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A review by sde
Members Only by Sameer Pandya
4.0
I really liked this book, and I don't understand why it hasn't gotten more attention. It is a engaging read that covers a number of important issues, but not in a heavy-handed way. The most important thing is the story, not the message.
The book touches on a lot of problems in academia, especially the fact that adjuncts and lecturers are at-will employees that don't get paid much, yet the university could not survive without them. Yet the academic bigwigs get most of the attention, say, and money in a department even if their contributions may be small.
The book also portrayed racial tensions or awkwardness in a realistic way. No police brutality or Proud Boys, but the sorts of events and exchanges any one of us might encounter on any given day. And how does an Indian immigrant who is neither white nor black, rich nor poor, fit into this narrative?
But mostly what I liked is that there were so man portrayals of, if perhaps flawed, ultimately positive relationships - e.g. Raj and his wife, Raj and his office mate, Raj and the department chair. Even the more fraught relationships, like that between Raj, his wife, and one of the movers and shakers at the tennis club, has some positive points, and the reader gets the sense that she is trying to do the right thing, even if she isn't always successful.
I especially loved the fact that although his kids were exhausting and had a number of problems, and Raj felt he was stumbling around in parenthood, the kids and parents were so obviously in love. I enjoyed the way the author detailed the little parts of parenthood - some that we may not admit to - such as curling up with our kids to get them to sleep. So many books have unrealistic portrayls of the parent-young child relationship - either too positive and saccharine or too negative and completely stressed out. This was a rare book where it seemed realistic. Loved the art project at the end of the book!
This was a great book to read in 2022 when the past couple of years has often made us bitter. It was ultimately uplifting even if lots of things went wrong. It was stressful to read at times, though, because Raj did so much to sabotage himself!
The book touches on a lot of problems in academia, especially the fact that adjuncts and lecturers are at-will employees that don't get paid much, yet the university could not survive without them. Yet the academic bigwigs get most of the attention, say, and money in a department even if their contributions may be small.
The book also portrayed racial tensions or awkwardness in a realistic way. No police brutality or Proud Boys, but the sorts of events and exchanges any one of us might encounter on any given day. And how does an Indian immigrant who is neither white nor black, rich nor poor, fit into this narrative?
But mostly what I liked is that there were so man portrayals of, if perhaps flawed, ultimately positive relationships - e.g. Raj and his wife, Raj and his office mate, Raj and the department chair. Even the more fraught relationships, like that between Raj, his wife, and one of the movers and shakers at the tennis club, has some positive points, and the reader gets the sense that she is trying to do the right thing, even if she isn't always successful.
I especially loved the fact that although his kids were exhausting and had a number of problems, and Raj felt he was stumbling around in parenthood, the kids and parents were so obviously in love. I enjoyed the way the author detailed the little parts of parenthood - some that we may not admit to - such as curling up with our kids to get them to sleep. So many books have unrealistic portrayls of the parent-young child relationship - either too positive and saccharine or too negative and completely stressed out. This was a rare book where it seemed realistic. Loved the art project at the end of the book!
This was a great book to read in 2022 when the past couple of years has often made us bitter. It was ultimately uplifting even if lots of things went wrong. It was stressful to read at times, though, because Raj did so much to sabotage himself!