Homeland Elegies
By Ayad Akhtar ( 2020 )
BOOK CLUB
An Unflinching Look at America
In January , the AWCH Book Club met virtually to discuss thoughts on Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar ’ s latest novel , Homeland Elegies , a sweeping story that masterfully explores the very current themes of identity , belonging , and dispossession facing immigrants in the United States . The television network FX is currently developing it into an eight-episode series .
Though the book is fiction , it is written like a memoir , with the narrator sharing many autobiographical details with Akhtar , including his name and personal and professional background .
Our members agreed with the literary consensus that telling the story as autofiction was a very bold and daring choice , since the novel shares so many personal experiences and challenges faced by Akhtar himself , the son of Muslim immigrants from Pakistan . His life is forever caught between two very different countries and cultures . We see firsthand what it was like
Join the Book Club If you want to join the discussion , email bookclub @ awchamburg . org
to grow up with a mother who never felt at home in America and a cardiologist father who wholeheartedly embraced the capitalist frenzy of the ‘ 80s and admired Donald Trump , a onetime patient of his . We also experience what it was like for him to go from struggling writer to celebrated playwright , rubbing elbows with the likes of Elon Musk at lavish parties . dinner
Akhtar ’ s astute observations on the culture of America from these dual vantage points is unerring .
His very personal experiences during 9 / 11 in New York City also gave much insight to the struggles faced by Muslim Americans and provided a relatable framework for examining how Donald Trump ’ s election exacerbated existing rifts in our society . As the book puts the reader so fully in the shoes of a strong narrator , one can ’ t help but experience Akhtar ’ s America as one ’ s own — an imperfect home that is , nonetheless , all that we have . ( Adelina G .)
I thought this book was an absolute literary masterpiece , and I thoroughly enjoyed it . By weaving together many different threads and using multiple genres , Akhtar has created a new kind of novel that marries autobiography and fiction in deliciously ambiguous ways . I was hesitant to read this book , as I worried it would be preachy or didactic , but it was neither . Instead , it was hilarious , smart , exhausting , and heartbreaking , and , ultimately , unexpectedly beautiful . ( Diana P . -S.)
32 The Clubs within Our Club