The Impressionist

by HariKunzru (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.34

  A magnificent debut novel which is set to be the WHITE TEETH of 2002. THE IMPRESSIONIST is a comic saga about history, identity and home. A boy is born in Agra - half Indian, half English - at the dawn of the twentieth century. Ejected from his father's house as a teenager when his true parentage is revealed, he embarks on an unforgettable odyssey in search of a home and an identity. Set against the vast, colourful background of colonial India, England and Africa, this epic novel brings to life a riotous cast of characters, and asks what it means to be Indian or English, black or white, or both.

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.34

• New

  Paperback
  2003

  $17.50

  The Impressionist is Hari Kunzru's sweeping novel of India, empire and identity. In India, at the birth of the last century, an infant is brought howling into the world, his remarkable paleness marking him out from his brown-skinned fellows. Revered at first, he is later cast out from his wealthy home when his true parentage is revealed. So begins Pran Nath's odyssey of self-discovery - a journey that will take him from the streets of Agra, via the red light district of Bombay, to the brick cloisters of Oxford and beyond - as he struggles to understand who he really is. Delectable, sweeping, empire-savaging, audaciously playful...Kunzru writes with wry certitude and cinematic precision . (The New York Times). Grand, sprawling, extravagant, lyrical...A work so vibrant and richly imagined that you can smell the incense . (Esquire). Epic in scale and rich in historical detail ...the narrative is deft and swift ...carrying the reader along effortlessly. This first novel has startling depth, ambition and craftmanship . (Time Out). Hari Kunzru is the author of the novels The Impressionist, Transmission, My Revolutions and Gods Without Men, and the story collection Noise. He lives in New York.