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Amriika
Amriika is a novel of betrayal, disillusionment, and discovery set in America during three highly charged decades in the nation’s history. In the late sixties, Ramji, a student from Dar es Salaam, East Africa, arrives in an America far different from the one he dreamed about, one caught up in anti-war demonstrations, revolutionary lifestyles, and spiritual quests. As Ramji finds himself pulled by the tumultuous currents of those troubled times, he is swept up in events whose consequences will haunt him for years to come. Decades later in a changed America, having recently left a marriage and a suburban existence, an older Ramji, passionately in love, finds himself drawn into a set of circumstances which hold terrifying reminders of the past and its unanswered questions.
424 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
8 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
M.G. Vassanji
29 books166 followersMoyez G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny Sack, he was invited to spend a season at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed him to pursue his literary career.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 14, 2016
I’m intrigued, because there are only 4 other reviews of Amriika on Goodreads as I write this, yet the book is over 15 years old. What gives? Is this just not one of M.G. Vassanji’s more popular books? Or did everyone read it back before Goodreads and hasn’t gotten around to re-reading/reviewing it now?
In any event, I’ve really enjoyed some of Vassanji’s other books, but Amriika did not work as well for me. Although the premise and some of the events are interesting, I didn’t get very attached to Ramji. He is very much a reactor rather an an actor in many of these situations, and I find these types of quiet, often male protagonists very tiresome. As much as I like Vassanji’s writing style and his keen awareness of history’s gaze, the characterization in this left me cold.
Amriika takes place over the latter half of the twentieth century. Ramji, of Indian descent but raised in Dar es Salaam by his grandmother, goes to the United States for university in the 1960s. He gets involved with the anti-war movement, falls for a girl who later gets arrested for domestic terrorism, then eventually drifts around until he marries, divorces, remarries (or at least moves in with someone else) and hangs around a magazine/journal that intersects with Middle Eastern and Islamic politics. He ends up talking to the FBI about a bombing, which he was not involved in but where he interacted with someone who was, and that forms the frame story around this narrative.
I often talk about how I “missed out” on the last part of the twentieth century and, as such, have gaps in my historical awareness for this era. So I liked seeing Vassanji’s take on things like the student protests and demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, I love how Ramji is disappointed in the way the privileged, mostly white American students take him up as an almost token symbol of his cause and have very little practical understanding of what it’s like to live in the “third world” countries they are claiming to fight for. He observes that these students only think of the Third World as a concept, of Africa as this abstract notion; they don’t understand or seek to understand the nuances of the cultures and countries that exist beneath these labels.
So Vassanji does succeed in portraying the complexity of politics within Islam. I’m reading this at a time when Islamophobia is increasing in North America, partly because of external factors, but mostly because politicians are unscrupulously fanning these flames in order to get votes. Amriika reminds us that Islamophobia is not new, that this problem has come up again and again over the decades—but in so doing, it also reminds us that vibrant Muslim communities within the United States are not a new phenomenon either. Muslims have lived in the US for a long time now, sometimes in communities that accept and welcome them and sometimes in less welcoming atmospheres. Regardless, it’s important to remember that this is not some new “alien” threat or invasion. I loved the little dig when Basu remarks of a Hindu woman’s groom: “He’s an American!” and someone else retorts, “And she’s not?”
That exchange, of course, illustrates that white Americans are not the only ones who view Muslim and Hindu groups as distinct entities within the broader American society. Contrary to the melting-pot ethos of the 1980s and 1990s, these groups maintain their identities—and they are often just as reluctant to allow their younger members to blend these cultural practises with more mainstream ideas. Vassanji captures, quite clearly, the tension that exists between people who want to preserve “the old ways” at all costs and people who want to question orthodoxy and establish new traditions.
All this sounds fascinating, I know, so it might seem unusual that I didn’t like the book. And that just comes down to the protagonist. Ramji is so bland. Or at least, the way in which Vassanji portrays Ramji and describes his actions makes him seem like a robot at times. He just kind of drifts through events, occasionally making a decision or reacting to someone else’s decision. But we seldom see much emotion from him; Vassanji often has Ramji reflect on his own emotional distance from traumatic events. It could be interesting, and maybe it is to some people, but I found it hard to connect to Ramji.
Amriika is not a bad book, and I see why the other reviews have praised it so much. It shows Vassanji’s typical skill and dedication to the subject matter, and there is a cultural lens here that is different from the way we usually think about these events. For those reasons, it might be worth reading. However, I was not a fan of Ramji, and that made my enjoyment of the book less than it might have been.
In any event, I’ve really enjoyed some of Vassanji’s other books, but Amriika did not work as well for me. Although the premise and some of the events are interesting, I didn’t get very attached to Ramji. He is very much a reactor rather an an actor in many of these situations, and I find these types of quiet, often male protagonists very tiresome. As much as I like Vassanji’s writing style and his keen awareness of history’s gaze, the characterization in this left me cold.
Amriika takes place over the latter half of the twentieth century. Ramji, of Indian descent but raised in Dar es Salaam by his grandmother, goes to the United States for university in the 1960s. He gets involved with the anti-war movement, falls for a girl who later gets arrested for domestic terrorism, then eventually drifts around until he marries, divorces, remarries (or at least moves in with someone else) and hangs around a magazine/journal that intersects with Middle Eastern and Islamic politics. He ends up talking to the FBI about a bombing, which he was not involved in but where he interacted with someone who was, and that forms the frame story around this narrative.
I often talk about how I “missed out” on the last part of the twentieth century and, as such, have gaps in my historical awareness for this era. So I liked seeing Vassanji’s take on things like the student protests and demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, I love how Ramji is disappointed in the way the privileged, mostly white American students take him up as an almost token symbol of his cause and have very little practical understanding of what it’s like to live in the “third world” countries they are claiming to fight for. He observes that these students only think of the Third World as a concept, of Africa as this abstract notion; they don’t understand or seek to understand the nuances of the cultures and countries that exist beneath these labels.
So Vassanji does succeed in portraying the complexity of politics within Islam. I’m reading this at a time when Islamophobia is increasing in North America, partly because of external factors, but mostly because politicians are unscrupulously fanning these flames in order to get votes. Amriika reminds us that Islamophobia is not new, that this problem has come up again and again over the decades—but in so doing, it also reminds us that vibrant Muslim communities within the United States are not a new phenomenon either. Muslims have lived in the US for a long time now, sometimes in communities that accept and welcome them and sometimes in less welcoming atmospheres. Regardless, it’s important to remember that this is not some new “alien” threat or invasion. I loved the little dig when Basu remarks of a Hindu woman’s groom: “He’s an American!” and someone else retorts, “And she’s not?”
That exchange, of course, illustrates that white Americans are not the only ones who view Muslim and Hindu groups as distinct entities within the broader American society. Contrary to the melting-pot ethos of the 1980s and 1990s, these groups maintain their identities—and they are often just as reluctant to allow their younger members to blend these cultural practises with more mainstream ideas. Vassanji captures, quite clearly, the tension that exists between people who want to preserve “the old ways” at all costs and people who want to question orthodoxy and establish new traditions.
All this sounds fascinating, I know, so it might seem unusual that I didn’t like the book. And that just comes down to the protagonist. Ramji is so bland. Or at least, the way in which Vassanji portrays Ramji and describes his actions makes him seem like a robot at times. He just kind of drifts through events, occasionally making a decision or reacting to someone else’s decision. But we seldom see much emotion from him; Vassanji often has Ramji reflect on his own emotional distance from traumatic events. It could be interesting, and maybe it is to some people, but I found it hard to connect to Ramji.
Amriika is not a bad book, and I see why the other reviews have praised it so much. It shows Vassanji’s typical skill and dedication to the subject matter, and there is a cultural lens here that is different from the way we usually think about these events. For those reasons, it might be worth reading. However, I was not a fan of Ramji, and that made my enjoyment of the book less than it might have been.
March 2, 2019
This book left me baffled. This is a story about a young student from Dar E Salaam who arrived in the States in the middle of the movement against the Vietnam war. His life is narrated from a third person point of view with some occasional first person narrative. The author narrates a tale which is also his own personal history and memories of a specific form of Islam which was influenced by Hinduism. This then leads to his present where he finds himself inexplicably involved with some strange movement leading to the end of the story. Though well written, by the middle of the book I was thoroughly bored as I couldn’t really connect to this person who never took a stand on anything.
October 17, 2008
This is the story of a Indian man who emigrates from Tanzania in the late 60's to attend university in Boston. He remains in the States and the book travels through his years as a student during turbulent 60's/70's to his settled middle-class life in the 90s, which is shaken up by a twist of events in the latter third of the novel. It's about cultural and class identity, faith, activism. Really enjoyed it...
May 2, 2015
Vassanji takes you on a life journey. You see yourself in the characters, making choices, decisions, mistakes... You see how a small decision, a silence, an omission, can change the path your life takes, aligning you with movements, politics you are not so sure about. Amriika is an odyssey.
September 28, 2012
loved it
May 12, 2013
An excellent read after I got past the beginning. The dialogue of the 1960s felt right on. The interface of a subculture with larger North American society was well done. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews