Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8125 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 362 pages

Review
'The aspirational gangsta swirls us into a bhuna of gang-fights, inter-faith romance and organised crime, and the dizzying humour that underpins his voice is sharp, clever and convincing!In a linguistic politics redolent of Sam Selvon, Victor Headley and Irvine Welsh, Malkani conveys with elan and expertise, through a sub-urban "desi-dialect", the absurdity of adolescence and the complex self deceptions of contemporary cultural dynamics in the UK.' Independent 'Malkani has some interesting observations about identity and the way in which the culturally oppressed can take strength from their exclusion. The end is a complete surprise and forces the reader to question the skin-deep assumptions we make about race.' Sunday Telegraph '"Londonstani" is a bold debut, brimming with energy and authenticity.' Observer 'If you're going to read one yoofy, "urban" book this summer, make sure it's "Londonstani"!' Arena Magazine 'With "Londonstani", Gautam Malkani has written one of the most vibrant and fresh first novels in years, innit.' BBC Collective magazine 'Malkani's ingeniously structured first novel, given a youth-savvy repackaging, reads like "The Catcher in the Rye" with a hip young British-Asian accent!When this was first published in hardback last year, Rageh Omaar called it "razor-sharp". Others were equally complimentary -- and, for once, such praise seems entirely justified.' The Times 'London's Brit-Asian youth have waited long enough for a defining novel, and the journalist Gautam Malkani's debut seems to be it.' Daily Telegraph

The Times
'reads like 'The Catcher in the Rye' with a hip young
British-Asian accent...'

Daily Telegraph
'London's Brit-Asian youth have waited long enough for a defining
novel...Malkani's debut seems to be it.'

Customer Reviews

Dangeorus, disturbing and quite brilliant
I was fortunate enough to read an advance bound proof of Londonstani and honestly say that this is one of the most interesting novels and brilliant debuts I've ever had the good fortune to come across.

Within its sprawling scope it considers London's social ethic, the ideas of assimilation and post-collonialism within the third generation, racism, diversity, money, power, economics, Bollywood, Hollywood, what it means to have a voice within the current youth culture and what that voice actually is, the dynamic of parents and children and so on. It is to its credit that it deals with each of these concepts intelligently, never telling the reader what to think, only showing them what is happening and asking them to interpret as they will.

There are elements of Burgess' masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange here. Hardjit's gang go around speaking in their own language, ruthlessly attacking people who don't show them the respect they feel they desevre, writing their parents out of the equation and obsessing about their masculinity. What makes it more disturbing that Clockwork, is that what's going on in this book is real. I know it's cliche to say 'ripped for the headlines' but this really is. Sitting on the bus reading it, I could hear other passengers talking and acting just like the characters in the book. This man has his finger very tightly on the pulse of urban London's Asian sub-culture and has depicted it so vividly that the lines between fiction and fact melt away, leaving the reader with a stark and brutal portrait of modern London's youth culture.

I won't dream of spoiling the surprises the book has in store for you. It kept me constantly interested and frequently shocked as it progressed right until its very last page. That said, there are criticisms to be made. Whenever an economic or political point wants to be made, the style of writing takes a back seat and it begins to read like an article. This develops into one of the characters becoming a Bollywood-style bad guy and this being shoved down the reader's throat. The plot begins to deteriorate as these points become more and more important. Whether or not that is important is debatable but I don't think it's unfair to say that the actual surface plot of the book is uninspired and frequently cliched. What marks the book out and makes this acceptable is the fact that underneath the maudlin surface beats a tense, dangerous, violent pulse that throbs with amazing insight and vicious humour.

Although it's not yet published, I hope that Londonstani will be something we will all hear a lot more of. It proves that there are new writers out there capable of writing intelligent, modern fiction without resorting to the lowest common denominator (Mr Brown has a lot to answer for). If you enjoyed White Teeth, Midnight's Children, Brick Lane or The Buddha of Suburbia, I'd recommend this wholeheartedly. If you didn't enjoy them, read it anyway...you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Good debut
Well researched, and written with a real ear for the rhythm of language, I thought this was a good book.

I enjoyed the plot and the characters, despite not being particularly complex personalities, were believable. Be warned, the ending was unbelievably cheesy!

This is a book I would recommend for teenage boys who don't read much, because the pace and immediacy of the action will get them hooked, or for anyone who wants a contemporary page turner, with a clever plot and feel for zeitgeist.

I'm interested to see what the follow up will be, because I think this writer is capable of something more sophisticated.

Not pakistani or Hindustani ....Londonstani
I thought this was very much the type of book I myself would have written. As a guy who himself is a second generation indian ,labelled a coconut by most of my asian friends and relatives I found the book hit home as a bullet hitting its intended target.

Whilst it kept me glued to the pages throughout , Londonstani made me think about all of the negative and confusing influences in asian society today. Like Gautham Malkani states this is a book exploring the issues of masculinity; in a society where there is a lack of male rolemodels.. .where most kids (I myself for that matter) are growing up raised by there mothers and sisters and can't deal with or confront the fact that all of this hip hop gangsta stuff is all about men trying to assert their masculinaty on the world in a way that makes them seem "cool" or "hip" to the world. Typical Hardjit one of the main characters in the book comes across as your typical asian urban scene local hero and role model come hip hop gangster all roled into one.

Entertaining, vibrant and graphic, this book will show you exactly how insane funny and disturbing multicultural britian has become!! Awesome book Ghutham , truly inspiring work.

Jatinder