This book caught my attention when it first came out – the premise is timely and interesting, and I was curious to explore the mixture of fiction and non-. This novel is about a man called Akhtar (like the author), a playwright who has reached some acclaim (like the author). The novel traces his adulthood from his early struggles through success and disillusionment. Woven into the narrative are memories of pivotal events (like where he was during 9/11 and the racist treatment he endured starting immediately after the attacks) and of his troubled relationship with his parents.
The book felt like it was going in several directions at once, but at the same time the main character seemed to be treading water. His experiences as a man of Asian descent born in America echoed the sense of never-belonging I’ve seen in other authors’ explorations of racial othering (Good Talk and Interior Chinatown both share similar experiences). He is forced to confront questions about his identity constantly and from every side, even when he is a successful American playwright. There is a sense that part of his motivation for seeking such success was to be seen by his home country, even claimed by it. But due to the subject matter of his work and his racial identity, his success is not accompanied by the acceptance he seeks – much the opposite.
This leads to somewhat of a crisis of identity for him, and some questioning of his place in the world. He becomes close with a very financially successful man, and spends some time caught in his orbit of excess. Ultimately, however, this proves to be an empty pursuit, and one that shows a darker side of a shiny strata of the monied classes.
I’ve had a hard time with this one. By about halfway through I was really impressed, and thinking this was going to be a top read of the year. I enjoyed the depiction of his father’s relationship with Trump pre-Presidency, and likewise the stories of racism he shared were important and emotional. I think the part I found challenging was some of the more icky stories shared in the book. Stories of affairs, STDs, gambling addiction… these things are definitely part of life and I’m not normally put off by them, but something about how they were written just left me feeling alienated rather than like I’d seen an admirably done and honest depiction of modern life. I’m not quite sure how they could have been handled differently, but this didn’t really work for me. It left me feeling like I couldn’t connect with the last part of the book, and like I didn’t really want to.
I think there’s a lot in this book to recommend it – there are certain stories and images that have stuck with me, and that will continue to do so for some time. The discussion of what it means to be of South East Asian descent and born in America – the sense of never belonging in the only place you’ve ever called home – is vital. There are parts of this book that helped me to understand aspects of this identity that either hadn’t occurred to me before, or that I hadn’t seen from this perspective. For that alone, this book is well worth the read.
In spite of the sections that left me feeling unpleasantly over-informed, I’d still recommend this book. I don’t think everyone will have such a strong response as I did – and frankly, I don’t know why I did. I’ve definitely read worse in my time, and don’t usually have such an issue with this type of discussion in my reading. Perhaps with more thought I’ll be able to figure it out, but for now, I’ll just say go into it aware that there will be some distasteful passages – purposely so – but that even if these do seem overly unpleasant to you, there is still a lot worth exploring in this book.
A deeply personal work about hope and identity in a nation coming apart at the seams, Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of belonging and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made. Part family drama, part social essay, part picaresque adventure — at its heart, it is the story of a father, a son, and the country they both call home.
Akhtar forges a new narrative voice to capture a country in which debt has ruined countless lives and our ideals have been sacrificed to the gods of finance, where a TV personality is president and immigrants live in fear, and where the nation’s unhealed wounds of 9/11 wreak havoc around the world. Akhtar attempts to make sense of it all through the lens of a story about one family, from a heartland town in America to palatial suites in Central Europe to guerilla lookouts in the mountains of Afghanistan, and spares no one — least of all himself — in the process. – Goodreads
Book Title: Homeland Elegies
Author: Ayad Akhtar
Series: No
Edition: Hardback/Audiobook
Published By: Little, Brown and Company
Released: September 15, 2020
Genre: Fiction, Race, Family, Belonging (or Not)
Pages: 368
Date Read: March 24-April 1, 2021
Rating: 7/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.22/5 (11,326 ratings)