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Books The Buddha of Suburbia

Karim, in The Buddha of Suburbia, is torn between the culture of his white, working-class mother and that of his father, an Indian Muslim bringing Buddhist meditation to middle-class London. It is a portrait of the author as a young man—albeit one who listens to Pink Floyd, drops acid and sleeps with anything in trousers.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at Asia Literary Review James Kidd Asia Literary Review 2010
Karim is a brash, streetwise version of that literary perennial, the young man from the provinces, a jokey portrait of the artist as a younger man.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at London Review of Books Margaret Walters London Review of Books 1990

The plot is hardly labyrinthine and there’s no neat resolution, but Kureishi’s blunt treatment of race, politics and sexuality is sure to grab the reader’s attention as he confronts uncomfortable home truths about British attitudes towards foreigners.

Tweet this quote Read the full piece at The Guardian Simon Robb The Guardian 2009

Clever, kitsch and positively filthy, Kureishi brings absurdity and lust to the London suburbs.

— Lily Power