Customer Reviews

Black Album (Faber Essentials)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Kureishi has written the perfect contemporary british novel for the contemporary thinker. He probes into such matters as racism and drugs, and seems to question whether either of these are necessary (after having Shahid, his protagonist, exposed to quite a bit of both). His ability to combine his powerful sociopolitical thoughts with a bit of a love story speaks of all of our lives today - we must deal with many different causes, trying to find out which ones are ours.

Yet another winner from Hanif Kureishi as he delves deep into the world of drugs, music and adolescent confusion within the
world of a group of Asian college students. Taking the title from a Prince album, Kureishi explores the interrelations between a
working class Asian student heavily influenced by literature and his revolutionary, English lecturer with whom he begins an affair.This is counterbalanced by the threats of an uprising amongst his fellow students who seek to defend themselves against the prejudice they see within neighbouring communities.

In a titanic struggle, Shahid Hasan must choose between his friends and his lover, both of whom are cast in the revolutionary
lights yet in radically different ways. Just as in The Buddha of Suburbia, Kureishi's own literary and musical tastes are revealed
yet this also shows what can go wrong when one person takes it on themselves to embody the opinions of the majority. The
result sees the boundaries of class and identity become tragically blurred amongst a haze of pills, alcohol and teenage outrage.

Once again Kureishi reinforces his position as one of the best non-British writers in British literature with a rollercoaster novel which moves between the deadly serious and wickedly funny, true genius.

But pretty tasty. Shahid is not as interesting as the hero in Buddha (forget his name) was. He's not as smart, doesn't have as much gusto to know and love and live in the world, he's not as daring, but he's good. Furthermore the supporting characters, unlike the father and the rock star from Buddha, are all caracatures, some of which intially show promise, like his neighbor, the leader of a fanatical Muslim group, who originally shows an understanding passionate ear to Shahid, but then all but disappears or becomes a complete mockery. He could have been better. If Shahid was looking for brotherhood and found something attractive in the group, it is never explored. He never seems to care, not care, agree, or disagree, and I don't know whether this was Kureishi's point, or if the book was just poorly written. His lover lacks depth, as does his brother. The drugdealer proves to be boring and not worth reading, and then finally, his family history, his place, is never explored. Nothing is resolved, its a sitcom-type of comedy, but it is often a fun read. The raves and the chases and the experiences are all quite easy and fun to read, but the story never takes off like Buddha. I guess it stays closer to home, its a little more realistic, but overall, the book is much weaker than Buddha of Suburbia.

The "Black Album" was "okay" but doesn't qualify for the "5 stars" which I gave "The Buddha of Suburbia". Hanif Kureishi's whimsical, topsy turby story of Shahid, a London-bred Pakistanian student at a London college, seeking some sort of altruistic bonding with his Pakistanian fundamentalists "bretheren", whilst simultaneously seeking a liberating selfish binding passion with his college teacher. Caught between two worlds which are on opposite sides of the pole, Shahid eventually flips the coin and decides to follow the path that "feels" right. Although Kureishi's characters are shallow and flippant, and the storyline is a bit thin, it still is a successful satire and critic of religious zealousness, and attacks the ridiculous blind fervor of fanatics (i.e, the aubergine - that was really hilarious).

All in all, the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it to all Hanif Kureishi fans.

One of the greatest contempory writers with a style of his own.The book reveals how painful it is to live in a land not of his own.A must for Indians and Pakistanis who roam around for greener pastures.

I consider Kureishi as one of the best writers of recent times. The "Black Album" won't disappoint you if you are familiar with his style. It's an entertaining and easy read - even if a little morose at times (all in line with the authors style). This book has a similar story line ot "Buddha of Suburbia" which I maintain is still the author's best book.

He's got style, but not in any exagerated sense. And anyway its the material that grabs you. Very human- the material, his characters aren't so much out of the ordinary, but Kureishi wrings out of them these cooly intense, never contrived kinds of feelings. More importantly I'm 22, Eritrean, grew up in CA, and I don't think I've ever read a book that made this kind of a connection with me. Anyway I think a lot of you displaced foreign born kids out there will really be vibing with his stuff.

This is another fine book from Hanif Kureishi who seems above
all to be honest in what he writes; sufficiently non-literary
to appeal to a wide audience and yet intelligent and thoughtful
in his depiction of (in this case) the problems of identity
for anyone growing up in urban Britain. Funny, true, alarming,
exhilarating; well worth reading.

Funny, how much of the review I hear from folk, have been about the Indian, Pakistan, Islamic tinge on the book. Yea, it's good and stuff that he's writing about that, while much of the mainstream media still shows the myth of London in the 'Notting Hill' Film image (Damm, I use to squat there in the 80's, so I was never more than 5 minutes away from my Saltfish, Redstrip, Dub plates). But for me the strongest images are of the white folks in the book. I remember coming across SO MANY self proclaimed liberal lefties like Hanif covers in the book. Middle class English folk, who really want to make things better for us, colonials as long as they are in charge. This smug paternalistic attitude (gosh, the BBC just came to my mind) jumps out at you in funny funny incidents. In this novel, I reckon the 'anthropologists lense' (come on now, many do read his book to get an insider's glimse of a world they see a closed to them) is turned on the 'anthroplogists' themselves pretty well. This would explain why one of my friends reacted badly to it, ragging on about how she especially dislike 'that woman professor in the book' - For me, that female lecturer Hanif depicts was typical of my 'multiculti' friend.

Indians, Pakistanis, English right-wing thugs, academics, swingers, religious zealeots, idealists, pushers and the hopeless meet in London, but do little to create much excitement.

A young Pakistini student moves to the big city after the death of his father and deals with himself, his sexuality, relgious beliefs, his family's bollywood-like dramas and his neighbour's idealists (mis)adventures.

To rate this book on the strength of the images it conjures up for those who lived in London during that era, might not be the fairest way to judge a book. Apart from the protagonst's unconvincing affair with his lecturer and run-ins with his brother, there is little else to grab the attention of the reader.

A slow and tedious read and had i not picked this up for only US$2, the rating would be easily one star.