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Product Description
Book Description
The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi's first novel, is the bizarre, often hilarious, and totally original picture of the life of a young Pakistani man growing up in 1970s Britain.
Product Description
Karim lives with his Mum and Dad in a suburb of south London and dreams of making his escape to the bright lights of the big city. But his father is no ordinary Dad, he is 'the buddha of suburbia', a strange and compelling figure whose powers of meditation hold a circle of would-be mystics spellbound with the fascinations of the East.
Among his disciples is the glamorous and ambitious Eva, and when 'the buddha of suburbia' runs off with her to a crumbling flat in Barons Court, Karim's life becomes changed in ways that even he had never dreamed of . . .
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A humerous, intellectual and very observed insight into the growing up of a British Indian, his sexuality, viewpoints, career and family life. Based in the late 70s it encompasses wonderfully all the pains and joys of school to adulthood from the perspective of the voyeur, or should that be involved observer?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hailing from the borough of Bromley myself (albeit growing up there in a different decade), this book has been on my "I really should read that" list for years. Having finally got round to it (the reading part took only a matter of days, you'll see why below) I thought I may as well do the book the courtesy of setting out my humble thoughts on it.
The pace of the book is quick. It's an uptempo tale taking you from the south London suburbs, to well-heeled Kensington, glamorous New York and back again before you know it. Characters that are bonkers. Characters you'd love to have a beer with. Characters you have an ache in your chest for out of pure sympathy. Characters you would literally do an about turn in the street to avoid.
I don't think it's the place of these reviews to spell out the plot, and other people have taken the trouble in other reviews in any case. But Kureishi captures that longing for meaning and excitement that all (normal) teenagers and people in their early 20s experience, to a tee. People of that age are rightly selfish and need to take things for granted in order to find out what really matters to them.
This book captures that spirit of freedom in life. You never know where you might end up, who with and why. You also never know when you might surprise yourself and just go after something completely different in life to everything you had worked for and previously valued. It's a breath of fresh air and Kureishi's blunt and often brutal prose exploits that essence to the max. He writes it as it is and I like that.
For me the best character in the book is the surburb itself. As a surbabnite who is strangely simulatenously proud and ashamed of the fact, Kureishi just nails the surburban environment with all its unknown rules, hierarchies and bizareness. Even though the Three Tuns pub referred to in the book, is now a faceless chain Italian restauarant, the social snobbishess held by those who live in Chislehurst to those that slum it in Penge remains as true as ever.
The character he creates in the suburb itself just provides the most compelling backdrop for the characters and plots placed on top.
A great read that manages to be both funny and beautifully written. A great combination you don't always find.
The pace of the book is quick. It's an uptempo tale taking you from the south London suburbs, to well-heeled Kensington, glamorous New York and back again before you know it. Characters that are bonkers. Characters you'd love to have a beer with. Characters you have an ache in your chest for out of pure sympathy. Characters you would literally do an about turn in the street to avoid.
I don't think it's the place of these reviews to spell out the plot, and other people have taken the trouble in other reviews in any case. But Kureishi captures that longing for meaning and excitement that all (normal) teenagers and people in their early 20s experience, to a tee. People of that age are rightly selfish and need to take things for granted in order to find out what really matters to them.
This book captures that spirit of freedom in life. You never know where you might end up, who with and why. You also never know when you might surprise yourself and just go after something completely different in life to everything you had worked for and previously valued. It's a breath of fresh air and Kureishi's blunt and often brutal prose exploits that essence to the max. He writes it as it is and I like that.
For me the best character in the book is the surburb itself. As a surbabnite who is strangely simulatenously proud and ashamed of the fact, Kureishi just nails the surburban environment with all its unknown rules, hierarchies and bizareness. Even though the Three Tuns pub referred to in the book, is now a faceless chain Italian restauarant, the social snobbishess held by those who live in Chislehurst to those that slum it in Penge remains as true as ever.
The character he creates in the suburb itself just provides the most compelling backdrop for the characters and plots placed on top.
A great read that manages to be both funny and beautifully written. A great combination you don't always find.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hanif Kureshi introduces us to the world of Karim, who, as a Seventeen year old boy with an English mother and an eccentric Indian father, is searching for his own identity. Karim is more of an English youth than the exotic Indian boy as everyone percieves him to be. Indeed, his English step-brother is more exotic than him. Karim experiments with new ideas in his search to find himself, he is not pinned down to any place or group of people. Instead, he is able to mix with anyone, and move around in any social circle in 1970s London. It is his hybridity that allows him to do this. He is neither one thing or another.
A very amusing and thought provoking novel. It opens the world up, and at the same time it makes it seem more familiar to us. We learn a great deal about ourselves through it.
A very amusing and thought provoking novel. It opens the world up, and at the same time it makes it seem more familiar to us. We learn a great deal about ourselves through it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good, but I'm still a little confused
This is truly the gospel of coming-of-age novels for Asians/British Asians. The protagonist is confused, struggling to find a place and torn up by the divorce of his parents. Read more
Published 1 month ago by BookFan1
the buddha of syburbia
i thought it a very funny read, well written and entertaining although i found it quite predictable at times. It didn't stop me recommending it to friends
Published 2 months ago by jaylew
Pure and utter engaging brilliance
I had to read this novel for A Level English Literature and am ultimately glad because I enjoyed every second of reading this novel, I don't want to give anything away but I... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Manni
What is all the fuss about?!
After reading the reviews for this book I expected a lot more! I found it simply crude, boring and with little story line. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Book.Nerd89
well i enjoyed it
Really enjoyed this book ,but i did watch the t.v series before , don't know if that helped me visualize it better just love the 70's backdrop . Read more
Published 7 months ago by D. S. Sample
Utter drivel
Why does everyone rave about this book? Absolutely pathetic. Critics quoted on the back cover go on about it being hilariously comic. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Thalia
You don't have to be conservative to hate this book
Many reviews seem to suggest that those who dislike this book are of the type that tends to be repulsed by crude sexuality or references to popular culture or whatever else, but... Read more
Published 11 months ago by tabbycam
Supposedly academic but in reality a crude, dull read.
I decided to read this book after many people told me how fantastic it was. A friend studied it for university and so I expected great things. Read more
Published 13 months ago by J. Whiteman
Rude and confusing
Buddah of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi)
The Buddah of Suburbia was one of the books that I was given to read in a university course on culture that I re-read after from an... Read more
The Buddah of Suburbia was one of the books that I was given to read in a university course on culture that I re-read after from an... Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. J. Andrews
Liked the parts about the Buddha of Suburbia, but not the rest
I grew up in Beckenham, the exact part of London suburbia in which this novel is set. To my knowledge it's the only time a novel has ever been set in Beckenham - in fact, it's... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Andrew Blackman
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