Homeland Elegies

A Novel

By: Ayad Akhtar

Narrated by: Ayad Akhtar

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced and American Dervish: an immigrant father and his son search for belonging - in post-Trump America, and with each other.

One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year
One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020
Finalist for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
A Best Book of 2020 * Washington Post * O Magazine * New York Times Book Review * Publishers Weekly

"Passionate, disturbing, unputdownable." (Salman Rushdie)

A deeply personal work about identity and belonging in a nation coming apart at the seams, Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of longing and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made. Part family drama, part social essay, part picaresque novel, at its heart it is the story of a father, a son, and the country they both call home.

Ayad Akhtar forges a new narrative voice to capture a country in which debt has ruined countless lives and the gods of finance rule, where immigrants live in fear, and where the nation's unhealed wounds wreak havoc around the world. Akhtar attempts to make sense of it all through the lens of a story about one family, from a heartland town in America to palatial suites in Central Europe to guerrilla lookouts in the mountains of Afghanistan, and spares no one - least of all himself - in the process.

©2020 Ayad Akhtar (P)2020 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"A triumph. Akhtar rages, he sings, he indicts, he falls in love, he sorrows, he dreams, he mourns, he transcribes! - and finally, he transmutes injustice into the sublimest art." (Joshua Ferris, author of The Dinner Party and Then We Came to the End)

"With Homeland Elegies, Ayad Akhtar has found the perfect hybrid form for his exuberant, insightful, and wickedly entertaining epic about Muslim immigrants and their American-born children. A deeply moving father-and-son story unfolds against tumultuous current events in a book that anyone wanting to know how we as a nation got where we are today - and into what dark wood we might be heading tomorrow - should read." (Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend)

"An urgent, intimate hybrid of memoir and fiction, Homeland Elegies thrusts us into the heart of a father-son relationship and, in the process-improbably-does nothing short of laying bare the broken heart of our American dream turned reality TV nightmare. The book's dissection of the deeply human desire to aspire and dream, and its illumination of the quest for success, brilliantly captures how we got to this exact moment in time and at what cost. Stunning." (A. M. Homes, author of This Book Will Save Your Life and Days of Awe)

Heart wrenching, extremely well written

This book about a young man who was born in this country of Pakistani parents is wide-ranging, inciteful and deep. It explores the deep-seated vicious racism in this country along with many other important issues, all in a nuanced and thoughtful way. It is honest and revealing.

Powerful novel that felt like a memoir

In the novel, the protagonist has the same name, background, and profession as the author. It is likely based partly on the author's experiences. Like so many memoirs, this meanders along many years of the protagonist's life. Many parts feel so real and are so powerful. Other parts are less engaging, but always thoughtful. Akhtar is American-born writer with his parents being Pakistani immigrants. The scenes with Akhtar and his immediate family are the most powerful. The father-son relationship is among the most real and moving of any book, fact or fiction. More than any book I have read, this allowed me to feel what it is like to be a Muslim in America in the 21st century. There are some long, long political discussions in this, which might be have a bit shorter, but still kept my interest and made me think. This is read by the author, and he is better than any professional narrator could ever be. The uneven levels of engagement led to my 4-star rating for the story, but the great narration bumped my overall rating to a 5. This powerful book has stayed with me.

Absolutely beautiful

Thank you to Ayad for his illuminating writing and his incredibly entertaining reading. A great book. I highly recommend it.

Could do without the detailed sex descriptions

Could do without the very detailed descriptions of sex. Other than that, I highly recommend it. As an immigrant, I find it describes some of my struggles much better than I could describe them myself.

Pakistani culture in America after 911

Author’s reading performance brought it to life- a man who can share his insufferable vulnerabilities.

An excellent experience

This is a beautifully written, compellingly performed novel that should not missed. I loved it!

Thought-provoking and compassionate

Loved this so much. The characters are nuanced and balanced, the story illuminating about so much the Muslim community in this country experiences. I learned a great deal, and feel it has made me a more thoughtful person about the issues of so much concern, esp during the past twenty years. The power of great art!

interesting

This is an engaging perambulation of the polyglot of American subcultures by a Pakastani/Muslim playwright.

fascinating persoective

I've admired the author's plays previously. This was so engaging, surprising, and illuminating. Listen to him read this novel. You will learn a new view of America.

Fascinating look at growing up Muslim in the US

Akhtar writes beautifully about growing up in America as a Muslim. Deeply insightful, and superbly written description of the contradictions in US today, that many experience but with the added view of his family’s background from Pakistan. His voice adds a special dimension to the story. His relationship with his father, could be anyone’s whose close and loving but also distant and difficult. He writing flows easily from story to story and leaves you wanting more.