No One Can Pronounce My Name

March 27, 2017
Satyal, the Lambda Award-winning author of Blue Boy, writes evocatively of Indian-American culture in his second novel, set in Cleveland. It revolves around two immigrants: Harit, a middle-aged department store salesman, and Ranjana, the wife of a math professor and mother to an American-born son, Prashant, a freshman at Princeton. Each of these characters struggle with issues of identity. Harit’s sister’s recent death is such a loss that every night he dons her sari and assumes her identity to give his mother something to live for. The pretense is stifling, yet it awakens his self-awareness. Struggling with empty-nest syndrome and believing that her husband is cheating on her, Ranjana rebels against Indian convention by working outside the home, writing on the sly, and striking up male friendships, including one with Harit. Prashant tries to meet cultural and parental expectations while asserting his independence. Satyal captures his characters’ experiences within a close-knit Indian community, rounded out with excellent supporting characters like Harit’s mother and Ranjana’s husband, who have their own stories to tell, resulting in a vivid, complex tale.

Warmth pervades both Amol Shah's narration and this story of Indian- American immigrants caught between the expectations of their birth and adopted cultures. Repressed Harit lives a hopeless, torpid life; neither he nor his mother is able to move on after the accidental death of Harit's beloved sister. Harit's gentle resignation as voiced by Shah evokes sympathy while also credibly conveying Harit's ability, despite his oddities, to engender friendships. When Harit meets Ranjana, who is confronting the staidness of her life as an empty nester, Shah gives her a contained effervescence that, once finally released, bubbles over with enchanting playfulness. Shah's compassionate treatment of these characters leads listeners to care about them long before they learn to care about themselves. K.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine