Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

Buy new:

$11.50

List Price: $26.00

Save: $14.50 (56%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Wednesday, May 17 on orders shipped by Amazon over $25

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, May 16. Order within 1 hr 43 mins

Select delivery location

Only 1 left in stock - order soon

[{"displayPrice":"$11.50","priceAmount":11.50,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"11","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"50","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"ODTkCO2VaSHXxU8Vp%2B86bq84%2FzkxpcymY75T4uIFxk%2BxRmCjkbawSWZ%2Fxs0MB%2BTYS9qjUB2iaiIZ7qe9kKz%2FhGktG3BWlQe%2BtixsiHIjMgjsfshrBrGNY0YpDsQ5xACcq5SOFeHEppYEwZ7PsrjTmIBRJr%2F0CAKOwtfFZHTLYdQ8gEmroY7%2F0Q%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]

$$11.50 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Doza Group

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Doza Group

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$11.49
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: Notable Finds

Added

Not added

$7.99
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: BooksForBlessings

Added

Not added

$22.99
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: Amazon.com

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Aravind Adiga

Amnesty: A Novel Hardcover – February 18, 2020

by Aravind Adiga (Author)

3.7 764 ratings

Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$12.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$11.50

$5.00

$1.50

Paperback

"Please retry"

$12.68

$8.03

$1.97

Spiral-bound

"Please retry"

$3.70

—

$3.70

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$25.99

$14.35

Purchase options and add-ons

A riveting, suspenseful, and exuberant novel from the bestselling, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The White Tiger and Selection Day about a young illegal immigrant who must decide whether to report crucial information about a murder—and thereby risk deportation.

Danny—formerly Dhananjaya Rajaratnam—is an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia, denied refugee status after he fled from Sri Lanka. Working as a cleaner, living out of a grocery storeroom, for three years he’s been trying to create a new identity for himself. And now, with his beloved vegan girlfriend, Sonja, with his hidden accent and highlights in his hair, he is as close as he has ever come to living a normal life.

But then one morning, Danny learns a female client of his has been murdered. The deed was done with a knife, at a creek he’d been to with her before; and a jacket was left at the scene, which he believes belongs to another of his clients—a doctor with whom Danny knows the woman was having an affair. Suddenly Danny is confronted with a choice: Come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported? Or say nothing, and let justice go undone? Over the course of this day, evaluating the weight of his past, his dreams for the future, and the unpredictable, often absurd reality of living invisibly and undocumented, he must wrestle with his conscience and decide if a person without rights still has responsibilities.

Propulsive, insightful, and full of Aravind Adiga’s signature wit and magic, Amnesty is both a timeless moral struggle and a universal story with particular urgency today.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Scribner
Publication date

February 18, 2020
Dimensions

6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1982127244
ISBN-13

978-1982127244
See all details

Frequently bought together

$11.49

Get it as soon as Friday, May 19

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

Sold by Notable Finds and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.

+

$15.99

Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 17

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

$13.60

Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 17

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

Most purchased | Highest ratedin this set of products
Joseph Conrad
1,200
Paperback
$6.25
Lowest Pricein this set of products
Aphra Behn
41
Paperback
$5.99
This item:
Aravind Adiga
764
Hardcover
$11.49
Helon Habila
116
Paperback
$13.60
Anita Desai
466
Paperback
$15.99
NoViolet Bulawayo
473
Hardcover
$14.24
Aravind Adiga
836
Paperback
$16.95
Aravind Adiga
10,901
Paperback
$10.79

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Millions, Vulture, LitHub, and Buzzfeed's Most Anticipated of 2020

The New York Times Most Anticipated of February 2020

"I like to read Adiga’s novels almost as much as the poet James Dickey liked to drink. He has more to say than most novelists, and about 50 more ways to say it… Adiga is a startlingly fine observer, and a complicator, in the manner of V.S. Naipaul… Reading him you get a sense of having your finger on the planet’s pulse… This novel has a simmering plot…[but] you come to this novel for other reasons, notably for its author’s authority, wit and feeling on the subject of immigrants’ lives… Keep reading."
—The New York Times

"Searing, inventive ... Amnesty is Adiga’s most accomplished novel yet, a gorgeously crafted page-turner with brains and heart, illuminating the courage of displaced peoples and the cruelties of those who conspire against them.”
—Hamilton Cain, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“What makes Amnesty an urgent and significant book is the generosity and the humanity of its vision. The abstract issue of immigration, fodder for cheap politics, comes starkly alive in the story of this one man, his past troubles and his present conflict. Amnesty is an ample book, pertinent and necessary. It speaks to our times.”
—Juan Gabriel Vasquez, The New York Times Book Review

“Adiga shines when documenting the ways in which immigrants are marginalized by those who claim to care about them... Amnesty succeeds in wrenching attention toward systemic injustice.”
—Kristen Millares Young, The Washington Post

“A universal story with particular relevance and urgency today.”
—Parade

“A near-hallucinatory guided tour of Australia’s largest city as observed by an endearing oddball who, out of necessity, keeps to the shadows… In fresh and playful prose…Adiga places you smack in the middle of Danny’s buzzing mind… With its pleasurably off-kilter sympathies and style, Amnesty compellingly captures Danny’s tricky plight.”
—Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times

“Adiga is one of the great observers of power and its deformities, showing in novels like his Booker Prize winning White Tiger and Last Man in Tower how within societies, the powerful lean on the less powerful, and the weak exploit the weaker all the way down. Telling the tale of Danny’s immigration along the story of one tense day, he has built a forceful, urgent thriller for our times.”
—John Freeman, Lit Hub Executive Editor

“Adiga’s novel…takes the reader inside the cautious, furtive world of an undocumented immigrant who clings to hope but lives with so much fear and paranoia. In all of its minutiae and incredible detail, these pages call attention to the real heartbreak of undocumented people who dream of a better existence – not only in Australia but in the United States and elsewhere…the substance is so good – the premise of a day’s moral tussling by an individual with so much at personal stake – and the writing is beautiful (at times lyrical)."
—Jennifer Forker, The Associated Press

“Amnesty is a story that will, with plenty of Adiga’s trademark wit, force you to reckon with your own ethical code.”
—Madison Malone Kircher, Vulture

“A work of deeply consequential fiction.”
—BookPage, starred review

“Like Valeria Luiselli in Lost Children Archive, Adiga bears witness to the disruption, pain, and hardship inherent in needing to leave one’s country and find refuge elsewhere. Highly recommended."
—Library Journal, starred review

"In this smart twist on a classic whodunit, Danny, undocumented and working as a house cleaner in Sydney after fleeing Sri Lanka, has information about an unsolved murder. He must decide whether to stay silent—or come forward and risk deportation."
—VanityFair

“A taut, thrillerlike novel... A well-crafted tale of entrapment, alert to the risk of exploitation that follows immigrants in a new country.” —Kirkus, starred review

"Engrossing...vivid...Adiga’s enthralling depiction of one immigrant’s tough situation humanizes a complex and controversial global dilemma."
—Publishers Weekly

"Scrutinizes the human condition through a haves-vs.-have-not filter with sly wit and narrative ingenuity... Adiga's smart, funny, and timely tale with a crime spin of an undocumented immigrant will catalyze readers."
—Booklist

“Adiga's facility for the cadence and vernacular of street talk and self-talk gives voice, literally, to figures that are often unheard.”
—Shelf Awareness

About the Author

Aravind Adiga was born in India in 1974 and attended Columbia and Oxford universities. He is the author of the novels Amnesty; Selection Day, now a series on Netflix; The White Tiger,which won the Man Booker Prize;and the story collection Between the Assassinations. He lives in Mumbai, India.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; First Edition (February 18, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982127244
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982127244
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #964,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #585 in City Life Fiction (Books)
- #3,351 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
- #45,812 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.7 764 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Aravind Adiga

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Aravind Adiga was born in India in 1974 and attended Columbia and Oxford universities. A former correspondent for Time magazine, he has also been published in the Financial Times. He lives in Mumbai, India.

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

764 global ratings

5 star		28%
4 star		31%
3 star		25%
2 star		12%
1 star		4%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Ramesh Gopalan

Unstrange story of a Stranger in a Strange Land

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

one of my chief complaints about nearly all novels, bestsellers i come across is that the 'imagery' is overdone. every little twitch of the characters, every little sway of the breeze, the color of the chair they might be sitting on is commented on.
plus there is the attempt at poetic metaphors - Salman Rushdie claiming the clock hands coming together to usher in Midnight's Children, for example that caused us to endure a flood of 'magical realism' since - in Adiga's repeated allusions to mermaids in a lagoon in Batticalao that he can listen to if he put his reed into the water - the reader finds it hard to believe that anyone will leave such an idyllic beautiful place in Sri Lanka to clean homes as an illegal in what seems like the slums of Sydney. This kind of stream of consciouness writing seems all the voge now we have Knausgaard etc. who seem to fill pages of their memoirs , describing things that simply happen to them, and we are supposed to read and enjoy it at all simply because there is nothing better to do?! - no, it is less work to binge watch something on Netflix instead.
Now I liked Aravind Adiga's White Tiger because of its somewhat realistic portrayal of an anti-hero in India - there are millions like him - and his prose is pretty good, but in Amnesty he takes on another topical issue - migration (illegal, obviously) and its effects on lives - and I dont know that I learned anything new, or got any unique perspective - yes, we already know that migrants are mostly decent human beings, even if the mostly decent countries they migrate to dont necessarily treat them that way.
What I look for in a novel is a plot - a dramatic drive that keeps the story clipping along, with the moral or social observations only scenes by the side - I dont know that I got that out of Amnesty. I dont regret reading through it, but it did not leave me with any sense of realization, or closure of story that I have sought, and found with some of my favorites.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

R G Hurley

Moving but flawed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

A novel that is high in credible emotion. An issue of our times- overstayers and their exploitation. Structurally lacks an earlier development but still holds the reader’s attention.

Helpful

Deedi Brown

Haunting and fascinating

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 25, 2020

Amnesty is an in-depth look at the world from an illegal immigrant’s perspective that leaves a ringing, lasting impression.

For you if: You don’t mind books that ask a little extra from you because they are more literary / cerebral.

FULL REVIEW:
"Nothing is simple for a man like this one. Not even being helpless. Or harmless. Life is a battle, and though unevenly so, everyone is armed."

Amnesty was a really unique book, at least for me, and so it also moved me in a unique way. Told over the course of one single day, it follows an illegal immigrant living in Sydney, Australia, named Danny.

Danny has been in Sydney for four years. He originally travelled there on a student visa and then applied for asylum, but was denied. So he stayed illegally. Now he has a girlfriend he loves and a steady stream of clients whose houses he cleans, so life is pretty good. But then one of them is murdered, and Danny thinks another one of his clients may have killed her. In fact, Danny is probably the only person who knows about the connection between them. But if he tells the police, he’ll be deported. He spends the day agonizing over the decision, which is not helped by the fact that the potential killer keeps calling him and harassing him.

I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book told in one day before. At certain times, it made me feel a little impatient for the plot to move along. But at other times, I was hit by the way the author could slow so far down and use an exacting level of detail to leave an impression. And the spiraling nature of Danny’s internal struggle hammered home the trauma he’d lived and was currently living.

This book lost me sometimes. It wavered between first person and third person and here and there and then and now, all in a way that was occasionally hard to follow. But I always found my way back. The result is a book that feels very literary and cerebral (I’m not surprised to see that Adiga previously won the Booker Prize, as nominated books tend to feel that way). So it takes a little more work, but it turned out to be worth it to me in the end.

It’s not too hard to find stories about illegal immigrants during their journey, or right after. I have read far fewer stories about their daily lives once they arrive. The way they are hunted, haunted, afraid, empowered and disempowered, surrounded by both comrades and foes. This book painted a portrait of an exhausting life that is still yet worth living. And for that, I’m grateful.

TRIGGER WARNINGS
Violence / murder
Racism and racial slurs
Islamophobia

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nancy J. Gegenheimer

Painful novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

This was a very painful novel to read. The protagonist, an illegal alien in Australia, has knowledge (or thinks he does) of a murder. The book takes place in one day in his life, minute by minute and the things he does, much because he is illegal are painful. The scarry movie part is hard, he converses with the murderer and even goes to see him; why I don't know. We learn of the horrific life of illegal immigrants, worldwide. Even the protagonist's (Danny) relationship with is father is painful. Not a happy book to read.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

BookWorm

Slow and intense but goes on too long and gets silly

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 20, 2022

Verified Purchase

'Amnesty' is an intense, slow-burn novel set over the course of a single day - or really, just a few hours of it. Danny is a Sri Lankan cleaner living illegally in Australia, in constant fear of deportation. When one his clients is murdered, he is tormented by the knowledge he has information that might help the police find her killer - but to come forwards would risk his own exposure. It's a powerful dilemma and one that is easy to sympathise with.

The story covers Danny's movements and thought processes on that day in minute, almost minute-by-minute detail. As part of that, it unravels his history - how he came to be in Australia, and why he believes he knows who killed his client.

I found it quite good initially, but by two thirds of the way through I was pretty tired of his agonising and wanted to shout at him to hurry up and call the hotline - or decide not to once and for all - and put all of us out of our misery. I also found the story of his relationship with the murdered woman and her boyfriend rather weird and unbelievable, and when he got in touch with the potential killer and started conversations with him the story took another turn for the worse. It just wasn't plausible. Not least why he'd be so utterly stupid as to phone the man, particularly given the likelihood of him either becoming the next victim or at least reported directly to the border patrol force.

So all in all it was frustrating and a waste of a good concept, particularly from a writer like Adiga who is capable of turning out very good books. It does highlight the perilous conditions for people like Danny, who live at the edge of society and have no way 'in' legitimately once they have arrived. The conversation on an internet forum early in the book - which Adiga says in the acknowledgements is copied closely from a genuine one - is very telling. It shows how creating an environment so hostile results in risks to the country concerned - people not coming forwards to solve crimes, or to get communicable diseases treated, etc. etc. The lack of compassion is not only wrong, but counterlogical.

Another novel which has a similar theme but is much more readable is 'The Other Americans' by Leila Lalami. If you like the concept and want to see it done well, I'd recommend it. As for this book, it might appeal to readers who like very intense, heavy psychological stories.

Luke Dennison

Great concept, occasionally clumsy writing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

I was between 3 and 4 stars but have been generous and rounded up to 4 stars.

The concept is great here, covering the world of illegal immigration in one day, based around a murder of someone the main character used to know. This concept gives time for the reality of the situation to slowly come to the fore, the feelings of our protagonist and his situation and how he thinks other see him and his kind.

The murder story takes second fiddle and is used to supplement the main topic, so if you are expecting a murder mystery leave this alone.

I liked the main character, I liked the concept and I liked the story.

What I liked a lot less was the writing, Adiga writes well for the most part but then occasionally, he throws in really descriptive and confusing paragraphs and the writing jars so you have to read the paragraph again (often without luck).

Overall, I liked this though but it's not on the same level as white tiger. 7/10

John Sheldon

Important, interesting but ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

Aravind Adiga is a great writer. The White Tiger was fabulous and his subsequent novels, with the exception of the one on cricket, were excellent.

This is an important book. It tackles a difficult theme - the undocumented migrant - with passion, depth and empathy. it's well-written and thought-provoking.

But, and it is a small 'but', the novel is hard-going, and I am not entirely sure why. I found my attention kept wandering and, in the end, I was left a little unsatisfied. Too bad. I hope the next one recaptures the success of his first.

2 people found this helpful

Bobbie

repetitious plot but sympathetic, engaging protagonist

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

Sri Lankan Danny, denied refugee status in Australia, stays on in Sydney, dodging the authorities, until one day he faces a dilemma. Should he come forward with his knowledge of a murderer’s identity... or not? The dilemma itself is drawn out and repetitious, but the predicament of a likeable, honest, hardworking individual, wanting the things in life we all do, whose misfortune is to be ‘illegal’ and ‘brown’ in a ‘white’ world, kept me engaged. Best read with a street map of Sydney to hand, as over the course of a day its various districts are evocatively described.

Cop

Love this author.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

I love this author so I knew I would love this book. Definitely recommend this book and his four other titles.

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $11.50

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Amnesty: A Novel Hardcover – February 18, 2020

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

What do customers buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Aravind Adiga

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$11.50