no one can pronounce my name by rakesh satyal

Having felt the sting of being scrutinized or ignored because of their accented English, their skin color, or their sexual orientation, they have developed introspection into both an art form and a crutch, so that even simple human connection comes as a wonderful surprise. These are stories of people who have not had the luxury of living unexamined lives. Satyal imbues each of these characters (and a host of their friends, co-workers, and acquaintances) with psychological depth and does so, often, with cinematic vividness. Uniting the three is a keen desire to feel, and be recognized as, fully human-emotionally and sexually fulfilled, connected to their families and communities, and free of the grip of past traumas. Ranjana’s son Prashant, a Princeton freshman, harbors misgivings about his major and life trajectory. Ranjana, a 40-something aspiring writer, has suspicions about her husband’s fidelity, is disappointed by her friendships with other Indian women, and has doubts about her self-worth. Harit, an emotionally stunted middle-aged department store clerk, disguises himself in a sari to convince his nearly catatonic mother that her beloved daughter is still alive.

Spanning a remarkable range of cultural milieus, Satyal’s second novel ( Blue Boy, 2009) tells the intersecting stories of three Indian immigrants living in a Cleveland suburb. struggle to find self-acceptance and meaningful relationships. Grafting solitude onto a character who would live it on the page seemed to provide me with a sense of catharsis.Indian immigrants to the U.S.On humor in his work No One Can Pronounce My Name in “INTERVIEWS: Rakesh Satyal” in BookPage (2017 May 1).That is, I love creating characters who feel very true-to-life but who are almost so specific as to be mysteries to themselves as they are to other people. One thing that I came to learn about myself as a writer in working on this book is that my writing is often about who is happening moreso than what is happening.On the role of humor in “‘Rakesh Satyal: How I Write” in Writer Magazine (2018 Nov 19).I wanted to show the idea of loneliness in that light – that humor works in tandem with the joy to be found in self-examination. Loneliness can be damaging, but when you’re feeling lonely, you do some of your most productive thinking.

I think levity and humor can be used to tackle larger themes that are darker.On writing about the human condition in “‘Rakesh Satyal: How I Write” in Writer Magazine (2018 Nov 19).In all my work, the things I’m invested in are empathy and compassion and trying to put human experiences on the page that I haven’t read before.Rakesh Satyal (born August 25, 1980) is an American novelist.

No one can pronounce my name by rakesh satyal