Product Description
In this collection of stories, Kureishi chronicles the loveless, the lost and the dispossessed. They represent the frustrated and intoxicating, the melancholic and sensitive, capable of great cruelty and willing to break constraints of an old life to make way for the new. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Some high points, some lower
Midnight All Day is a collection of short stories by Hanif Kureishi, an author whose characters often approach the low life, usually without ever actually attaining it. These stories are of variable quality, ranging from excellent to rather mundane, though they are all eminently readable, well written and well constructed. Sometimes there's just a bit too much incestuous involvement with the media. There are just a few too many writers, actors, television and film people around. One can understand why the author might meet a number of such people, but repeated use of media settings does occasionally detract from his story telling.

Despite this criticism, the characters are acutely drawn and are utterly credible. They tend to stumble or shamble through their lives from one opportunity to the next mistake, initiating and terminating relationships. Despite their tendency to write about or enact other characters, they often display very little facility for introspection. They often resort to their bottles or recreational drugs and treat sex as if it were a challenge.

So the stories deal with late twentieth century British professional middle classes, whose careers are always on top until they are bust, whose fortunes are always up until they crash, and whose relationships are always idyllic until they are failed.

Hanif Kureishi has a keen eye for the character of eighties and nineties Britain and on several occasions one feels implicitly that his subjects would not dream of discussing their woes with their parents. They are confident yet vulnerable, assertive yet indecisive, committed yet utterly ephemeral. There are occasions when these characteristics are a little overstated, but overall this is a moving and memorable collection which is probably best read one story at a time, rather than cover to cover.

Sustaining a love was bloody work
The main theme of these sad stories written in a minor key, is the conflict between freedom, love and family: 'his freedom to live and develop as he liked, against the right of his family to have his dependable presence.'

The subjects of these stories are lonely, entangled in triangular relationships, lost, young but already burnt-out, disillusioned, emotionally afraid, or 'fighting to preserve oneself', for 'Love could be torn down in a minute like taking a stick to a spider's web.'
In this world 'without certainties', two people talking is already 'the apogee of civilisation.'

With cool, restrained sentences Hanif Kureishi evokes masterly 'the complexity and detail of inner motion.'

Not to be missed. ... Read more

Product Description
Shahid, a young man at a second-rate London college, finds himself torn between his own future and the growing fervor of the Muslim community. By the author of The Buddha of Suburbia. Reprint. 17,500 first printing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

the title was interesting, at least
this is really the most boring book i have ever read. i read the whole thing, waiting in vain for something good to happen, and while i was waiting, in vain, the book ended. that was it. the last page. no climax, no excitment. i could say that something good did happen, the book ended, but with a name like "the black album", you might expect something more intriguing. maybe something having to do with, and this is a stretch....a black album. maybe i missed something, but the title and the fact that it did end were the 2 best things about this book. that, and i bought it either used, or on clearance. a forest fire would have been a better use of wood.

better today than a few years ago
Why does a college loafer of Pakistan origin flirt with fundamental Muslims, who become increasingly more extreme and more violent?
That this topic points more today, in a time of the irrational
condemnation of all Muslim tendencies than at the
publication date is no hint to aprophetic gift Kureishis. He"only" describes the colliding of two worlds in a very pointed way.
A nightlife and drug-exterminating student, long used to the British rock'n'roll lifestyle and thus avoiding in-depth thinking. All meetings are volatile and forgotten tomorrow. What he notices from his
neighbour in his college-dormitory praying room, is just as volatile. The consequences of the actions of the ever-larger growing group of fundamentalists are invisible to him, in such a way that it's still easy and good to livein two parallel universes, without coming to the conclusion thatone side could be dangerous to the other.
And Kureishi is so intense in his description of this drifting between the worlds
that the reader is almost trying to look after the people in the road after finishing the Black Album.Kureishi has a qualities to offer in thisbook that is surely one of his best:

-forgetting to think about the own self can easily have dangerous consequences (maybe someday a skinhead-analyzing
social paedagogue reads the book?)

- it outlines the blueprint of the oh-so concerning and understanding
multiculturalist in the person of the lector, who can be nothing but another volatile relationship for the student.

-a book almost selfreading but worth to be read at least one more time to get all sidestreams and hidden wisdom

-it shows that one can vary only one topic again and again,
withoutbecoming a selfcopy or delivering poor literature.

Sometimes the reader gets the impression that Kureishi only knows one story and three persons. It's just a constant rearranging of the situations and relations which makesa new book. BUT: Nothing else is done by great cooks and is there anybody out there who doesn't like to have a decent meal?

This is great literature! period!

A long, tedious read.
Indians, Pakistanis, English right-wing thugs, academics, swingers, religious zealeots, idealists, pushers and the hopeless meet in London, but do little to create much excitement.
A young Pakistini student moves to the big city after the death of his father and deals with himself, his sexuality, relgious beliefs, his family's bollywood-like dramas and his neighbour's idealists (mis)adventures.

To rate this book on the strength of the images it conjures up for those who lived in London during that era, might not be the fairest way to judge a book. Apart from the protagonst's unconvincing affair with his lecturer and run-ins with his brother, there is little else to grab the attention of the reader.

A slow and tedious read and had i not picked this up for only US$2, the rating would be easily one star.

An Allegorical Book Burning
It is truly ironic that a novel whose plot and characters culminate in a powerful condemnation of intellectual narrowmindedness (here portrayed by a scene of Muslim radicals burning Rushdie's Satanic Verses on a college campus) turns out to be no more than an allegorical book burning in its own right.Kureishi's characters are rigid and simplistic proto-types of good and evil that appear to draw their inspiration from vulgar popular stereotypes rather than the imagination of a literary genius.The protagonist's Muslim friends are befitting of what George Bush today calls "terrorists," while his secular mistress embodies all the excitement of intellectual and physical freedoms which, oddly enough, remain unadulterated in the writer's mind by the fact that she also happens to be a junkie and a nymphomaniac.It could even be said that the author revels in her worldly vices which emerge as virtues in comparison with the excesses of religious fervor.The final scene in which the protagonist's mistress and Muslim friend physically struggle for him, each pulling him by one arm in the opposite direction is a ludicrous and exaggerated portrayal of his inner struggle to compromise his faith and worldly passions.This and other "key" scenes of the book (not to mention the dialogue) are so lacking in subtlety that they would do well in an elementary school reader where the audience cannot see beyond the obvious.As is to be expected of a novel thoroughly colored by an (ironically) anti-intellectual aversion to religion, worldly passions hold sway and all good is ultimately on their side - including freedom of thought.Unfortunately, Kureishi leaves his readers very little room to think in a story-line that categorically and unjustly rejects compromise between faith and intellectual illumination, forcing one to take sides in what ultimately ends up being a thoroughly anti-intellectual and propagandistic exercise in writing.Though I treasure books that range from authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez to Marquis de Sade, this was the first that I had to relegate to the bin.It did not deserve a place in what I consider to be an open-minded and intelectually stimulating literary collection.

Sex, drugs, rock and roll ..
Yet another winner from Hanif Kureishi as he delves deep into the world of drugs, music and adolescent confusion within the
world of a group of Asian college students. Taking the title from a Prince album, Kureishi explores the interrelations between a
working class Asian student heavily influenced by literature and his revolutionary, English lecturer with whom he begins an affair.This is counterbalanced by the threats of an uprising amongst his fellow students who seek to defend themselves against the prejudice they see within neighbouring communities.

In a titanic struggle, Shahid Hasan must choose between his friends and his lover, both of whom are cast in the revolutionary
lights yet in radically different ways. Just as in The Buddha of Suburbia, Kureishi's own literary and musical tastes are revealed
yet this also shows what can go wrong when one person takes it on themselves to embody the opinions of the majority. The
result sees the boundaries of class and identity become tragically blurred amongst a haze of pills, alcohol and teenage outrage.

Once again Kureishi reinforces his position as one of the best non-British writers in British literature with a rollercoaster novel which moves between the deadly serious and wickedly funny, true genius. ... Read more

Product Description
A love story for at least two generstions, a high-spirited comedy of sexual manners and social turmoil, The Buddha of Suburbia is one of the most enchanting, provocative, and original books to appear in years. "A wickedly funny novel that's at once a traditional comedy of manners and a scathing satire on race relations in Britain."--The New York Times.Amazon.com Review
There's quite a bit of activity in Buddha of Suburbia. Abureaucrat becomes a suburban guru who marries a follower with a son who's apunk rocker named Charlie Hero. Consequently, the guru's son is propelledfrom his bland life into a series of erotic experiences in London. All thewhile, Hanif Kureishi keeps the tone lively with wry wit. On the descriptionof suburban life: "We were proud of never learning anything except thenames of footballers, the personnel of rock groups and the lyrics to 'I Amthe Walrus.'" He also bends cultures, classes and genders while blastingthe racism of British life in this 1990 Whitbread Prize winner. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Good.
The product was in good condition, hardly used at all in fact. The delivery was prompt. I would order from this person again.

Great book!!
This is a great book. It tells the story about the bi-sexual Karim who is the son of an immigrant Indian man and British mother in the UK. That being said Hanif Kureishi is not a new Kafka, Proust, Joyce or Blixen. The genre of the book must be described as daring mainstream. But I dare say this is as good as mainstream can get. Like the clever dicks have said about Shakespeare: There is something for both the peasant and the king. The book describes life in the 70's and 80's London. Seen from the perspective of a guy with immigrant background but at the same time deeply involved with the current trends in art, theatre, music and litterature. There is some unforgettable moments where Hanif describes his meetings with drugs, sex and the new trends in culture. Especially the arival of punk with the Sex Pistols in the late 70's scene with love and peace/political left wing culture, Hanif describes staggering. It's great with this precise account of British culture, yet having this ethnic twist. The one drawback of the book is perhaps that it draws a too rosery image of the moslem immigants in Europe. There is no mention of moslem violence and crime in the book, the moslems are described as victims of white British racism, skinheads and neo-fasiscm. Also the rising islamism, which I guess was already going on in the 70's and 80's is not mentioned at all. In the book an islamic man is forcing his daughter to marry an unkown Indian man who arrives straight from Bombay, this is treated in a very light hearted fashion, like all is well. Honour killings of women in many Europe countries commited by islamic men has later shown that all is not well. Also the percentage of violent crime commited by people with moslem background in Europe today is far higher, in proportion, than violent crime commited by people of native European origin. So the discription of the immigrant with moslem background in the book seems somewhat biased. Well properly the situation was different in the 60's, 70's when the writer grew up. Otherwise it's a really great book. I dare say a modern classic. I was impressed.

One of the best coming-of-age stories I've ever read, it wonderfully evokes London of the mid-'70s
Read and loved it in the early '90s.Re-read it when I found out Kureishi's coming to my area on a book tour.One of the best coming-of-age stories I've ever read, it wonderfully evokes London of the mid-'70s through the use of one of my favorite things - pop culture.The rare book which cries out for a sequel.

riveting
There is a timelessness to this novel.It is contemporary but it is a classic.I was captivated!It is beautifully written, the characters are almost touchable.One can connect on a human level to the story, the characters and their lives.Aside from being well written the plot is fantastic; exciting and sexy, like Henry Miller and Salinger but with a contemporary East meets West vibe.You won't be able to put it down and you'll be ok with that.

Father & son
This story is seen through the eyes of an adolescent from a middle class Indian-English family in the late hippies/early punk years in a suburb in London. Many characters play but, may be as pointed out by the title, the deeper story is the one of his father. The father to son difficult relationship is usually present in most Kureishi's works but in no case with such an intensity. The collapse of a family, its impact in the lives of many people including the character are ,in my view, the essential part of this novel. Karim's father character with its deep contradictions, his ups and downs is absolutely the best of the book. Their relationship is described throughout the novel among funny anecdotes of the life in a London suburb. ... Read more

Product Description

In the early 1980s Hanif Kureishi emerged as one of the most compelling new voices in film and fiction. His movies My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and his novel The Buddha of Suburbia captivated audiences and inspired other artists. In Something to Tell You, he travels back to those days of hedonism, activism and glorious creativity. And he explores the lives of that generation now, in a very different London.

Jamal is middle-aged, though reluctant to admit it. He has an ex-wife, a son he adores, a thriving career as a psychoanalyst and vast reserves of unsatisfied desire. "Secrets are my currency," he says. "I deal in them for a living." And he has some of his own. He is haunted by Ajita, his first love, whom he hasn't seen in decades, and by an act of violence he has never confessed.

With great empathy and agility, Kureishi has created an array of unforgettable characters -- a hilarious and eccentric theater director, a covey of charming and defiant outcasts and an ebullient sister who thrives on the fringe. All wrestle with their own limits as human beings; all are plagued by the past until they find it within themselves to forgive.

Comic, wise and unfailingly tender, Something to Tell You is Kureishi's best work to date, brilliant and exhilarating. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Enjoyable read
I overhaul enjoyed reading this book, although admittedly more the stuff about psychoanalysis and some of the insights in the "human condition" (it deals heavily with freedom, guilt, remorse...) than the story itself.

Some of it was utterly funny, but I thought the narrative took some easy twists, and I frankly didn't care that much for the "bobo" life of the (mostly) privileged set of characters.

Having said that, I liked the sweet ending, which draws a "life doesn't seem that hopeless after all" picture.

Disappointing
Couldn't finish this novel, even though I tried. The sense that I was wasting my time kept nagging me at every turn of the page.
Save some trees, avoid.

wish I could also make money with publishing my ramblings...
....because that is all this book is: endless ramblings from a diary that nobody is interesting...
I wish I still had all my journals from when I was a teen, because I definitely can submit those for publication and sell more copies than he did. At least, I believe my book would be more interesting to read.
Don't waste your money on this book, just peruse some blogs for free from....pretty much anyone's life.

I began: hallucinations, panic attacks, inexplicable furies, frantic passions and dreams
It took me a while to discover the key to this novel. At first I considered that it may have been a sort of stream of conciousness type of book where the narrator jumped from important topic to important topic but then I realised that this was not the case.

Neither did the time frame nor the timeline make a whole lot of sense particularly so when there were spatial jumps also.

In many ways this can be an infuriating book, one minute we read of dispassionate things in a clinical sense then there is seeming contradiction when matters of emotive significance are involved.

But, what this book does is to put the reader in the role of analyst. Our patient is visiting on an imaginary couch and pouting out his soul. Within this context it becomes clear. We are not communicating directly with our patient, we are his confessor.

His intimacies, his indiscretions, his actions are laid bare for us to see and share in. We cannot tell anyone else because of our professional ethics and we are therefore his accomplices in crime.

It is a funny position for us to hold but this, for me, is the ultimate briliance of Kureshi's production. We do not need to know about how this car works, we just need to know that it works and waht noises the engine makes.

We become aware of the people that the patient cares and loves and respects through his descriptions and relationships and this book serves to illustrate that each individual's perspective is not a true picture of other people. From this point of view the people that he describes are only pale imitations of their own, rich, real selves, they are more one dimensional caricatures than people.

I could go on but the joy of this book is the struggle with the content, persistence, and then the ultimate realisation of the journey.

I would have no hesitation in recommending it.

what's the point?
I had moderately high expectations of this book, given the author's other writings and some reviews. Boy, was I disappointed. I must admit that I have a hard time sympathizing with some of the rather extreme characters described in the novel, such as the protagonist's sister, or her lover for that matter. And I don't think that's because I'm neither British nor Pakistani. More importantly, the book just doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular, and it isn't even that entertaining while making its endless circles around the lives of its characters. Don't waste your time, there is so much good literature out there. ... Read more

Product Description

"Nothing is as fascinating as love, unfortunately."

Jay, the narrator of Hanif Kureishi's third novel, tells his story on the night that he is preparing to leave his lover, Susan, and their two boys. His departure will not be impulsive: "I have contemplated this rupture from all sides," he says. But it will happen. He and Susan live comfortably in London. Each loves the children. Yet Jay, "lost in the middle of [his] life," craves and depends on passion in life, and it is no longer there.

Known for "very funny works about serious topics" (San Francisco Review of Books) and his uncanny ability to capture the mores of our time, Kureishi strips away all posturing and self-justification to expose the flaws of his own protagonist and the failure of intimacy. Searingly honest, he explores the fears and desires that drive a man to leave a woman. Rarely has such challenging and complex emotion fit into so compact a novel; rarely has an experience both common and uniquely devastating been so courageously portrayed.Amazon.com Review
Hanif Kureishi's fourth novel made many reviewers uneasy on itsfirstappearance in the U.K., because it cuts so painfully near to the bone. If anovelist'sfirst duty is to tell the truth, then the author has done his duty withunflinching courage. Intimacy gives us the thoughts and memoriesofa middle-aged writer on the night before he walks out on his wife andtwoyoung sons for of a younger woman. A very modern man, withoutpolitical convictions or religious beliefs, he vaguely hopes to findfulfillment in sexual love. No one is spared Kureishi's cold, penetrating gaze or lacerating pen."Shethinks she's feminist, but she's just bad-tempered," the unnamed narratorsays of hisabandoned wife. A male friend advises him, "Marriage is a battle, aterrible journey, a season in hell, and a reason for living."

At the heart of Intimacy is this terrible paradox: "You don't stoplovingsomeone just because you hate them." Male readers will wince withrecognition at the narrator's hatred of entrapment and domesticity, andhisimplacable urge towards freedom, escape, even loneliness. Female readersmay find it a truly horrific revelation. Kureishi is only telling itlike it is, in staccato sentences of pinpoint accuracy. By far the author's best yet: a brilliant, devastating work. --Christopher Hart, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (51)

Men Have Feelings Too
Popular culture would like us to believe that men who feel inclined to leave their families are monsters.

This book presents a broader picture. How the motivation of a man is almost entirely the same as a woman that leaves a husband: the search for love, the search for passion, the search for meaning.

I really thought I would end up loathing this main character but instead I felt a measure of sympathy and humanity towards him.

I will be less judgmental about marriage and divorce after this book.

Stylistically this book is beautiful. Not only is short and hard-hitting but its so clean. I think the contradiction between the cleanliness of the writing and the pain that is on display is one of the best things about this novel.

Well done Mr Kureishi.

Is it asking too much? (4.25*s)
In this short novel, the author is almost entirely concerned with exploring the distress and doubt that a man can feel upon reaching his final day with his wife and family before he almost certainly will carry out a plan to leave them the next morning, with no warning, just a note - the book's first line: "It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back." The book consists of scattered, very sharp observations on marriage, women, desire, life, etc as the narrator looks back across his life in random fashion, focusing on relationships. The book does not necessarily promote a continual search for a perfect relationship, but it is a critical look at the trade-offs and realities, often unexamined, of marriage.

Both the narrator and his wife Susan are smart, capable people - he being a screenwriter and she working in book publishing. Their facility with words hardly extends to their marriage, as it is beset with misunderstandings, pettiness, carping, detachment, and the like. On the surface, they have a comfortable existence, his wife being the epitome of efficiency, even strength; however, despite that "at home I don't feel at home ... there is desperation in her activity."

Though this move has been contemplated for months, the narrator turns philosophical, reviewing his reasoning, reconfirming his justifications for leaving. For him women represent a chance to "start afresh," but a new relationship is not a casual endeavor. To touch another's body, "to put your mouth against another's - what a commitment that is!" How can one disavow such possibilities? He asks, "Is it too much to want a tender and complete intimacy? Is it too much to want to sleep in someone's willing arms?"

He recognizes the radical, unsettling implications of desire: "How unsettling is desire! That devil never sleeps or keeps still." Once desire takes over one's life, where does it end? "Surely you can't constantly be replacing people who don't provide what you need" Even his latest fling with much-younger, punker Nina, who caused a "violent jolt" whenever they met, has ended. "What makes me think I should have what I want?

But can one really ignore fundamental incompatibilities? He knows that "Susan and I cannot make one another happy." He doesn't want to openly admit that he actually does not want to love Susan, even reluctantly going to a marital counselor with her to avoid devastating them both. Despite the unhappiness, even on his last night he looks for some sign from Susan that he can remain with her and the boys, a tender gesture, something.

This book could be dismissed rather easily. The narrator's obsessions and weaknesses are scarcely worthy of concern. Many marriages survive in similar circumstances, although at what costs? On the other hand, the book may be regarded as a sharp, even painful, look at contemporary marriage, perhaps the human condition, and the dilemmas that it can present.

Eye-opening and informative
When I bought this book I expected the male view of a relationship on it's death bed with no responsibility taken by the main character at all.Instead, I was treated to a very, honest and accurate account of a dying love affair.As a woman, I recognize the many tell-tale signs that I personally have experienced as well as witnessed in other relationships that have hit rock bottom.Like many people, I feel the main character was not really interested in fixing what was wrong and had just given up long before he decided to leave.What turned me off a little, was the that majority of the book was spent with him sort of dragging his feet about whether or not he was going to leave.It was obvious from the beginning that the union was over as far as he was concerned and that he wanted to be with his new love, Nina.
Even though, I respected him for worrying about how all this would effect his sons, I didn't respect the way he just crept away when no one was home.I think he should have at least confronted Susan instead cowardly leaving a note.

A Sad Disturbing Story
Hardly qualifying for a novel at a mere 118 pages-- although it still may be too long-- INTIMACY is the account of the end of a relationship as seen through the eyes of Jay, who is about to leave his lover Susan of six years-- they are not married-- and their two sons. "It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back." So begins Jay's ruminations of what has gone wrong and why he is leaving. There is precious little to like about him. Well educated and a successful writer-- he has been nominated for an Oscar although he never tells the reader exactly what he did to get the recognition-- he likes recreational drugs from time to time, currently has another lover Nina, who in his eyes, has provided assurance that he would stay as long with Susan as he has. She is not as pretty as she was when they first got together. If he should see her in a bar now, he opines that he would look at her two times but not three. He's a real prince of a fellow. As he is packing a few things to leave, he makes sure he hasa signed framed picture of John Lennon before he gets photographs of his children. And he does not have the courage to confront his lover but rather leaves her a note after she has gone off to work.He does attempt, however, to be honest about himself, saying that "Perhaps, all this time she [Susan] has been making a heroic effort to get along with a morose, over-sensitive, self-absorbed fool." And he obviously loves his sons dearly, hoping that as he changes the three-year-old's "nappy," that his son in the future will return the favor. Jay is well aware that his deceased father would not approve of his leaving Susan and their children. Kureishi contrasts Jay with his friend Asif, who exhorts him to be responsible and says in tender, beautiful language: "'I can just about see why someone would leave their spouse, but I can't understand how someone could leave their children. To me just going to work feels like SOPHIE's CHOICE.'"

When I finished this book-- that you will want to read in one sitting-- I wondered where this character will be in ten years, perhaps like the character in Kureishi's compellintg short story "Nightlight," who after escaping from his wife and children in much the same way as Jay does, sees a woman every Wednesday for sex but does not know her name. On the other hand, he may be closer to the character of Jamal-- we can hope-- in Kureishi's latest novel SOMETHING TO TELL YOU who still believes in and keeps looking for love.I suspected that many men will see themselves, at least in part, in Jay's character-- in the U. S. approximately one in three marriages ends in divorce I believe-- and finally was glad that my father never left my mother, my brother and me.

You may not like this character but you will certainlybe much taken with Kureishi's honest depiction of him as well as the author's fine prose.

An important and weirdly thrilling book...
When Hanif Kureishi's Intimacy was published last year in Britain, it ignited a firestorm in both Kureishi's family and in the press, with one of its many critics denouncing it as "this short, odious book." And it's true that Intimacy's narrator, Jay (a scriptwriter) is wilful, childish, narcissistic and wild. And, yes, odious too; he even does the occasional parent-teacher interview in his "latest favourite suit, on acid" and keeps--even though he's the father of very young children--ecstasy, LSD, and an old bottle of amyl nitrate in the fridge. But he's also a man who is tender, introspective, witty, and exuberantly honest. Herein lies the book's reckless charm and elating momentum.

Intimacy also joins a long line of 20th-century novels that tell the story of men leaving home, beginning with the husband in John Updike's Too Far to Go, a man who--before leaving his wife and children--repairs hinges and latches: "a Houdini making things snug before his escape..." In novels by Richard Stern and Bernard Malamud and any number of other writers on the theme of men who are also ambivalently on the run, the women being left behind are (like the wives in Updike's fiction) dark-haired, enduring, and sexually withholding, while the mistresses are fair-haired, adoring, and quick to offer sexual comfort. The blondes also travel with a vast array of cosmetic and herbal supplies; in the case of Jay's Nina--a shrewdly wistful phantom forever kept off-stage in her pale, hippie clothes--it's a bag stocked with nipple cream, tapes of the sound of the sea, postcards of cats, packets of camomile tea, and other bits of the equipment so vital to "mobile girls."

"Soon we will be like strangers," Jay tells us, speaking of Susan, the mother of his children. But no, they can never be that. "Hurting someone is an act of reluctant intimacy. We will be dangerous acquaintances with a history." Jay also fears dying--he's invited to more funerals than dinner parties--and so has little use for women who are also too quickly growing older, as he jauntily makes clear when he ironically asks what's wrong with maturity. "Think of the conversations I could have--about literature and bitterness--with a forty-year-old!"

Susan belongs in this age range, but in spite of his making her his muse by turning her (via metaphor) into a blank page--she's at the bottom of the stairs in her white T-shirt and white slippers, looking "so white I could write on her"--his evocations of her can also convey his love for her, as in the following scene when he's moved by her enthusiasm as she kisses their children: "When we really talk, it is about them, something they have said or done, as if they are a passion no one else can share or understand."

During his last night with his family, Jay experiences the outside world as both ominous and alluring. But mostly ominous: "Outside, the dark leaves on the trees flap in the wind like hundreds of long green tongues, the branches knocking at me." He dreads leaving his sons, two "fierce and ebullient" little boys who are never named--this is one of Kureishi's brilliant strokes--two wild boys who careen through the novel, adding to both its anguish and its comedy. Jay says of the three-year-old, "I wonder when I will sleep beside him again, if ever. He has a vicious kick and a tendency, at unexpected moments, to vomit in my hair. But he can pat and stroke my face like a lover. His affectionate words and little voice are God's breath to me." This has a parent's narcissism in it, true, but it's also incredibly tender. And yet in the skilfully abridged version of Intimacy that appeared last summer in The New Yorker, a few lines down from this adoring tribute Jay is on the threshold of his front door, the fresh wind sweeping through him as one of the more compelling of his inner voices commands, "Go. You must go."

This is where the novel should have ended, on page 92. It would have been a novella then, but it would have been the right thing to keep it emotionally and lyrically dynamic. Instead it goes on for another twenty-six pages, and the line that follows the powerful "Go. You must go," is almost criminally banal: "I am kicking over the traces." Along with a few other lacklustre passages, this is one of the relatively few disappointments in what is otherwise a vivid and fearless novel. The good bits in the final pages could also have been spliced in earlier. At times it's also as if the war between Jay's id and his superego has triggered a war in the syntax, which is sometimes formal and Victorian, sometimes the Kiplingesque English of Jay's father, sometimes London street slang.

But whatever its deficiencies, Intimacy is an important and weirdly thrilling book, reminding us (as we occasionally do need reminding) how honourable that other war is: the war between what's most "worthy" and what's most alive.

*******************************************************************
This review first appeared in The Globe and Mail
... Read more

Product Description
Described in a recent New York Times Magazine profile as a "postcolonial Philip Roth," Hanif Kureishi first captured the attention of audiences and critics in the 1980s with the award-winning novel The Buddha of Suburbia and the films My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. In three decades of acclaimed work, Kureishi has written fiction and films exploring a series of interconnected themes about identity and desire—from Islamic radicalism to kinky sex, and from psychoanalysis to the relationships of fathers and sons. After discovering an abandoned manuscript of his father’s, hidden for years, Kureishi was compelled to turn his "unflinching perspective" (Time Out) onto his own history. Like Roth, Martin Amis and Geoffrey Wolfe, who also have written books about their fathers, Kureishi wanted to understand and perhaps to reconcile.

My Ear at His Heart offers remarkable insight into the birth of a writer, chronicling how Kureishi’s own literary calling emerged from the ashes of his father’s aspirations. And so begins a journey that takes Kureishi through his father’s privileged childhood by the sea in Bombay, through the turbulent birth of Pakistan and to his modest adult life in England—his days spent as a civil servant, his nights writing prose, hopeful of one day receiving literary recognition.

"A beguiling and complex tale of fact, fiction and family tensions" (The Guardian), My Ear at His Heart was published to great acclaim in the United Kingdom in 2004 and went on to win the prestigious Prix France Culture Etranger. Now, this profound work from one of the most compelling artists of our time is at last available in a Scribner edition. ... Read more

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At 65 years of age, May fears that life has passed her by. But then her husband's unexpected death pulls the ground from under her, and she embarks on a passionate affair with Darren. In this tumult, May begins to realize it can take a lifetime to feel truly alive. ... Read more

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This provocative collection of short stories charts the growth of a generation from the liberating irreverence of the late 1970s to the dilemmas of responsibility and fidelity of the 1990s. The stories resonate with Hanif Kureishi's dead-on observations of human passion and folly, his brilliant depiction of seedy locales and magical characters, and his original, wicked sense of humor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Love in a Blue time
Provocative stories.-Well written.-We can a understand some of the problems that the middle age couples have to face in a post tacherisim era in London.-Kureishi goes deep in a world of confussion, individualisim and lack of compromise.-

Good collection
Few years ago I have read Kureishi's "Gabriels Gift". Friend of mine gave that book so much praise that I was quite disappointed when I finihes reading it. I have decided that Kureishi is not worthy of my time and I quickly forgotten him. Then, by a weird twist of fate, my hands grasped the copy of Buddha of Suburbia and somehow they couldn't put it down. I began to wonder was I too harsh first time? It seemed to me that there is a spark of brilliance laying hidden inside Kureishi. Problem was, where to find such brilliance.

So, upon some dull debate, I have decided to try with collection of short stories titled "Love in a blue time." Title had some kind of blurry notion, trace of saddnes wich lured me and I dived heedlessly into those pages. I have found quite a lot there, though not as much as I expected. Now that I think of it, "Love in a blue time" gives the reader rather good perspective over work of Hanif Kureishi. Variety of themes that trouble Kureishi are there, from conflicts with faterly figure to construction of identity in postcolonial world, struggles in small community of imigrants and wasted lives of small men that were overrun by time they in which they lived.

Kureishi writes with ellegance, sometimes though forgetting himself which results in suspicious sollutions of problems which are long way from being done in satisfatcoral way. Sometimes his characters are just plain stupid, and sometimes they bear entire weight of the world on their shoulders. But the best thing that I can say of this collection is that up to this day I sometimes feel urge to retunrn to it, and to read a passage or two that remained in my memory when need arise and "things are looking grey". I learned to value those books that have that kind of ability. Maybe I'm wrong, you should try for yourself.

Hanif Kureishi is a master story teller
He gives a voice to the outcasts, the forgotten, the neglected and makes us feel a part of their world.

I liked "The Flies" the best
This is a small book of short stories, but for some reason it took me awhile to finish it.It was my third foray into Kureishi territory (The Black Album and the Buddha of Suburbia were first) and I have to say now, somewhat regrettably, that I'm hooked. I didn't, and don't, always enjoy reading his subject matter, but as an aspiring writer myself, his work continues to impress me.He is a talented literary artist, which is something that most average writers aspire to be.In this book, he writes in an economic style, and gives life to his stories with well told action, realistic dialogue, interesting conflicts and memorable characters.But the true strength of this book is in the passages, and in how emotion is communicated in an evocative, and often poetic way.His work often has a distinct dramatic and theatrical element, which could explain the multiple successes of his books' translations into plays and films.He rarely shies away from tough topics, and he indeed does have a special talent in exploring and explaining the depths of the human soul.He is able to tap into the minds and viewpoints of his many characters, and change the perspective of the story, which again is something that only the talented writer can manage successfully.I really like that his characters are always true to their character, and they never say or do anything that seems contradictory.In this book, I most enjoyed the stories "We're Not Jews", "D'Accord, Baby", and "The Flies".The latter is a morose and highly repulsive tale, but artfully done and very memorable nonetheless.I kind of look at these stories as "mood pieces", and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone looking for something light and cheery.But if you're in the market to explore some serious literary work, pick it up and maybe, like me, you'll be impressed.

A Solid Introduction to Kureishi's World
For those (like me) familiar with Kureishi only via his film work, the stories here will not surprise, as they exhibit his usual sensitive approach to the themes of cross-cultural difficulties and men completely adrift in their middle-age. The ten stories--most in the 5-15 page range with three 40+ pagers mixed in--are fairly mixed in quality, there are a few failures, but what is good is exceedingly good. In the cross-cultural difficulties category are three workmanlike, but unremarkable stories: "We're Not Jews," "With Your Tongue Down My Throat," and "My Son the Fanatic." The latter offers an excellent example of how a somewhat offhand short story can be turned into a quite compelling and powerful film. The other seven stories all deal in one way or another with men struggling to come to terms with marriage, responsibility, commitment, and sheer growing up--or more often, not struggling but trying to simply avoid it all. Two of these, "The Flies" and "The Tale of the Turd" wander off into Gogolish territory to no great effect. Kureishi's writing is inarguably strong, and he's able to make his characters come alive with a minimum of words, and often with a fair dose of humor. But while it's fun to read the stories just to enjoy good writing, too many of these men start to feel like they're living under the same desperate cloud, which gets tiresome. ... Read more

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Gabriel's father, a washed-up rock musician, has been chucked out of the house by Gabriel's mother, who works nights and sleeps days. Lonely Gabriel finds solace in a mysterious connection to his deceased twin, Archie, and in his gift for producing real objects simply by drawing them. Then a chance visit with rock star Lester Jones, his father's former band mate, provides Gabriel with a tool that might help mend his family. All he has to do is figure out how to use it.

Hanif Kureishi portrays Gabriel's naive hope and artistic aspirations with the same insight that he brought to the Anglo-Indian experience in The Buddha of Suburbia and to infidelity in Intimacy. Gabriel's Gift is a tender meditation on failure, talent, and the power of imagination, and offers a humorous portrait of a generation that only started to think about growing up when its children did. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Variation on a Well-Known Theme
It is difficult to tell why Hanif Kureishi did not come up with anything new but decided to replay the themes of his most successful novel The Buddha of Suburbia. However, he did when he shouldn't have. This is a nice novel but there is so little inside that you may pass it by and never miss it. If you don't know Kureish yet - get Buddha. Gabriel's a mistake.

Milestone in career
Since the mid-80s when Kureishi started to write I have been a close follower of his fiction work and screenplays. His main characters in his books whether in the Black Album, The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette are always at the crossroads. His characters live and mostly survive in a world accentuated by racial and sexual politics and loss and rediscovery of identity. Gabriel's Gift is a milestone in this career, more subtle in humour, more introspective yet lives up to an author's fame as a writer who knows how to use language.Gabriel's relationship with his Dad and his description of people who are lost in the meanders of the post-60s world is touching and powerful. Especially the first chapter of the book should be a standard text in literature and writing classes.

Empty, there is nothing behind the words
Words. Words are the key of the great literature. Words are in fact, the thing which makes art, however you look upon it. And there is no artistic masterpiece without words (at least when it comes down to literature).
This novel is almost completely written in dialogue. It's the dialogue between Gabriel and Rex, Gabriel and his mother, and Gabriel and every other character in book. But, there is nothing in this book beside that dialogue.
It's an endless parade of talking, words without emotion in them, whithout and sense of fear, exasperation, passion, just plain old worlds, full of clichés, which are supposed to make a statement about the outside world, and about the mothern ways of living in contradictio with old (60's, 70's) way of live. They try to be critique of media, of famous people, and poshy ladies in rich outfits. But they are not.
This kind of story was told many times before, each period has it's own, "manifesto" so to say, and many times it was better said by the authors who had more talent than Kureishi.
When I completed this book, I felt nothing. Just emptiness, which cannot fill the void inside of me that need to be fed...wiih words.
This book represent in what has realism in literature evolved during the 90's, and whatever is that called now, the fact stays: It wasn't succesful evolutionary proces.
I give this book 2 stars only for the idealistic traces of dark romantism of a lost child in a big town full of bad people. And only for that...

The Modern Fairy-tale
Society is still as dark and deceptive as ever but Gabriel, Kureishi's most recent teenage protagonist, has the gift to dispel its gloom.Gabriel's ill-suited parents have finally separated, he is bored, left to his own devices and well on his way to becoming a drug addict.But, instead of following all the easy paths to becoming a failure, he decides to take his parents' problems into his own hands.Although the story is unrealistically idealistic, it carries with it an unmistakable aura of hope, in the modern shape of fame.Fame is the gift and the fairy that can deliver anybody in style from all the difficulties of twentieth-first-century living.Once more Kureishi injects his characteristic comedy and light-heartedness into a serious subject without too much irreverence and with a little more hope.As a modern fairy-tale, 'Gabriel's Gift' is able to offer a nice dream with just enough kick in the backside to keep it real.

A work of transition
Hanif Kureishi's fiction is one of my minor addictions. I love his irreverent wit and the mastery of his dialogue. He is a truly gifted observer and listener. Kureishi is an interesting author because he vacillates between the self-assurance of the satirical writer and the vulnerability that is part of being human. He used to rage against the very people by whom he wanted to be loved - as if they could never love him enough. In this sense, "Intimacy" is his most instructive and illuminating book.
Gabriel's Gift is, in some ways, a re-run of his first novel, "The Buddha of Suburbia", this time with a happy end for the characters. Kureishi seems to have mellowed a lot since his earlier writings, but this change has not yet translated into a new style of writing or into new ideas. Gabriel's Gift is a book that gave me the sense of the author wanting to explore his roots as an artist in order to get somewhere, but he did not quite know where (which, of course, is not the hallmark of a great novel). But then again, Hanif Kureishi is always in search of himself. It is one of his strengths. Sometimes he delivers great writing along the way, at other times he does not. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1981 Hanif Kureishi was voted most promising playwright of the year by the London theater critics for his plays Borderline and Outskirts. Since then he has gone on to write acclaimed screenplays, including the script for My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay, and prize-winning works of fiction. This selection of plays shows his development as a writer finding his own territory within the diverse ethnic and cultural milieus of 1990s England and illuminating the conflicts he finds with his characteristically powerful and humorous style. ... Read more

Product Description

Together in one volume -- Hanif Kureishi's highly acclaimed and controversial novel, Intimacy, and, available for the first time, his latest collection of provocative short stories, Midnight All Day.

Jay, the narrator of Intimacy, tells his story on the night he is preparing to leave his lover, Susan, and their two boys. Stripping away all posturing and self-justification, Hanif Kureishi explores the fears and desires that drive a man to leave a woman. Midnight All Day is an astonishing, darkly comic collection of new stories, in which Kureishi confirms his reputation as one of our foremost chroniclers of the loveless, the lost and the dispossessed. The characters are familiar in the cultural landscape of the nineties: frustrated and intoxicated, melancholic and sensitive, yet capable of great cruelty, and if necessary, willing to break the constraints of an old life to make way for the new. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Intimacy
Excellent!!!!.-It's one of the best book I've read lately.-Kureishi let us enter into a phase of crisis in a man of his generation.-Love, pasion,friendship, sex,are some of the items that permit us to share the turning point in the life of a man that is seeking for more....Fully recomended.

A serious writer
This is the only book I have read by Hanif Kureishi and I can say that he writes about serious issues in life, the kind that most people like to avoid because they are considered a taboo in our society. The book is composed of one long story and a couple of other short ones. The main story is about a married couple in which the wife is engaged in an extra marital affair and Kureishi has tried to analyze this problem that what makes married couples look elsewhere for happiness. I won't call it a sizzling story but it was a good timepass.

Revealing and thought provoking
I read 'Intimacy' a number of years ago.I'm a slow reader, but I found myself on its last pages a mere two days after picking it up for the first time.I have since read it several more times, and sometimes still pick it up at random to read a page or two in passing.This book (its hardcover edition) inspired me to read more, and I searched for other novels that might touch me as 'Intimacy' did, but it wasn't until recently that I found another.

I like Kureishi's tone, I like this story: depressing and hopeful at the same time.It does feel, as others have said, very autobiographical, but I believe that's what allows the reader to relate so easily.

I admire the protagonist, and I believe that a great many readers will as well.Why?He does something which many of us think about at one point or another, but do not have the courage to do.He refuses to settle, to be trapped by a life devoid of true happiness and fulfillment.He believes that betrayal can be a hopeful act, that life goes on and has a greater than ever potential of being what we've always hoped it could be.He defies convention.

But whether you admire or hate him, your reaction to the main character and his choices in life will surely unveil to you something about yourself, and that is the true beauty of any good book...at least for me.

CLEAR SHARP AND INTROSPECTIVE
This is the 2nd book I have read by this author and although it does not entertain to the same extent as BUDDHA the writing is clear sharp, honest and original. The story of INTIMACY is very one dimensional and therefore reads very autobiographical. There is very little characterisation of anyone in the book except the protagonist, which almost confirms the autobiographic theory. I liked the honesty, the weakness, the selfishness, the sheer madness of the thoughts and situation - it all rings very true from what I felt. It was like reading someones diary almost so the voyeurs out there will love it. There is plenty to dislike in the book but I read it in a day and a half and i dont do that often, the ending for example is weak, pathetic and superficial, bit like the author really, I am not saying this in a bad way, the character is just not very likable, no wonder his life is a disaster! Read it and be glad that you are not him. ... Read more

Product Description

"After a bit you realize there's only one invaluable commodity. Not gold or love, but time."

How far are we willing to go to stay young? Hanif Kureishi -- acclaimed author of The Buddha of Suburbia and Intimacy -- explores the possibilities in this provocative story of an older man whose brain is surgically placed in a younger man's body by a network of underground doctors.

Adam is offered the chance to trade in his sagging flesh for a much younger and more pleasing model. He tells his wife and son that he is going on an extended vacation. He immediately embarks on an odyssey of hedonism, but soon finds himself regretting what he left behind and feeling guilt over the responsibilities he has ignored. Sinister forces pursue him, wanting possession of "his" body, and he soon finds himself with nowhere to turn.

"A fluent, socially observant writer whose sentences move with intelligence and wit" (The New York Times Book Review), Kureishi presents us with both a fantastically vivid tale and hard-hitting questions about our own relationships with our minds and bodies -- and with time that is running out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

"The Nightmare Of Eternal Life"
How often have we said, ourselves, or heard someone else say, "If only I could be twenty again and know what I know now?" That is precisely what happens in Hanif Kureishi's novel THE BODY. Adam, a successful writer on the wrong side of sixty describes himself as a man with hemorrhoids, an ulcer and cataracts, whose bed is his "boat across these final years." Fortunately he's a "cheap drunk" and still has sex occasionally with his wife. His two children are grown and have left home. Then he gets the chance to have his brain removed from his old body and put into a dead but preserved young body of his choice. Although he could even choose the body of a young woman or someone of another race, he selects a young humpy Alain Delon look-alike.

This is one of those novels where knowing too much of the plot spoils the story and what a story it is. While you may anticipate some of what happens to Adam, the author in his usual brilliance has a surprise or two for you. In thebest science fiction tradition of Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS, Ishiguro's NEVER LET ME GO or even Joyce Carol Oates' recent macabre short story "Wild Nights"-- although like the works of these other world-class writers, Kureishi's fiction is certainly fine literature as well and rises above the genre of science fiction-- he raises questions about our obsession with youth, the dereliction of society of the aged, the loneliness and isolation of being different, the basic human need to be loved and in the circle of friends and finally what he calls the "nightmare of eternal life."

THE BODY is at once a horrific and fantastic gem of a novel.

Potentially Great Idea, Poor Writing
Kurieshi had a great and creative idea on his hands when he decide to write about transfering from an old body to a new. Unfortunately, the story sluggishly moves from one scene to the next, and the minor characters never really get developed. And the sex -- yes if you're going to inhabit the 25-year-old body of an "Italian footballer" as the main character does, you're going to revisit some of the enjoyments of youth, but there's a lot of other things Kurieshi neglects about what if might feel like to inhabit a new body. Seems like Kureishi had to fullfill some contract obligations and needed to whip out a story on demand. Great idea, not enough time spent developing it.

Intriguing Questions
Adam is a sixtyish writer who has achieved sucess, but is now in failing health. He decides to pursue a most unusual offer--the chance to have his brain (his personality, really) transplanted into a young healthy body. Never mind where this body comes from or how it got that way. He is assured that lots of "in" people are doing this now, becoming "newbodies," with a whole new chance at life, youth, sex, and time.

Good deal? Maybe not. Maybe not so good if you can't take your status with you, if you can't take your friends with you, or your wife, or your relationships. Maybe not if somebody wants your new young body enough to kill you for it, and there's no way to get back to your own.

Yes, the concept is preposterous. It isn't science fiction, as there is no attempt to bring in any science. However it is a concept that has occurred to most of us at one time or another. What if we could live again, be young again, with all the wisdom we've acquired by aging? Would you do it? Would I? Might be fun for a while, but there would be a price to pay. Maybe more than I would be prepared to pay.

Author Hanif Kureishi does a wonderful job with the concept, writing in an elegant, literary style that is simply a delight to read. This is not a book you should over analyze, just enjoy it and let it stimulate your thinking. Yes, the premise is absurd, but the book works. I enjoyed it immensely and I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

An impressive collection of short stories
Mr Kureishi's collection of stories opens with "The Body" in which the protagonist, Adam, is an ageing professor of literature and writer. His wife Margot claims that men tend to get "particularly band-tempered, pompous and demanding" when they reach a certain age. Furthermore, one of his students nearly offends Adam when he states that he now looks anything like his picture on the back of his books. All this happens as Adam meets one of his admirers, Ralph, at a party. Ralph explains to Adam that some old - and rich - people are now having their living brains removed and transplanted into the bodies of young dead people. He assures him that the operation has already been performed successfully hundreds of times, as was the case on himself. Finally convinced by the numerous women eyeing Ralph at the party, Adam decides to undergo the operation and selects from a broad variety of dead corpses at the clinic the body of an athletic and very handsome young Italian footballer, settling for a "short term body rental" of six months. The outcome of the operation is successful and so begins for Adam - now Leo - a very surprising new life indeed.
Mr Kureishi's short stories are witty, incisive and funny. He is a keen observer of the human condition and he treats subjects like love, parenthood and the problem of happiness very skilfully.

Starts off well but fades...
I agree with the reviewer's take on this book: a really interesting premise and it starts off great, but then it shoots off in a bunch of strange directions. Not horrible but not great; I was expecting much more. ... Read more

Product Description
"Hanif Kureishi is a proper Englishman. Almost." So observes biographer Kenneth Kaleta. Well known for his films My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, the Anglo-Asian screenwriter, essayist, and novelist has become one of the leading portrayers of Britain's multicultural society. His work raises important questions of personal and national identity as it probes the experience of growing up in one culture with roots in another, very different one.This book is the first critical biography of Hanif Kureishi. Kenneth Kaleta interviewed Kureishi over several years and enjoyed unlimited access to all of his working papers, journals, and personal files. From this rich cache of material, he opens a fascinating window onto Kureishi's creative process, tracing such works as My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, The Buddha of Suburbia, London Kills Me, The Black Album, and Love in a Blue Time from their genesis to their public reception. Writing for Kureishi fans as well as film and cultural studies scholars, Kaleta pieces together a vivid mosaic of the postcolonial, hybrid British culture that has nourished Kureishi and his work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hanif Kureishi
I love ordering from Powells Chicago. They never fail me. My book was received on time and in the stated condition. They saved me!

Fantastic!
As a big fan of Kureishi's work I can say that this book lives up to thelegend of this great storyteller. Excellent use of descriptive language inthis tale or greatness, artistry, and sorrow. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Shahid is a clean-cut student, trying to make an impression on his college lecturer, Deedee Osgood, who gives his spirits a lift when she takes him to a naked rave party. Shahid's academic prospects are threatened by the intervention of his gangster brother Chili, who, with his Armani suits and Gucci loafers, moves into Shahid's bedsit as a hideout, bringing unnecessary danger and excitement with him. Set in London in 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin wall and the fatwah, "The Black Album" is a thriller with a characteristically lively background: raves, ecstasy, religious ferment and sexual passion in a dangerous time. ... Read more

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This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful study of Kureishi's novel
As a huge fan of Hanif K, I was looking forward to this book, and it's very well done. The opening chapter basically consists of the most in-depth interview with Hanif that I've ever read, and it's absolutely fascinating. Consider this: 'To try to fit in with (the world) would prevent you from writing anything. For example, does the world want a film about a gay Nazi running a launderette? The work creates the market rather than the other way around, as with, for example, postcolonial writing where the works create the interest and the label comes later. When you imagine a mixed-race Asian living in the South London suburbs, you can't ask if anyone *wants* to read about him because no one *has* previously written about him, so you can't know.'

Nahem Yousaf's discussion of TBOS is equally interesting, and he writes brilliantly about the BBC television adaptation, too. If you haven't seen that yet, please try to get hold of it on video!All in all, this is an excellent little book. Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most riveting and important films produced by a black writer in recent years," My Beautiful Laundrette was a significant production for its director Stephen Frears and its writer Hanif Kureshi. Christine Geraghty considers it a crossover film: between television and cinema, realism and fantasy, and as an independent film targeting a popular audience. She deftly shows how it has remained an important and timely film in the 1990s and early 2000s, and her exploration of the film itself is an original and entertaining achievement.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Introduction to a Great Movie
This is the screenplay of one of the more important movies of 1980s - introducing two important themes connected with minorities: racism and homophobia. Kureishi managed to weave them into a single and gripping plot. Reading the screenplay, however, as screenplays always do, is like licking sweets through a glass-pane. The real thing is the movie, so go ahead and see it.
P.S. If you still feel like reading it, try to get the 1996 edition which includes a number of Kureishi's essays on related themes. ... Read more

Product Description
Whitbread Prize winner Kureshi is one of a new generation of British writers whose experience is refracted through his Pakistani heritage. These collected screenplays and essays also include "My Son the Fanatic". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Introduction to a Great Movie
This is the screenplay of one of the more important movies of 1980s - introducing two important themes connected with minorities: racism and homophobia. Kureishi managed to weave them into a single and gripping plot. Reading the screenplay, however, as screenplays always do, is like licking sweets through a glass-pane. The added value of this volume are essays of Kureishi on related themes. The real thing is the movie, so go ahead and see it.

Tense story
Though the surroundings is against this homo-couple - economic situation, racial backround, family and friends - their love lives, great..good reading, even or just because of the film is known

a story of love, hate and eternal hope
a compelling love story set against a backdrop of violent race relationsin the apocalyptic urban wasteland of modern London.

Peter Chaudhry ... Read more

Product Description
Charting the course of pop from its underground origins, through its low- and high-art phases, out to the mainstream, this book takes in fiction, reportage, fashion, art and fantasy, as filtered through pop music. It includes work by authors such as Joe Orton, Roddy Doyle and Malcolm X. ... Read more

Product Description
Hanif Kureishi is one of the most exciting and controversial British writers who has produced significant work in a range of forms: plays, essays, novels, short stories and film.This Guide introduces and sets in context the key debates about his work, and discusses his writing in relation to such issues as gender, postcolonial theory and British identity today.By exploring Kureishi's own statements and a wide range of critical perspectives, the Guide provides a comprehensive resource for the study of one of the most important critical figures in contemporary culture.
... Read more