[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: William Morrow
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Kindle, Audiobook, Audible
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | iBooks[/alert]

Anil Patel is the golden son – the oldest son in an esteemed Indian family. The rest of the children are left to run the family farm when Anil leaves to go to Dallas, Texas to complete his medical residency. His father dies while he is in Texas, which means he is now head of the Indian household and must fulfill the traditional role to be the arbiter of village disputes. During the same time his childhood friend Leena is married off with Anil’s father’s help in what appears to be a prosperous match.

Anil is exhausted and exhilarated by the competitiveness of the medical program and questions if he should return to India. Anil and his roommates (also Indian) wrestle with traditional expectations while trying to fit in their Western surroundings. And while the American lifestyle has its advantages, Anil misses his comfortable Indian way of life until he realizes he really does not fit in America or India any longer.

Gowda has mastered a novel about traditional versus modernism, family and love versus the attainment of success and the battle that one must take place both internally and externally in order to find happiness. Anyone who has dealt with dreams and fitting in will connect to this book immediately. None of the characters end up where they thought they would, but the reader will be entertained and satisfied, nonetheless.

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