Customer Reviews

Buddha of Suburbia

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Buddha of Suburbia is set in London in the 1970's during the peak of the Punk Revolution. It is a time where the psychological impact of the reality of the loss of Empire is at it's zenith and the explosion in the "ethnic" components of London's population is underway. Society is in a cultural and social upheaval and the world of Karim Amir as presented by Hanif Kureishi serves as an eloquent microcosm of that upheaval.

Karims rather staid middle class London suburban existence is coming apart as the novel opens. His English mother and Indian father's marriage is quickly disintegrating. His father's escape from this disaster is to become the "Buddha of Suburbia", mouthing trite Indian spiritual sayings for desperate middle aged suburban housewives and so forth. When is dad and one of his "disciples" become romantically involved, Karim is introduced into the whirlwind of London punk social life and then thoroughly swept up in the tide, ultimately achieving a measure of true personal success as all around him flounder in overindulgent self-indulgence.

Kureishi does a remarkable job of painting a detailed and well textured portrait of a society in flux during times of economic, artistic and racial turmoil through a cast of characters that adroitly symbolize the various factions of the disintegrating society while maintaining their integrity as fully formed and sympathetic (for the most part anyway) individuals.

I quite liked the book but I feel one should be forewarned that this book does have some rather unsavory, hardcore elements and situations in it that will not be everyone's cup of tea. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, dive right in and enjoy the show.

The Buddha of Suburbia is a coming-of-age novel that takes place in the suburbs near London in the 70s. Although its `Indians in England' theme could easily have become an overly earnest exploration of ethnicity and gender and culture, Kureishi has the sense to spare us all that. Instead he's written a hilarious but often touching story in which the wit and energy of individuals are what's important.

Karim Amir, the narrator, is a 21-year-old Englishman of Indian descent who's at a crossroads in his life. He's waiting for something important to happen, but, uncertain as to what that thing is exactly, ends up just sort of hanging out, going from place to place. This gives the book a kind of wandering and aimless feel. You have several different plot lines: Karim's father leaving his mother for a London socialite and simultaneously becoming an Indian buddha adored by upper class white people; Amir's ultra-feminist friend Jamila having sex in bathrooms, studying martial arts in preparation for the Revolution, and being forced to marry a sheepish fat man from India because her father threatens to starve himself to death; Karim himself, joining an acting group to become famous but playing a ridiculous Mowgli in a production of the Jungle Book; Karim's ambitious and self-obsessed friend, Charlie, becoming a rock star and pressing the limits of sexuality by having hot candle wax dripped on his penis.

These events don't make for the most cohesive plot, but the characters themselves more than make up for it. You see Karim's parents and friends and associates as kind of sad and pathetic and funny and frustrated little people. Whereas others are intimidated or inspired or in awe of them, Karim is able to sit back and laugh at it all. There are some great moments here: My favorite is when Changez-the sheepish, fat, Arthur Conan Doyle-worshipping Indian Jamila has been forced to marry-somehow manages to clobber his father-in-law in the head with a dildo. It's one of the many scenes that are funny in a sleazy, I-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-that kind of way.

Although this book is a lot of fun to read, what really takes it to the next level is Karim's constant, gnawing sense of isolation and uncertainty about the future. Karim sees the people around him as examples of what he could become, and he senses who is pure and who isn't, and more than anything he wants to remain interesting and malleable and inspired; he's terrified of the boredom and misery associated with growing up in suburbia. I read this book when I want to be reminded of the importance of paying attention and having sex in bathrooms and laughing and taking chances and refusing to settle down.

Hanif Kureishi wrote the excellent "coming of age" novel set in London of the 1970s. The protagonist is a boy, Karim, from mixed family: his father is Indian, his mother English. He has a younger brother. They live in a London suburb of not the best reputation, the immigrant district, and feel it...

As Karim enters his teens, disturbing per se, his family collapses, his father, searching for his own path (quite good, actually, even nowadays: he becoomes a meditation guru), finds a lover, Eva, an eccentric woman with pretenses to be an artist. Meanwhile, his son falls in love with Eva's son, Charlie, and since then starts his struggle to recognize his sexuality. At the same time, he has to figure out what to do with his life... His best friend, an Indian girl with a sharp mind (a very interesting character), daughter of a shopkeeper, chooses to be a feminist, although initially she has no courage to oppose her father, traditionally bullying her into an arranged marriage,and marries an Indian from India, but quickly regains her position and goes back on the "modern" path. Karim is bright, observant, learns quickly (however he has no inclination for academic learning), ambitious (he wants to move up in society and not be regarded as an immigrant, who he, in fact, is not) finally he figures out what he wants and becomes an actor.

This is a funny account, very much in the atmosphere of the hippie times, at the same time trying to grasp the 70s, tackling the immigrant problems in England from every possible angle, and describing the rebellious years of one youth. Maybe this is too much... The story is a bit incoherent sometimes and has some boring moments, probably more interesting is the way it is written (an internal monologue), the humor and language, the sharp and witty character portraits, and the hints of autobiography (?). Although it is evidently not perfect, it only excited my curiosity as to other Kureishi's novels.

As 1970s Britain cast off the last tentative fragments of empire and lurched reluctantly into modern multiculturalism, complete with a racist backlash, a national identity crisis, and an economic recession to boot, a new society was painfully born in which popular culture was up for grabs and a jaded punk-rock decay took hold in the Babylon that is London. Few writers have described this environment better than Hanif Kureishi. The Buddha of Suburbia is his best book, and the BBC adaptation starring Naveen Andrews (of the English Patient) as Karim doesn't come close to doing it justice. Although The Buddha suffers from a certain shallowness of character, which is bound to happen whenever an author puts culture and setting ahead of individual, this flaw is offset by the brilliance with which Kureishi navigates the various identity crises in Karim's life that mirror those of Britain as a society. It is sheer genius to cast the postmodern soul of Britain as an Anglo-Pakistani youth. No character better illustrates the up-for-grabs nature of this changing society, and the supporting characters like Charlie, Changez and The Buddha (Dad), while degenerating into shallow caricatures of real people at times, are thrilling examples of decadence and personal struggle that will hold any reader's attention. Altough Kureishi's favored medium is the screenplay (Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie, etc.) The Buddha of Suburbia should be given "classic" status as a near-perfect example of the "multicultural novel," mainly because it dives deep into identity politics without becoming a one-dimensional PC sermon.

I never wanted to part ways with the eccentric characters of this fast paced, hilarious novel. I loved Karim and his extra-ordinary family, flaws and all. And I cared for their welfare. Set in London of the 1960s - the author skillfully introduces the reader to the racist abuses, class and existential struggles of that era that are still true today most likely.
If you are tired of the predictable works of most contemporary authors and eager for something with a little snap, spice and depth, look no further. The language alone will STAGGER you.
I am in love with Hanif Kureishi.
Good Job!

This book is vulgar, graphic, and crude. It's also witty, interesting, and entertaining. And that combination makes it unlike anything else I've read.

"I wanted to live always this intensely: mysticism, alcohol, sexual promise, clever people, and drugs." That's what the narrator, Karim Amir, states near the beginning of the story. As the book opens he's just a kid--a seventeen year old boy living in suburban London. His father is Indian and his mother in English, and that effects everything in his life, though the author never beats you over the head with his opinions on race relations.

The novel is set in the last seventies, and you follow Karim as he leaves the suburbs and gets caught up in the punk movement and socialist politics. His father wants him to be a doctor, but he realizes it's not for him and eventually pursues acting.

The story itself is not remarkable. It's a basic coming of age tale that follows the narrator through several years as he experiences sex, love, and first jobs. What makes this book fascinating is the writer's style. He mixes philosophy with references to pop culture. He's very blunt and possibly offensive when discussing sex or politics. The book is often humorous, sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny.

The whole things is very refreshing. Rather than reading a work of fiction it almost feels like reading letters from a friend. The prose is excellent, but you never feel like the author gets too poetic, so it feels realistic and you really believe that you're getting a story told by Karim without anything being sugar -coated.

I can't think of any authors who are exactly like Kureishi, but he does remind me of Vonnegut at times because the book is humorous, but there's also a lot of depth to it. You might also enjoy it if you like pop culture authors like Nick Hornby, but you're looking for a bit more substance.

most of it fits into the context of the story. Admittedly there were a few times on the bus that I had to look over my shoulder so that no one would catch me reading this stuff. But all smut aside, it is a good story, with lots of themes and conflicts and above all it is well written. But I thought the book could have been edited more, with more showing and less telling, and preferably less smut. The "youth culture" thread kept appearing throughout the book, and it got tiresome after awhile. It also seemed like the story shifted somewhere in the middle, from being centered around the protagonist's father, the "Buddha of Suburbia", to concentrating more on the protagonist's acting career, which seemed to take some of the heart out of the story. Everything was tied into a sloppy bow at the end, and it is unclear exactly what we've learned from our adventure. But maybe in that way it reflects real life, with all of its ambiguities and uncertainties.

Brilliant, funny, pointed and touching. Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" is a look at race relations in England, the aspirations of youth and the problems of family. All of this is put right under the surface of a story narrated by the English born adolescent, half Pakistani, half British young man called Karim.

Karim is so self involved that he has little idea of what is going on around him, and it is through his heavily biased eyes that events show themselves to us.

Everything that is revealed to us, from his family's turmoil, Karim's own greed, his neglect of his family during this difficult time, his aspirations to become famous, and above all else: to get laid, all of this comes sneaking past the bewildered young protagonist.

His friends, family and co-workers are all wonderfully colorful characters that represent the full spectrum of clichés and stereotypes in the London suburbs of the 1970's.

These people are all trying to live and to get by in their own ways, and Karim in anticipation of the American "Reagen 1980's" is trying to make sure that the world will give him everything that he desires.

Kureishi is such a brilliant stylist that we forget that he has created these characters and that Karim is not in fact telling us this story. His prose style is superb and flowing. The plot flows and entertains us while many complex and human themes are revealed in a bare nakedness that amazes the reader, without becoming "preachy" or overly pastoral.

This is not just an amazing social commentary, though it is that, but rather in fact, a wonderful and fully entertaining romp through the Suburbs of London, the city itself and even the U.S.'s East coast during the 1970's.

I loved this book, it was enjoyable to read through the description of London and the scenes and the dress and the narrator had this exciting, yet somewhat reserved and very real and honest relation to the reader. The book is very much about acting, in many ways, trying on characters, and becoming them, from the actual career of Karim, to the role of his father as 'buddha of suburbia' to charlie hero and the marxists. The book is honest and introspective but doesn't get bogged down or lose its sense of humor. I want to say its not silly, but it has its silliness, which I like. Furthermore, I don't think there is a more vivid description of 1970's London that I could imagine, I even can see the geography, the differences in different areas of London. The dress, the music, all of it is wonderful in creating a world that one can immerse oneself into while reading. I can't wait to watch the movie. The sex and the longing and all is very british to me, the racism described in that matter-of-fact way, the vulnerability and the weakness underlying Indians in London, the sadness in lives that are unfulfilled against the backdrop of gray london while Karim is full of color and life just make this book a joy.

If you're familiar with Kureishi's work, you know the themes already, class conflict, a struggle for sexual identification, the problem of race (because our narrator is as British as the Queen Mum, but he looks as if he's just stepped off the boat from Bombay). Buddha of Suburbia is about finding one's place amid the violent upheaval of social change. Most of Kureishi's characters, like the rest of us inhabiting the modern material world, grope about for meaning through notions of romantic love, familial and cultural tradition, and the ancient doctrines of faith (twisted around as they might be) before finally returning to the more palpable and intelligible comfort of science and self-expression. Finely voiced, witty as always, a wonderfully compressed decadent pop history, I found this book energizing and I enjoyed the characters, especially Charlie Hero, the lost handsome lad turned punk idol. Dad as the Buddha is a gas. Cousin Jammie, the dazzlingly steady feminist, comes off a bit dry. I don't believe for a minute that the narrator is interested sexually in women (ditto the other works), but this may be some narrative requisite, personal secret desire, or a suggestion from the editor to broaden the reading base. Some of the action is a bit coarser in spots than I like. But all in all a spiffing tale.