November 2024
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    I'm looking for books about people from colonized cultures living in "the West" (whatever that means, but you know what I mean) feeling some degree of alienation, sadness, displacement, etc…

    It's hard to describe, but I'm thinking of books like this:

    • Most V.S. Naipaul, especially "A House for Mr. Biswas" and "The Mimic Men"
    • Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels
    • Jhumpa Lahiri's earlier stuff, especially "The Namesake" and "The Interpreter of Maladies"
    • Sam Selvon, especially "The Lonely Londoners"
    • Zadie Smith, "White Teeth"
    • Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"
    • R.F. Kuang's "Babel"

    There's a lot of representation of middle aged men in the mid-20th century in that list, so I'd love to find books outside that context too.

    by fosterbanana

    1 Comment

    1. elizabeth-cooper on

      The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

      Not exactly colonized, but Asian perspectives that are similar to what you’re looking for:

      Allen Choice trilogy by Leonard Chang

      Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

      The All-American by Joe Milan

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