Purchase
Little Brown and Company
January 2012
On Sale: January 9, 2012
368 pages ISBN: 0316183318 EAN: 9780316183314 Kindle: B004QZ9PHO Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Fiction
Hayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time.
His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had
previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage
and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight
over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina
arrives, and everything changes. Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is
independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the
Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan
disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the
liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their
home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith
to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has
before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the
glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose
mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher. When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confused
by his feelings of betrayal. His growing passions, both
spiritual and romantic, force him to question all that he
has come to believe is true. Just as Mina finds happiness,
Hayat is compelled to act -- with devastating consequences
for all those he loves most. American Dervish is a brilliantly written, nuanced, and
emotionally forceful look inside the interplay of religion
and modern life. Ayad Akhtar was raised in the Midwest
himself, and through Hayat Shah he shows readers vividly the
powerful forces at work on young men and women growing up
Muslim in America. This is an intimate, personal first novel
that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|