The BLACK ALBUM

Rating:
Summary: Buddha of Suburbia is a meal -- This is cold takeout curry
Review: But pretty tasty. Shahid is not as interesting as the hero in Buddha (forget his name) was. He's not as smart, doesn't have as much gusto to know and love and live in the world, he's not as daring, but he's good. Furthermore the supporting characters, unlike the father and the rock star from Buddha, are all caracatures, some of which intially show promise, like his neighbor, the leader of a fanatical Muslim group, who originally shows an understanding passionate ear to Shahid, but then all but disappears or becomes a complete mockery. He could have been better. If Shahid was looking for brotherhood and found something attractive in the group, it is never explored. He never seems to care, not care, agree, or disagree, and I don't know whether this was Kureishi's point, or if the book was just poorly written. His lover lacks depth, as does his brother. The drugdealer proves to be boring and not worth reading, and then finally, his family history, his place, is never explored. Nothing is resolved, its a sitcom-type of comedy, but it is often a fun read. The raves and the chases and the experiences are all quite easy and fun to read, but the story never takes off like Buddha. I guess it stays closer to home, its a little more realistic, but overall, the book is much weaker than Buddha of Suburbia.

Rating:
Summary: An Allegorical Book Burning
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Sex, drugs, rock and roll ..
Review: 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.