Boys don't cry. Review on Buddha Of Suburbia, The - Hanif Kureishi

A joint can be such a relief sometimes!

I mean if u know what u want from life, its great n kinda stupid too?its not so easy to know what we want viz. what will make us happy.If God allowed you to know that so easily, you would rather die of boredom than live with an explorative and curiously investigative spirit.

The protagonist of the novel is a 12 year old British-Indian kid in suburban London who has a father who is a mystique psychic, a mom who is frivolously perennially nervous n insecure like a fish outta water. The other members of his life include his dad?s extra marital lover and her gay son. Now that?s a kind of foursome that?s bound to create some hoopla!

Another outer yet significant member of his life is Jamila, his friend who has grown up in England but later marries a handicapped Indian.

I feel the author is very intelligent to provide such ghastly depth in each character and thus making it easy for the reader to justify in his mind, respective characters. All of them seem to be on their own trip except the kid who can?t figure out what his trip should be and or whether to be on a trip is actually an essentiality! But it is.

He keeps hopping from weed to girls and then to homosexuality and finally to his true calling-The theatre!-where he has a pedophile director and a pedophile director?s promiscuous wife. Sounds quite a shaky Martini and that?s what the story is! The plot is a weirdo?s paradise wavering and crawling from one level to another not quite like climbing stairs but more like gliding and drifting to the top in a painless but effortful manner-if you know what I mean?

The dialogues are quiet funny and aimed at rubbishing any kind of superficiality and ridiculing the societal notions. Its rebellious and not for the conventional good person. Again it?s a question of whether good is anyway a well defined adjective.Earning money is good and so is being famous.Being a psychic mystic..well, its quite exhiliarating to see people fall for your dumb histrionics and have them worship you for that!

Anyway, its a good read and I am planning to check out other books by Hanif Khureshi.