This book hit a lot of sweet spots for me. Debut novel, historical fiction, unlikely-group-of-outsiders-forming-a-community. An intriguing setting – 1914 ,California – with intriguing characters – Sikh immigrants. So I really enjoyed this book. I loved how spot-on Reddi’s descriptions of homesickness and otherness are: the deep distrust Ram feels of anyone, everyone, upon arrival in his new Californian home; the homesickness “like an infestation”; the confusion and frustration of wanting to belong, but not really wanting to belong; the gradual acceptance that you have […]
Who gets to be American?
Passage West by Rishi Reddi