Book description
Winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award 'A wonderful novel. I
doubt I will read a funnier one, or one with more heart, this year,
possibly this decade.' Angela Carter, Guardian The hero of Hanif
Kureishi's first novel is Karim, a dreamy teenager, desperate to
escape suburban South London and experience the forbidden fruits which
the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in
the theatre announces itself, Karim starts to win the sort of
attention he has been craving - albeit with some rude and raucous
results. 'One of the best comic novels of growing up, and one of the
sharpest satires on race relations in this country that I've ever
read.' Independent on Sunday 'Brilliantly funny. A fresh, anarchic and
deliciously unrestrained novel.' Sunday Times 'A distinctive and
talented voice, blithe, savvy, alive and kicking.' Hermione Lee, Independent
Hanif Kureishi is the author of novels (including The Buddha of
Suburbia, The Black Album and most recently Something to Tell You),
story collections (Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day, The Body),
plays (including Outskirts, Borderline and Sleep With Me), and
screenplays (including My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic and
Venus). Among his other publications are the collection of essays
Dreaming and Scheming, The Word and the Bomb and the memoir My Ear at
his Heart.
