The Buddha of Suburbia

Rating:
Summary: a masterpiece of multicultural archetypes
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: The Zen Center of Chaos
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Into the Trash
Review: I can say modern literature is surely on its way out of class and refinement. This book is sleazy and pointless as much of what is published nowadays. As a Buddhist, I bought the book thinking it may give light into Asian culture in the West and its positive impact it certainly has had. Instead I am exposed to degraded Indians and loopy British who do not have a clue of who they are or understand the symbolism of life.
What a shame to Buddha's name, who in actuality did nothing but bring light to the Indian people and to the world as to exactly who they are. And how inherently deep and symbolic every moment of life is.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I studied the "Imperial Gaze" throughout this past semester and read some pretty interesting and varied stuff--The Satanic Verses, Kim, The Jewel in the Crown, to name a few. But I wondered why my professor would recommend this book to me without having us read it in class, so I picked it up and was floored. The Buddha of Suburbia isn't spectacular just because it handles important issues with such sharpness, but because it seems (and is) so relevant to our life here and now.

I was entranced while following the story of Karim. When you read about someone around your own age (not that this book isn't for all ages), but in an entirely new and different situation, and still feel a deep connection, you know you've just read a powerful story. The Buddha of Suburbia is a great example. It's told with such hard-hitting, direct prose that you can't help but know with heart-aching sadness that what happens to Karim throughout the novel actually does happen. Marriages fall apart, racism is real, etc and the confusion that swirls through Karim's head ensures that the reader will understand this. He doesn't have all the answers--noone does--but Karim tries to live through all the hardship, all the selfishness, and all the superficiality. Sometime's he's unsuccessful, but when he finally realizes what's important in life you see that he's going to make it through.

Rating:
Summary: Anomie in 70s England
Review: No one in this novel is "normal", and that is what makes it so funny. It is hard to imagine that a family group like the one to which Karim belongs actually exists, and at least for me that is one of the reasons why is quite difficult to take his "sufferings" seriously. Actually it seems more likely that Karim took the approach of being an spectator of his own life. For example he is bisexual but his ambiguity in tastes does not create any sort of moral dilemma, and the events are taking place in the late sixties, early seventies, when for someone to express openly its non heterosexual tendencies could be very risky, moreover when his fellow school mates were a bunch of racists rednecks.

My feeling is that the author just want to convey that a world in which the social rules and parameters are always changing is more exiting than frightening no matter in which social group you belong. After all life is meant to learn and which courses you want to take is to a large extent only up to you.

Rating:
Summary: Controlled Chaos
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Cool
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A story of unraveling lives in an unraveling society.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Welcome to a world constructed by genius, humour and frequent moments of radicalism. The Buddha of Suburbia was
awarded the Whitbread Prize for First Noel (1990) and what a stunning debut work it is. Set in the South London suburbs,
Karim Amir is an Indian teenager growing up in the 1970s, learning to cope with adolescence and all its trappings. This frank and imaginative work reveals his personal traumae, loves, desires and wishes whilst he observes those around him with the
same regard that a psychologist has for his patients. The father who changes from civil Servant to 'Buddha of Suburbia', the
teenage rock star, Charlie Hero, who operates as a young Marxist and introduces Karim to sex, drugs and the real life behind a
drab and grey London, each character possesses a vibrancy and colour that contrasts brilliantly with their repressed and
conservative surroundings.

This is the sort of novel which appeals to all age ranges, identifying with teenage angst and confusion, exploring the power of the mid-life crisis and defying the spectre of old age, something Kureishi banishes with panache. From Karim's secret love for his idol, Charlie, and Charlie's descent into the underworld of teenage revolutionaries, The Buddha of Suburbia is the sort of novel which can be read again and again, finding some startling nuance of society each time.