subvert the prompt 😉 7y
Redheadrambles @batsy ah yes, oh well ! It does sound like my sort of book. This particular prompt is a difficult one for me as not super into “spiritual journeys”. Thanks for the heads up. 7y
batsy @Redheadrambles I'm not doing the challenge but yes, I did roll my eyes a little at that prompt. 😬 Good luck with finding something appropriate! I'll let you know if I come across anything interesting. 7y
Redheadrambles @batsy awesome thanks. I might need to take a graphic novel tangent or but this classic Hesse but eek 😬 it‘s short at least 7y
batsy @Redheadrambles I haven't read it but it's on my TBR, actually! That might be a good choice. It seems to get good reviews? (Also I feel like at the back of my mind I should know about good books by indigenous authors who write about this, but I'm coming up blank because it's sadly a big gap in my reading...) 7y
Redheadrambles Oh well it‘s obviously a big gap in mine as well but I am sort of an agnostic reader ? I can‘t believe your the only person here with a review on this novel ?! 7y
batsy @Redheadrambles 😁 I couldn't believe it either! 7y
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