Nikesh Shukla

between 2.5 and 3 stars. there are a few of these, of course, that are absolutely outstanding. (i especially liked the essays of porochista khakpour, nicole dennis-benn, fatimah asghar, krutika mallikarjuna, alexander chee, daniel jose older, and mona chalabi.) what, though, i think is so meaningful about this collection (and i've read a handful like this over the last number of months) is how wide ranging the countries are. they cover some of the "usual" places you'd expect to read about in a book about immigration, but there are also stories from places that haven't been in any of the other books i've read on this topic (cyprus, ireland, nigeria) which means there are stories unlike any in the other books i've read on this topic. this is a really nice collection.

"What I wanted to say was how it felt to grow up in a country where the consensus seemed to be that Chinese culture looked best as an accessory on a white person." -- Jenny Zhang (Blond Girls in Cheongsams)

"I became an immigrant when I was twenty-two, but when you're a white woman from the United States and you go to live indefinitely in London, people call you an expat. That's just one of your many privileges, the things you get away with. People also ask you when you're going home. That they ask, and don't tell you to go, is a crucial distinction in the way many white British people regard you as opposed to other immigrants. Another advantage." -- Jean Hannah Edelstein (An American, Told)… (more)

This is a compellingly readable set of perspectives whose range and variety is dazzling, from the beautifully written ‘Namaste’ by Nikesh Shukla, the fantastic evocation of the miserable 1970s (Daniel York Loh), the deeply telling account by Riz Ahmed of the ‘long ride’ he was forced to undertake as an actor to get to the ‘Promised Land, where you play a character whose story is not intrinsically linked to his race’. I could go on and it does feel unfair to single out examples because every single one of these essays is worth your time.… (more)