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nickscoby's review against another edition
4.0
Very good. Not what I was expecting but in a totally good way. Agree with another person who said that in lesser hands that this would be a mess. But the novel is quite smart and astute. I would teach it in a post-Obama multi-ethnic literature class.
berock's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I liked this book a lot. It's an intelligent exploration of modern American society and culture. It was one of my first looks at life long after immigration, the struggles of professorship, family challenges, and what they can be like. Raj is someone you can cringe at, laugh beside, be anxious with, and root for. And the narration does a great job of playing into all this. I would feel good about recommending this to any of my friends and family because it's, at its core, entertaining.
katiepea's review against another edition
5.0
Really tense, thoughtful book about privilege, race, cancel culture, and the very real need for acceptance. The main character, Raj, is one with whom the reader will definitely sympathize. Seriously, a well written, strong story.
maria0889's review against another edition
5.0
Kept me on the edge of my seat. It's hard to write a book with interesting philosophical points that also has a story that moves the reader forward so well. I couldn't put it down.
jpitts's review against another edition
4.0
If you've read the premise for this book and thought it could be interesting, I don't think you'll be disappointed. It took me a minute to get into it, but once things got going, I couldn't put it down. Raj is such an interesting and fleshed-out character, and his week-from-hell is both engaging and frustrating to read. I had problems with the pacing here and there, but overall, this was really solid, and I kind of wish more people were reading it.
gabizago's review against another edition
4.0
I actually liked this book more than I thought I would. The story is about one week in the life of Raj, a professor that belongs to a Tennis Club that has all sorts of problems with things he said both to the club members and to his students. His words go back to haunt him and he basically can't think about anything else. Each chapter is one day, and is packed with what he did that day and all the memories that those events stirred. It's not a book I would normally choose, so I'm glad I received an advance copy of this. I'm not a member of an exclusive tennis club, but I can identify myself with most of the situations he faces as an academic professor, and how sometimes things we say might blow out of proportions.
lhhrmn's review
3.0
This was maybe not the best book to start reading the day of an attempted coup, but it was the only other 14-day loan book in my stack, so I felt like I should read it sooner than any others in the pile. I could certainly empathize with Raj and as a white woman, understand that I may never truly know what it is like to feel like every day requires a conscious, exhaustive attempt to fit into to a culture other than my own. That being said, Raj appeared to make poor decision after poor decision that made it difficult at times to feel sympathy for his actions and choice of words. Sure, we've all said or done something that in retrospect we wish we hadn't and of course, it may be (ok, just plain IS) more damning as a person of color, but some of the scenes and actions didn't exactly feel like "Raj trying his best" and instead felt like "Raj putting his foot in his mouth, again". I was ready to be done with this one before it quite ended.
nixieknox's review against another edition
3.0
This was good. The only thing that kept me from giving it four stars was, I got a little bogged down in the academia. But the story was so good, with the varying degrees of racism, both blatant and quiet, and the sexism too which was in there but not the main focus.
renaplays's review
4.0
Exhilarating examination of race and class set on campus--those places of increasing torment--and in a private tennis club. An engaging hero, alternately hapless and foolish then graceful and loving, pulled me in, and I rode through the journey with him as if I were having a heart attack.