- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Press HC The (2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1594200971
- ISBN-13: 978-1594200977
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.5 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #443,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Londonstani - a good read,
By Linda W. "lidowh" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Londonstani (Hardcover)
Londonstani is a good story. The characters and their complexities draw the reader in. The language (gangsta style mixed with East Indian) is sometimes a little hard to follow (and can be annoying at times too). The shocking surprise ending is what really makes you sit back and wonder how the author managed to pull the wool over your eyes when you were paying such close attention. Definitely a good read.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Starts strong, but falters towards the end,
By
This review is from: Londonstani (Paperback)
Londonstani told the story of a group of young men who turn to illegal methods to meet the status quo set by consumerist society while maintaining their own cultural identity, and dealing with the demands of tradition. The story starts strong, with the main character struggling to gain respect, and a girlfriend along the way. The dialogue is heavy in slang, but it's easy to adapt too. The story falls apart at the end, leaving one with the impression that the writer ran out of ideas, and ended up pulling a cheap twist just to end the story. The ending felt contrived, which is a disappointment considering the rest of the book was working so well.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews) 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Promising, but negated by an embarassing ending,
By illnoise - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Londonstani (Hardcover)
Londonstani starts out great, with a realistic (realistic-feeling to an outsider, anyway) look at a newly-affluent youth culture getting in trouble in London, along the lines of Quadrophenia or Absolute Beginners (the baddie is a desi Vendice Partners). The first half is great and original, with dialogue reminiscent of The Committments, and the plot thickens nicely, but by the end it dissolves into Scarface cliches and a crying-in-a-rainy-cemetery scene. In the last couple chapters, the plot gets less and less realistic (a typical situation where anyone but a fictional character would just leave town, commit suicide, or go to the police) but still holds together well, and the book would get four stars if it wasn't completely ruined by a cheap, irrelevant M. Night Shamalayn surprise-ending in the last couple pages that negates the signifigance of the rest of the story.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very impressed,
By PCM2 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Londonstani (Hardcover)
This was a good read. Much of the book is written in dialect, similar to how Irvine Welsh captures the Scots accents of his characters, so it helps if you're at least passingly familiar with British slang and idioms. But if you can get over the occasional stumble (and there is a glossary in the back), _Londonstani_ is an insightful and educational look into the desi subculture in London.While it's true that the book features crime, and "gangsta" type characters, it is not an exploitation novel. In truth, it's more _The Outsiders_ than _Goodfellas,_ with even a few _Catcher in the Rye_ moments. Malkani knows his characters and he makes them believable, flawed and human. Watch out, also, for Malkani's tricks of the language. There are more than a few sudden turns here, where you think you know what's going on throughout an entire chapter, and not until the very last paragraph do you realize that what you thought was going on was really something else again. Indeed, it's not until the very end of the book that we realize the full tragic proportions of Malkani's troubled main character. Recommended. I look forward to Malkani's next book. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Shades of A Clockwork Orange,
By Innocent girl "from the Spanish and Indian Ho... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Londonstani (Hardcover)
Overall, you have to be impressed with Malkani's pyrotechnics. Jas's descriptions of his adventures was reminiscent of the style of A Clockwork Orange. Malkani's done his research in that the argot of these rudeboys rings true. However, Malkani seems to bend over backwards to make the machinations of his plotting work. The ending was so far removed from anything that had gone before that I was wondering whether it was slapped on to make some one from "on high" happy.It was a worthwhile read to get a glimpse of the desi culture. But you'll have to be prepared to suspend your belief when you get to the final pages. |
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