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The One Who Wrote Destiny
Mukesh has just moved from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley. He was expecting fame, fortune, the Rolling Stones and a nice girl, not poverty, loneliness and a racism. Still, he might not have found Keith Richards, but he did find the girl.
Neha is dying. Lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. The problem is, her brother is an unfunny comedian and her idiot father is a first-generation immigrant who moved to Keighley of all places.
Rakesh is grieving. He lost his mother and his sister to the same illness, and his career as a comedian is flat-lining. Sure, his sister would have claimed that it was because he was simply unfunny, but he can't help feel that there is more to it than that - more to do with who he is and where he comes from rather than the content of his jokes.
Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After her daughter died, her useless son-in-law dumped them on her doorstep for a month and now she has to try and work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Neha is dying. Lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. The problem is, her brother is an unfunny comedian and her idiot father is a first-generation immigrant who moved to Keighley of all places.
Rakesh is grieving. He lost his mother and his sister to the same illness, and his career as a comedian is flat-lining. Sure, his sister would have claimed that it was because he was simply unfunny, but he can't help feel that there is more to it than that - more to do with who he is and where he comes from rather than the content of his jokes.
Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After her daughter died, her useless son-in-law dumped them on her doorstep for a month and now she has to try and work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
360 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2018
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October 30, 2018A really engrossing family saga. It's split into four stories of one family: the father, a Kenyan Asian come to the Midlands in the 80s and coping with hostility in the immigrant community as well as racism from outside; his daughter who becomes a computer programmer and wants to live her life as a Brit without considering race; his son, a stand-up comedian who uses race and immigration in his sets but prefers to joke rather than confront; and, jumping back in time, his mother-in-law, who looked after the children when their mother died.
This is one of those books that on any synopsis sounds really depressing. Nisha, the children's mother, dies young of a hereditary form of cancer; her daughter's story starts with a terminal diagnosis. The whole novel is about human weaknesses: feeling scared, bullied, letting aggression and cruelty slip by with a bowed head because confronting it so easily leads to losing your job, or violence. The author doesn't hold back on the racist violence meted out to South Asians, or the ongoing racism of the TV and comedy circuit, or on the human toll of making compromises with vile people. And the whole book is a meditation on destiny and the inevitability of failure and death. Woop.
Nevertheless, it *isn't* depressing because it's so real and human. The little connections, the moments of happiness, the real love among flawed people all come through strongly and make this a story of hope and endurance and survival, and making the most of the life you've got. Shukla is extremely strong at writing flawed, weak men who are afraid and do the wrong things: his male characters are emotionally vulnerable in a way we don't often see men depicted in fiction. (Notably, his women are less flawed and stronger.)
A hugely engaging read and very well written. Highly recommended.
This is one of those books that on any synopsis sounds really depressing. Nisha, the children's mother, dies young of a hereditary form of cancer; her daughter's story starts with a terminal diagnosis. The whole novel is about human weaknesses: feeling scared, bullied, letting aggression and cruelty slip by with a bowed head because confronting it so easily leads to losing your job, or violence. The author doesn't hold back on the racist violence meted out to South Asians, or the ongoing racism of the TV and comedy circuit, or on the human toll of making compromises with vile people. And the whole book is a meditation on destiny and the inevitability of failure and death. Woop.
Nevertheless, it *isn't* depressing because it's so real and human. The little connections, the moments of happiness, the real love among flawed people all come through strongly and make this a story of hope and endurance and survival, and making the most of the life you've got. Shukla is extremely strong at writing flawed, weak men who are afraid and do the wrong things: his male characters are emotionally vulnerable in a way we don't often see men depicted in fiction. (Notably, his women are less flawed and stronger.)
A hugely engaging read and very well written. Highly recommended.
April 10, 2018
A beautiful, beautiful novel from the author of Coconut Unlimited and the man who brought us The Good Immigrant.
Mukesh has left his home in Kenya and found himself in Keighley, over 200 miles away from the London he thought he would be living in. He meets and instantly falls in love with Nisha, a young woman who knows she is dying. Fast forward to Neha and Rakesh, their twin children. Neha is dying from the disease inherited from a mother she has never met; while Rakesh is trying to fulfil his destiny as a comedian. The novel finishes with Ba, the twin's grandmother; who, after surviving her husband and children, has returned to Kenya, alienated by a Britain that only offered her racism and violence.
There is this bittersweet sadness that runs through the novel that I found utterly absorbing (and resulted in two separate incidents of crying on the tube). Mukesh is obsessed with his dead wife, who he was destined to meet but lost far too soon. Neha is fixated on understanding the pattern of the deaths in her family while processing the imminence of her own. Rakesh is driven by the hope of fulfilling his own destiny as a performer and comedian, while processing the loss of his twin. I fell hard for these characters, particularly Neha and Rakesh, and did not want the story to end.
I felt that Shukla struck a perfect balance between real life and mysticism by showing the reality of racism while still giving the characters hope for a better destiny. Without the latter, the book could have become unbearably melancholy (when in fact there were a number of funny, heartwarming moments) and the combination also perfectly illustrated the point that ingrained racism in society means that British BAME people are unable to fully write their own destinies. Assimilation into the predetermined mould of "The Good Immigrant" is demanded and deviation is punished.
One of the most interesting parts of the novel was when we focused on Rakesh. I found it interesting that Shukla chose first-person narratives for the other main characters, while Raks' story is told through the lens of the secondary characters he interacts with. It actually made me love Raks more because I could see how sad he was but he was always one step removed so I was never allowed to fully know him.
A beautiful, heartbreaking novel about family, loss and destiny that I would highly recommend.
Thank you to Atlantic Books for providing me with an advance copy via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
Mukesh has left his home in Kenya and found himself in Keighley, over 200 miles away from the London he thought he would be living in. He meets and instantly falls in love with Nisha, a young woman who knows she is dying. Fast forward to Neha and Rakesh, their twin children. Neha is dying from the disease inherited from a mother she has never met; while Rakesh is trying to fulfil his destiny as a comedian. The novel finishes with Ba, the twin's grandmother; who, after surviving her husband and children, has returned to Kenya, alienated by a Britain that only offered her racism and violence.
There is this bittersweet sadness that runs through the novel that I found utterly absorbing (and resulted in two separate incidents of crying on the tube). Mukesh is obsessed with his dead wife, who he was destined to meet but lost far too soon. Neha is fixated on understanding the pattern of the deaths in her family while processing the imminence of her own. Rakesh is driven by the hope of fulfilling his own destiny as a performer and comedian, while processing the loss of his twin. I fell hard for these characters, particularly Neha and Rakesh, and did not want the story to end.
I felt that Shukla struck a perfect balance between real life and mysticism by showing the reality of racism while still giving the characters hope for a better destiny. Without the latter, the book could have become unbearably melancholy (when in fact there were a number of funny, heartwarming moments) and the combination also perfectly illustrated the point that ingrained racism in society means that British BAME people are unable to fully write their own destinies. Assimilation into the predetermined mould of "The Good Immigrant" is demanded and deviation is punished.
One of the most interesting parts of the novel was when we focused on Rakesh. I found it interesting that Shukla chose first-person narratives for the other main characters, while Raks' story is told through the lens of the secondary characters he interacts with. It actually made me love Raks more because I could see how sad he was but he was always one step removed so I was never allowed to fully know him.
A beautiful, heartbreaking novel about family, loss and destiny that I would highly recommend.
Thank you to Atlantic Books for providing me with an advance copy via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review
April 15, 2023
This book was not about whatever the blurb said it was about. Long and short, it was a running commentary on being children of immigrants. Where do you fit? Where is home? Racism in UK, and for some reason i cannot fathom but might maybe be important to humans: Destiny.
To be honest, the commentary did nothing for me. I felt deeply that this wasn't a book about the characters per say but about anyone not white that can relate to this, living in the UK.
I'm not sure if it's a case of how choking news from UK and US dominates almost everything in the world, but honestly, these days, I care very little for literature from that area that that part of the world that centers on the lives of people there, immigrant or otherwise.
Especially when it's done as this book was...simply commentary. It just felt like the characters were occupying space with no soul. No thought of anything besides the whole social commentary.
Who was Neha really? Who really was anyone in that family? Did they like anything? Were they anything more than children of immigrants who would never belong?
💡Hmmm maybe that's what this book was trying to pass across though🤔
I don't know. I felt disconnected from the story and like i said earlier the book just being a commentary and not taking time to really flesh out the characters really sealed the not liking it deal for me.
I did like the quote at the end about Destiny though. "There is free will and there is destiny, you tell me. They coexist. Some things we write, some things are written for us. Fate is our sanskara. We created some of it in the past, which gives us the experiences we are having now, but we can change what our future self will be experiencing by our choices right now. That is all destiny is: the consequences of choices"
Other than that, this book truly did nothing for me. Also the blurb of this book is truly dishonest cos it makes you feel you follow Neha on this journey of discovery but it was more like a blip and her story was over. Not even the star of the show.
I dunno maybe I missed whatever the author was trying to pull off here but this did not work for me.
Buuuuuuut, it is a lived reality for some people over there so..... maybe don't completely write it off.
December 27, 2017
The One Who Wrote Destiny is a compelling novel about three generations of one family and their destinies, successes, and failures. It opens with Mukesh, who moves from Kenya to Keighley in the 1960s expecting to find a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle and instead finds a foreign and strange place, racism, and the love of his life. Neha, Mukesh’s daughter, is a logical computer programmer and she’s also dying whilst trying to avoid telling her father or her twin brother, Rak. Rak’s a stand up comedian who is facing the fact it might not be his jokes, but who he is that is causing his career problems. And finally, Ba meets her young grandchildren for the first time and has to care for them, but Neha and Rak are used to England, not Kenya, and Ba is haunted by the deaths in her family.
The characters are endearing and interesting, reflecting on their personal situations and also on more systematic issues around race, immigration, and difference. The novel is held together by the stories and certainties that families hold close, for example their tendency to die of certain things or their belief in something or another being their destiny. Neha’s portion of the narrative is perhaps the most engrossing, with her specific view of the world causing her to try and organise her family’s deaths in categories whilst dealing with her family, her cancer diagnosis, and her almost-romance with a girl in her local bar. Both Neha and Rak’s sections of the story are set in the modern day and this allows Shukla to highlight different forms of oppression and cultural identity today, from comedy panel shows to tautology.
This is a novel that is both crucial and heartwarming, with great characters and a carefully woven narrative. It foregrounds the importance of language and place in a variety of ways, from the languages characters do and don’t speak to the ways people frame their lives and their homes using words. and raises important points that arise in the lives of its characters. It is undoubtably a big novel for 2018 that is current and clever.
The characters are endearing and interesting, reflecting on their personal situations and also on more systematic issues around race, immigration, and difference. The novel is held together by the stories and certainties that families hold close, for example their tendency to die of certain things or their belief in something or another being their destiny. Neha’s portion of the narrative is perhaps the most engrossing, with her specific view of the world causing her to try and organise her family’s deaths in categories whilst dealing with her family, her cancer diagnosis, and her almost-romance with a girl in her local bar. Both Neha and Rak’s sections of the story are set in the modern day and this allows Shukla to highlight different forms of oppression and cultural identity today, from comedy panel shows to tautology.
This is a novel that is both crucial and heartwarming, with great characters and a carefully woven narrative. It foregrounds the importance of language and place in a variety of ways, from the languages characters do and don’t speak to the ways people frame their lives and their homes using words. and raises important points that arise in the lives of its characters. It is undoubtably a big novel for 2018 that is current and clever.
July 19, 2025
Who else tells the great stories of the little people
This started out well enough. Mukesh, a Kenyan of Gujarati heritage, winds up in Keighley, a West Yorkshire town (not too far from where I live, actually). He's in love with Nisha, but the catch? She's dying.
Things seem to work out, as the next chapter switches to their daughter, Neha, dying of the same cancer that killed Nisha.
However, Neha is an insufferable narrator. She's rude, arrogant, and standoffish to all, incredibly horrible to her dad for no apparent reason other than he's a bit of an oddball, and quite a mean-spirited person, which is ironic given that she appears to be constructing some sort of program to try and identify this cancer early, so others don't have to go through what she's going through.
Now, I can deal with morally questionable characters and narrators - Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff, Vic in Deep Water and Balram in The White Tiger. They're all pretty dreadful, but you understand where they're coming from. With Neha, you feel slightly bad that she's taken for granted at work, but everything else about her lacks motive and reasoning. The character was that off-putting, it made me chuck the towel in.
Neha's part ends where it could actually start to get interesting, much as Mukesh's part ended where things were about to get juicier.
Things then take a confusing turn, with chapters told from a variety of different points of view. Here's where I gave up, as I simply wasn't invested in bouncing around between random characters, who Shukla seems to use as lenses through which to view Neha's brother, Raks. The last segment focused on the grandmother, Ba, but again, I just didn't care by that point.
I've encountered Nikesh Shukla'a non-fiction in The Good Immigrant previously and loved his writing style, but this work of fiction didn't do it for me. There are far better-written tales of immigrant families which have likeable characters, go deeper into their lives, and allow greater investment. Shukla has also said his book is for "young brown people", so perhaps I'm not the target audience; however, I do believe that books are windows into other lives, and a truly talented author can open windows to people outside their ideal readership. I doubt Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom or Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa or Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake were written with me, a 38 year-old gay white man, in mind; I'm sure other readers gleaned far more from their pages than I did. Yet, they allowed me to do what books should do - attempt to understand, and to empathise. Apart from Mukesh's initial chapter here, I felt no empathy at all, and the story lost all emotional resonance for me due to the poor character development.
2* for me because Mukesh's segment was enjoyable to read.
This started out well enough. Mukesh, a Kenyan of Gujarati heritage, winds up in Keighley, a West Yorkshire town (not too far from where I live, actually). He's in love with Nisha, but the catch? She's dying.
Things seem to work out, as the next chapter switches to their daughter, Neha, dying of the same cancer that killed Nisha.
However, Neha is an insufferable narrator. She's rude, arrogant, and standoffish to all, incredibly horrible to her dad for no apparent reason other than he's a bit of an oddball, and quite a mean-spirited person, which is ironic given that she appears to be constructing some sort of program to try and identify this cancer early, so others don't have to go through what she's going through.
Now, I can deal with morally questionable characters and narrators - Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff, Vic in Deep Water and Balram in The White Tiger. They're all pretty dreadful, but you understand where they're coming from. With Neha, you feel slightly bad that she's taken for granted at work, but everything else about her lacks motive and reasoning. The character was that off-putting, it made me chuck the towel in.
Neha's part ends where it could actually start to get interesting, much as Mukesh's part ended where things were about to get juicier.
Things then take a confusing turn, with chapters told from a variety of different points of view. Here's where I gave up, as I simply wasn't invested in bouncing around between random characters, who Shukla seems to use as lenses through which to view Neha's brother, Raks. The last segment focused on the grandmother, Ba, but again, I just didn't care by that point.
I've encountered Nikesh Shukla'a non-fiction in The Good Immigrant previously and loved his writing style, but this work of fiction didn't do it for me. There are far better-written tales of immigrant families which have likeable characters, go deeper into their lives, and allow greater investment. Shukla has also said his book is for "young brown people", so perhaps I'm not the target audience; however, I do believe that books are windows into other lives, and a truly talented author can open windows to people outside their ideal readership. I doubt Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom or Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa or Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake were written with me, a 38 year-old gay white man, in mind; I'm sure other readers gleaned far more from their pages than I did. Yet, they allowed me to do what books should do - attempt to understand, and to empathise. Apart from Mukesh's initial chapter here, I felt no empathy at all, and the story lost all emotional resonance for me due to the poor character development.
2* for me because Mukesh's segment was enjoyable to read.
April 30, 2019
The One Who Wrote Destiny is an engrossing family saga. Told from the viewpoint of four members of the same family, it covers some big themes: immigration, racism, loss, grief and destiny.
The first section is about Mukesh. He comes to North Yorkshire in the late seventies where he meets Nisha, and against a backdrop of racial tension and violence they fall in love. They have two children, Neha & Rakesh, and the next two sections are about them. Neha has inherited her mother's genetic disease, but before she dies she has a plan to cheat destiny. Raks is a professional comedian who doesn't want to make his act about race, but following his sister's death finds himself thinking about family, culture and heritage.
The final section is about Nisha's mother who returned to Kenya following her husband's death, and the time she spent looking after the twins when their mother first died.
It's an entertaining and interesting read with some strong characters - especially the women. And by humanising some meaty topics it gives the reader plenty of food for thought.
The first section is about Mukesh. He comes to North Yorkshire in the late seventies where he meets Nisha, and against a backdrop of racial tension and violence they fall in love. They have two children, Neha & Rakesh, and the next two sections are about them. Neha has inherited her mother's genetic disease, but before she dies she has a plan to cheat destiny. Raks is a professional comedian who doesn't want to make his act about race, but following his sister's death finds himself thinking about family, culture and heritage.
The final section is about Nisha's mother who returned to Kenya following her husband's death, and the time she spent looking after the twins when their mother first died.
It's an entertaining and interesting read with some strong characters - especially the women. And by humanising some meaty topics it gives the reader plenty of food for thought.
dnf
February 18, 2019*Disclaimer: I received the ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Nikesh Shukla has been on my radar since the release of The Good Immigrant a few years ago though this is the first book of his that I have attempted.
Unfortunately I enjoyed the first part of this but my interest kind of disappeared halfway through the second section. I found the idea of this book more interesting that the narrative itself but I think that's just my reading mood at the moment. I may come back to this one.
Nikesh Shukla has been on my radar since the release of The Good Immigrant a few years ago though this is the first book of his that I have attempted.
Unfortunately I enjoyed the first part of this but my interest kind of disappeared halfway through the second section. I found the idea of this book more interesting that the narrative itself but I think that's just my reading mood at the moment. I may come back to this one.
April 14, 2018
The novel tells the story of three generations of the same family each experiencing loss and struggling to determine whether they believe in destiny.
Mukesh's shares his story with his children of how he met their mother and why he has chosen not to integrate into life in Keighley, England after leaving Kenya.
"Why integrate into a country that wanted me annihilated… that wanted to beat my body with bricks and cricket bats until I bled to death?"
I loved Mukesh's character, he was witty and determined to do anything for love. I'm convinced he was the true comedian in the Jani family.
Neha is strong-willed and uses her final moments of life to undercover a code to treat her family's bad genes and possibly save mankind. Neha's story is heartbreaking, as it takes her almost her entire life to love more than just a donkey.
Rakesh's story is told through the voices of the people he interacts with, which include an actress, his father, a TV producer and a tourist. Rakesh is a people pleaser and he is desperate to get his big break as a comedian, as he recognises he is at the bottom of the shitpile.
"I've eaten enough shit to know that shitting it back out the other side and feeding it to someone else - well, that s where the power lies. If there's no one lower than you to eat your shit, you're literally the bottom of the shitheap."
The scenes with the TV producer is just mind boggling, I keep pondering what would I really do in this situation.
Ba tells the story of why she has left England and the struggle to love her grandchildren. She shares what is destiny:
"Who is the one who writes destiny? Some say he is the cousin of death. Others say he is the accountants of our life, sitting there, making note of everything we do, checking it against a balance sheet."
This is a great read Nikesh has used comedy to confront some uncomfortable truths.
Actualt rating 4.5 stars.
Mukesh's shares his story with his children of how he met their mother and why he has chosen not to integrate into life in Keighley, England after leaving Kenya.
"Why integrate into a country that wanted me annihilated… that wanted to beat my body with bricks and cricket bats until I bled to death?"
I loved Mukesh's character, he was witty and determined to do anything for love. I'm convinced he was the true comedian in the Jani family.
Neha is strong-willed and uses her final moments of life to undercover a code to treat her family's bad genes and possibly save mankind. Neha's story is heartbreaking, as it takes her almost her entire life to love more than just a donkey.
Rakesh's story is told through the voices of the people he interacts with, which include an actress, his father, a TV producer and a tourist. Rakesh is a people pleaser and he is desperate to get his big break as a comedian, as he recognises he is at the bottom of the shitpile.
"I've eaten enough shit to know that shitting it back out the other side and feeding it to someone else - well, that s where the power lies. If there's no one lower than you to eat your shit, you're literally the bottom of the shitheap."
The scenes with the TV producer is just mind boggling, I keep pondering what would I really do in this situation.
Ba tells the story of why she has left England and the struggle to love her grandchildren. She shares what is destiny:
"Who is the one who writes destiny? Some say he is the cousin of death. Others say he is the accountants of our life, sitting there, making note of everything we do, checking it against a balance sheet."
This is a great read Nikesh has used comedy to confront some uncomfortable truths.
Actualt rating 4.5 stars.
September 25, 2018
My reading lately has been a series of “ nearly but not quite done” books, (combo of abandoned books, starting something new or library recalls) but finally I have finished a book! This is Nikesh Shukla’s latest novel and his last book was the amazing anthology “The Good Immigrant” so my expectations were high going into this read.
My feelings about this book are mixed. There is a lot of commentary through the characters observations and thoughts about race and migration in the UK and I loved a lot of those sections of the book ( the madness of chai tea, the excellence standard people of colour need to meet, the fear of migration, the impact of hatred and much more). In terms of the plot and the characters though, though I found the descriptions of being South Asian in the sixties in the U.K quite powerful, I struggled to connect with the book overall. The book is told from the perspective of diff characters in diff time periods and although I normally enjoy that kind of structure, I don’t know how successful this structure was in this book. The plot was more just a carrier for those observational nuggets which were the strongest parts of Shukla’s writing for me.
A 3.5 star read for me.
My feelings about this book are mixed. There is a lot of commentary through the characters observations and thoughts about race and migration in the UK and I loved a lot of those sections of the book ( the madness of chai tea, the excellence standard people of colour need to meet, the fear of migration, the impact of hatred and much more). In terms of the plot and the characters though, though I found the descriptions of being South Asian in the sixties in the U.K quite powerful, I struggled to connect with the book overall. The book is told from the perspective of diff characters in diff time periods and although I normally enjoy that kind of structure, I don’t know how successful this structure was in this book. The plot was more just a carrier for those observational nuggets which were the strongest parts of Shukla’s writing for me.
A 3.5 star read for me.
April 5, 2018
I wanted to read this book because I adored the author's previous book, Meatspace. I had felt immediately at home with its milieu - even to the point of recognising one of the real-life locations, in Shoreditch.
There was no such sense of reassuring familiarity with this novel, its introduction dealing as it does with the dislocation felt by a recent emigrant from Kenya. Things didn't really get any easier when we transitioned to his daughter, whose misanthropy made her a rather unsympathetic character in spite of the tragedy of her personal circumstances.
I was on surer ground with her brother Raks, who had the saving grace of being funny (well, he is a stand-up comedian). But little that went before prepared me for the jump back in time to the twins’ grandmother ‘Ba’, which is where the various strands really started to come together for me.
This part of the book is beautifully written and hugely moving. By the end of her story I was feeling emotionally bereft - which is, I think, a sure sign of a really good book.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Atlantic Books via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
There was no such sense of reassuring familiarity with this novel, its introduction dealing as it does with the dislocation felt by a recent emigrant from Kenya. Things didn't really get any easier when we transitioned to his daughter, whose misanthropy made her a rather unsympathetic character in spite of the tragedy of her personal circumstances.
I was on surer ground with her brother Raks, who had the saving grace of being funny (well, he is a stand-up comedian). But little that went before prepared me for the jump back in time to the twins’ grandmother ‘Ba’, which is where the various strands really started to come together for me.
This part of the book is beautifully written and hugely moving. By the end of her story I was feeling emotionally bereft - which is, I think, a sure sign of a really good book.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Atlantic Books via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
April 13, 2018
The One Who Wrote Destiny tells the story of a family of immigrants across three generations. It explores the meaning of home, culture and inheritance. When the British Empire granted those it had subjugated independence, its architects did not acknowledge that what they had regarded as benevolence was in truth oppression. They instilled a vision of Britain as great and then baulked at the idea of being open and welcoming. Despite the serious issues being explored, the experience of immigration portrayed here overflows with humour. There are no heroes but rather moments of unanticipated heroism.
The story is told in four sections, each concentrating on a key character, all interlinked.
The first of these is set in 1966 when Mukesh, a teenager of south Asian descent, moves from Kenya to England and ends up in Keighley. Mukesh plans to continue his education in London, living with his good friend Sailesh who has been offered work as a juggler in the clubs around Soho. Mukesh is perplexed when he discovers that Keighley is 213 miles from the capital city. He is comforted when he discovers that other Gujuratis live nearby. Drawn to a beautiful girl, Nisha, who inspires him to write bad poetry, he stands near her house each day watching as she arrives and leaves, believing he is invisible. When he is hit by a bicycle trying to offer Nisha assistance they speak and Mukesh finds himself agreeing to perform in a show she is organising for Diwali. Here he has his first experience of violent racism. The pale skinned residents of Keighley are happy to enjoy the tea and anglicized curry from the sub continent but will not tolerate the open presence of its people.
Mukesh is telling the story of how he and Nisha got together to their daughter, Neha. He repeats this each time they meet, his way of remaining close to the great love of his life now that Nisha is dead. In the second section of the book, set in 2017, Neha is told that she has terminal cancer. This is the same illness that killed her mother but Neha had not realised she could be at risk. Her adult life has been wrapped around her work in tech. She decides to explore her wider family history, to see if there is a way that knowledge may be used to escape one’s destiny. She hopes that in doing so she may help her brother’s future children avoid the same fate.
Raks is a comedian. After his sister dies he puts together a show that achieves critical acclaim. The break he had hoped for appears to be within his grasp until an error of judgement sends him off course and he feels a need to disconnect. He has ignored the warnings to stand up for his people, allowing himself to be manipulated by white men resentful of the diverse quotas they are expected to embrace. Raks travels to New York, and to Lamu in Kenya. Much of his section of the tale is told from the points of view of those he meets along the way. He and Neha had been to Lamu as children with their maternal grandmother. Before she died, Neha told him it was here that she had been most happy in her life.
The final section of the book is set in Kenya in 1988. Nisha’s mother, Ba, has left Keighley and returned to Mombasa following the deaths of those she most cared for. She is lonely and grieving but accepting of her destiny. When Mukesh brings his two young children to spend a week with her she begrudges their invasion of her quiet routine as she waits for death. Gradually the three find a way to be together. This week will prove pivotal in all of their lives.
The stories within stories are presented lightly but with subtle depths. There are entrenched views on all sides, subjugation and resentments sitting alongside tolerance and acceptance. The immigrant’s desire for assimilation in the place they choose to make their home is, at times, at odds with retained aspects of their cultural history. The dehumanisation they encounter is painful to read yet skilfully presented.
The idea of destiny adds interest but this is a story of family in its many colours and shades. It is entertaining yet never trivialises the inherent difficulties of each situation.
An exuberant, full flavoured read.
The story is told in four sections, each concentrating on a key character, all interlinked.
The first of these is set in 1966 when Mukesh, a teenager of south Asian descent, moves from Kenya to England and ends up in Keighley. Mukesh plans to continue his education in London, living with his good friend Sailesh who has been offered work as a juggler in the clubs around Soho. Mukesh is perplexed when he discovers that Keighley is 213 miles from the capital city. He is comforted when he discovers that other Gujuratis live nearby. Drawn to a beautiful girl, Nisha, who inspires him to write bad poetry, he stands near her house each day watching as she arrives and leaves, believing he is invisible. When he is hit by a bicycle trying to offer Nisha assistance they speak and Mukesh finds himself agreeing to perform in a show she is organising for Diwali. Here he has his first experience of violent racism. The pale skinned residents of Keighley are happy to enjoy the tea and anglicized curry from the sub continent but will not tolerate the open presence of its people.
Mukesh is telling the story of how he and Nisha got together to their daughter, Neha. He repeats this each time they meet, his way of remaining close to the great love of his life now that Nisha is dead. In the second section of the book, set in 2017, Neha is told that she has terminal cancer. This is the same illness that killed her mother but Neha had not realised she could be at risk. Her adult life has been wrapped around her work in tech. She decides to explore her wider family history, to see if there is a way that knowledge may be used to escape one’s destiny. She hopes that in doing so she may help her brother’s future children avoid the same fate.
Raks is a comedian. After his sister dies he puts together a show that achieves critical acclaim. The break he had hoped for appears to be within his grasp until an error of judgement sends him off course and he feels a need to disconnect. He has ignored the warnings to stand up for his people, allowing himself to be manipulated by white men resentful of the diverse quotas they are expected to embrace. Raks travels to New York, and to Lamu in Kenya. Much of his section of the tale is told from the points of view of those he meets along the way. He and Neha had been to Lamu as children with their maternal grandmother. Before she died, Neha told him it was here that she had been most happy in her life.
The final section of the book is set in Kenya in 1988. Nisha’s mother, Ba, has left Keighley and returned to Mombasa following the deaths of those she most cared for. She is lonely and grieving but accepting of her destiny. When Mukesh brings his two young children to spend a week with her she begrudges their invasion of her quiet routine as she waits for death. Gradually the three find a way to be together. This week will prove pivotal in all of their lives.
The stories within stories are presented lightly but with subtle depths. There are entrenched views on all sides, subjugation and resentments sitting alongside tolerance and acceptance. The immigrant’s desire for assimilation in the place they choose to make their home is, at times, at odds with retained aspects of their cultural history. The dehumanisation they encounter is painful to read yet skilfully presented.
The idea of destiny adds interest but this is a story of family in its many colours and shades. It is entertaining yet never trivialises the inherent difficulties of each situation.
An exuberant, full flavoured read.
November 3, 2024
3.5 stars
I've read a few of Nikesh Shukla's books, and when I saw this was another one he had written, I was eager to read it.
I don't know about other readers, but certain premises pull me in when reading blurbs, and the fact that this was a book about a British Indian with roots in Kenya was my hook. I guess we look for stories where we might be able to connect with the characters, and here I am, a British Indian with roots in Kenya.
Though interestingly told, the story wasn't entirely true to that blurb, as it is 25% about Neha, that girl diagnosed with cancer who wants to delve deeper into the possibility of destiny and whether it is a thing.
The other 75% is split between the views of 3 other key characters: some set in the past, some in the present, which all add to the story's layers.
First, it is about Mukesh, Neha's dad, who recently arrived in the UK from Kenya, and how he settled and met Nisha, Neha's mum.
Then comes Neha, and the discovery of her illness, and how she tries to come to terms with it,
The next is Raks, Neha's twin brother, after her death, and how he handles his grief and last wishes.
The final segment is through the eyes of Ba, Neha and Rak's maternal grandmother, and it focuses on a week when the children were very young after their mother had passed away.
It was a slow start, and there is much about the racism faced and the uphill struggle of the early immigrants, which is returned again and again.
I did get into it, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would.
I've read a few of Nikesh Shukla's books, and when I saw this was another one he had written, I was eager to read it.
I don't know about other readers, but certain premises pull me in when reading blurbs, and the fact that this was a book about a British Indian with roots in Kenya was my hook. I guess we look for stories where we might be able to connect with the characters, and here I am, a British Indian with roots in Kenya.
Though interestingly told, the story wasn't entirely true to that blurb, as it is 25% about Neha, that girl diagnosed with cancer who wants to delve deeper into the possibility of destiny and whether it is a thing.
The other 75% is split between the views of 3 other key characters: some set in the past, some in the present, which all add to the story's layers.
First, it is about Mukesh, Neha's dad, who recently arrived in the UK from Kenya, and how he settled and met Nisha, Neha's mum.
Then comes Neha, and the discovery of her illness, and how she tries to come to terms with it,
The next is Raks, Neha's twin brother, after her death, and how he handles his grief and last wishes.
The final segment is through the eyes of Ba, Neha and Rak's maternal grandmother, and it focuses on a week when the children were very young after their mother had passed away.
It was a slow start, and there is much about the racism faced and the uphill struggle of the early immigrants, which is returned again and again.
I did get into it, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would.
April 19, 2018
From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z4fz3
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z4fz3
March 24, 2018
Most readers, like me, probably encountered Nikesh Shukla first as the editor of The Good Immigrant, but he's also a novelist in his own right. The One Who Wrote Destiny is his third novel, and it's distinguished by its verve, humour and thoughtfulness.
When Mukesh left Kenya in the 1960s, he imagined himself studying as an accountant in London - not getting dragged into amateur dramatics and race riots in Keighley. However, this unlucky turn of events did lead him to meet his future wife. A generation down the line, Mukesh's two children tell their own stories. Neha, obsessed with programming, is dying of lung cancer before she feels she's had a chance to really live, while her twin brother Rakesh is trying to launch his career as a stand-up comedian while not having to always talk about race. Meanwhile, both twins wonder what happened to their Ba, who looked after them in Kenya when they were young, but who they haven't seen since. All four of these characters narrate their own sections of the novel, but their narratives are interspersed with bits from secondary characters who briefly intersect with their lives, which both adds interesting variation and can feel a little choppy.
At its best, The One Who Wrote Destiny is both funny and thought-provoking on questions of race, cultural identity and heritage. Much of the best material is showcased in the sections of the novel narrated by Mukesh and Rakesh, and the relationship between father and son is also very well-drawn. Mukesh finds it difficult to understand his son's anger over things like 'girls wearing bindis at parties' after the racial violence he experienced as a young man. Rakesh struggles with how to position himself as a comedian, knowing that while his material on race is often warmly received, he could also be accused of selling out. His sister Neha is his fiercest critic, arguing that he makes white people laugh about things that they ought to take seriously. But despite the generational gulf between Mukesh and Rakesh, their bumbling clumsiness, both physical and emotional, means that they share a strong family resemblance.
It's in its smaller examples of cultural appropriation that The One Who Wrote Destiny can feel a little derivative and repetitive. Shukla seems to be in direct conversation with his edited collection The Good Immigrant throughout the course of this novel, and occasionally this jolted me out of his fictional world, making me feel that I was hearing the author's voice, not the characters. Some of these details work better than others. A riff on the silliness of 'chai tea' - 'tea tea', as one of the characters put it - is instantly recognisable from Shukla's essay in The Good Immigrant but becomes a clever thread throughout the novel that links different characters. Other instances of repetition feel a bit lazier - one of the characters thinks very similar things to Shukla about the appropriation of 'namaste'. Another character, who's an actor, complains about always being cast as 'wife of a terrorist', which is familiar from 'Miss L's' essay in The Good Immigrant. Shukla is generally very good on detail, so I wasn't sure why he felt the need to repeat this material.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is uneven and structurally messy (the last section feels especially tacked on), but it's full of such energy that I sped through it. I'll definitely be turning to Shukla's backlist.
When Mukesh left Kenya in the 1960s, he imagined himself studying as an accountant in London - not getting dragged into amateur dramatics and race riots in Keighley. However, this unlucky turn of events did lead him to meet his future wife. A generation down the line, Mukesh's two children tell their own stories. Neha, obsessed with programming, is dying of lung cancer before she feels she's had a chance to really live, while her twin brother Rakesh is trying to launch his career as a stand-up comedian while not having to always talk about race. Meanwhile, both twins wonder what happened to their Ba, who looked after them in Kenya when they were young, but who they haven't seen since. All four of these characters narrate their own sections of the novel, but their narratives are interspersed with bits from secondary characters who briefly intersect with their lives, which both adds interesting variation and can feel a little choppy.
At its best, The One Who Wrote Destiny is both funny and thought-provoking on questions of race, cultural identity and heritage. Much of the best material is showcased in the sections of the novel narrated by Mukesh and Rakesh, and the relationship between father and son is also very well-drawn. Mukesh finds it difficult to understand his son's anger over things like 'girls wearing bindis at parties' after the racial violence he experienced as a young man. Rakesh struggles with how to position himself as a comedian, knowing that while his material on race is often warmly received, he could also be accused of selling out. His sister Neha is his fiercest critic, arguing that he makes white people laugh about things that they ought to take seriously. But despite the generational gulf between Mukesh and Rakesh, their bumbling clumsiness, both physical and emotional, means that they share a strong family resemblance.
It's in its smaller examples of cultural appropriation that The One Who Wrote Destiny can feel a little derivative and repetitive. Shukla seems to be in direct conversation with his edited collection The Good Immigrant throughout the course of this novel, and occasionally this jolted me out of his fictional world, making me feel that I was hearing the author's voice, not the characters. Some of these details work better than others. A riff on the silliness of 'chai tea' - 'tea tea', as one of the characters put it - is instantly recognisable from Shukla's essay in The Good Immigrant but becomes a clever thread throughout the novel that links different characters. Other instances of repetition feel a bit lazier - one of the characters thinks very similar things to Shukla about the appropriation of 'namaste'. Another character, who's an actor, complains about always being cast as 'wife of a terrorist', which is familiar from 'Miss L's' essay in The Good Immigrant. Shukla is generally very good on detail, so I wasn't sure why he felt the need to repeat this material.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is uneven and structurally messy (the last section feels especially tacked on), but it's full of such energy that I sped through it. I'll definitely be turning to Shukla's backlist.
April 6, 2019
A really enjoyable and moving multi-PoV family saga of a British Indian family, exploring the notion of genetic and karmic destiny, balancing high and low comedy with brutally frank descriptions of racist violence and the immigrant experience.
June 25, 2023
this book had me crying at the end because it was the most gorgeous storytelling that I've read in a while coupled with a plot that tugs at your heartstrings from the very first moment 🥹
(full review to come, this book deserves it!)
(full review to come, this book deserves it!)
February 22, 2019
A tale of generations, culture and how destiny shapes lives. Loved Ba’s tale especially.
April 5, 2018
After being diagnosed with the cancer that killed her mother while she was still a baby, thirty-five-year-old Neha gives up her job as a computer programmer to develop a program that will predict how and when a person is to die. For this, she needs all the information she can get about her extended family. Naturally reserved, and preferring computer code to any of the languages of her heritage, her ambition forces her to engage with her father Mukesh who moved from Kenya to Keighley in North Yorkshire in the mid-1960s. But will he get beyond the oft-repeated narrative of how he met her mother, and was roped into play the part of Rama at a Diwali festival? Will Neha have the patience to listen? Meanwhile, as her twin brother Rakesh tries to make it as a stand-up comedian, Neha tries to trace their maternal grandmother with whom they spent an idyllic week in Kenya at the age of eight.
Full review
Genealogy: The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland & The One Who Wrote Destiny http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/...
Full review
Genealogy: The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland & The One Who Wrote Destiny http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/...
August 28, 2019
“I write the opening of poems, but I never get past the first word of the first line.”
March 30, 2018
This is the story of a family who move from Kenya to the UK in the 60s and how their expectations of life in this country are very different to the reality. The book alternates between different members of the family and shows the different attitudes of the different generations throughout the decades.
A large part of the issues they face is based on race, ranging from ignorant comments to agressive attacks and the author does a great job of highlighting what poc have to deal with on a daily basis.
A great story about family, which also raises important issues.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.
A large part of the issues they face is based on race, ranging from ignorant comments to agressive attacks and the author does a great job of highlighting what poc have to deal with on a daily basis.
A great story about family, which also raises important issues.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.
April 24, 2018
~ Received an ARC from NetGalley
4 stars **** – 'The One Who Wrote Destiny' is a beautifully written account of three generations of the same family, and their hopes, dreams and heartaches, weaving through time and space effortlessly. It is funny in unexpected moments, filled with thought-provoking passages about life, death, and our individual identity in relation to our family and heritage, and independent of them - as well as charming characters that will stay with you for a long time. Slightly less waxing lyrical about fate and destiny wouldn’t have gone amiss, (but that’s just a personal preference, and it is a major theme of the book so to be expected!) That being said, I liked a lot of things, loved a few key, crucial passages and will come back to it again in the future, I’m sure.
Full review can be found here! :- https://thebookbuds.wordpress.com/201...
4 stars **** – 'The One Who Wrote Destiny' is a beautifully written account of three generations of the same family, and their hopes, dreams and heartaches, weaving through time and space effortlessly. It is funny in unexpected moments, filled with thought-provoking passages about life, death, and our individual identity in relation to our family and heritage, and independent of them - as well as charming characters that will stay with you for a long time. Slightly less waxing lyrical about fate and destiny wouldn’t have gone amiss, (but that’s just a personal preference, and it is a major theme of the book so to be expected!) That being said, I liked a lot of things, loved a few key, crucial passages and will come back to it again in the future, I’m sure.
Full review can be found here! :- https://thebookbuds.wordpress.com/201...
October 31, 2024
"I was there when the small girl with the toffee-coloured eyes fell over a nearby dancer's outstretched foot and flopped to the floor in a tiny bundle, like a crumpled teabag."
The One Who Wrote Destiny is full of delightful, precisely detailed descriptions such as the above that brings the world of the characters vividly to life. The novel starts with Mukesh, who has found himself adrift and alone in 1960s Keighly, and the night he meets his future wife, Nisha - the girl with toffee-coloured eyes - at an local amateur production of the Ramayana. He's hapless and hopelessly in love and you can't help but root for him, especially when the night takes an unexpected dramatic turn.
Nikesh Shukla masterfully explores the twists and turns of destiny, the ripple effect of past events and the way patterns loop and repeat through the generations as we then follow the stories of Mukesh and Nisha's children, twins Neha and Rakesh. Rakesh is a comedian, and Shukla's own wry humour mixed with sharp social commentary on race, culture and identity shines throughout. Neha (a Star Trek geek after my own heart) is a reclusive computer system designer dying of the same cancer that killed their mother, whose own wrangling with destiny comes in the form of a death prediction program that she is trying to write. Throughout is the nagging mystery of what happened to their ba, Nisha's mother, who the twins spent a formative week in Kenya with when they were very young.
The story circles back on itself, delivering gut-punches of deep emotion amid the humour as we see the characters through each others' eyes and slowly unpick the layers of their interlocking lives. This was such a joy to read, and is definitely one of my favourite books of the year.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is full of delightful, precisely detailed descriptions such as the above that brings the world of the characters vividly to life. The novel starts with Mukesh, who has found himself adrift and alone in 1960s Keighly, and the night he meets his future wife, Nisha - the girl with toffee-coloured eyes - at an local amateur production of the Ramayana. He's hapless and hopelessly in love and you can't help but root for him, especially when the night takes an unexpected dramatic turn.
Nikesh Shukla masterfully explores the twists and turns of destiny, the ripple effect of past events and the way patterns loop and repeat through the generations as we then follow the stories of Mukesh and Nisha's children, twins Neha and Rakesh. Rakesh is a comedian, and Shukla's own wry humour mixed with sharp social commentary on race, culture and identity shines throughout. Neha (a Star Trek geek after my own heart) is a reclusive computer system designer dying of the same cancer that killed their mother, whose own wrangling with destiny comes in the form of a death prediction program that she is trying to write. Throughout is the nagging mystery of what happened to their ba, Nisha's mother, who the twins spent a formative week in Kenya with when they were very young.
The story circles back on itself, delivering gut-punches of deep emotion amid the humour as we see the characters through each others' eyes and slowly unpick the layers of their interlocking lives. This was such a joy to read, and is definitely one of my favourite books of the year.
August 8, 2022
I found the author to be shallow and unable to present deep, meaningful points regarding race without resorting to generalisations, insults and derogatory comments about white people. I read this as part of a book club and the vast majority thought the same. I then looked up the author and watched a Q and A he gave about this book, he was asked by an audience member how he managed to not alienate white people when writing this book, he laughed and said the book is not for white people but for young brown people.
Something to know also is that this book was part funded by the British Arts Council ( UK tax payer funded). With 86% of the British being white,, the author had no issues taking that money and writing this nasty book.
Something to know also is that this book was part funded by the British Arts Council ( UK tax payer funded). With 86% of the British being white,, the author had no issues taking that money and writing this nasty book.
March 9, 2020
4.75* rounded up. A little uneven with the various narrators, but ultimately a beautiful tragic-comic generational story.
May 9, 2020
This book was recommended to me, but I was really disappointed. I enjoyed the first chapter that explored Neha's father's story, but after that, I struggled to stay interested. I didn't understand the concept of the computer program Neha was trying to build - the entire chapter seemed to focus on it and yet I had no conceivable idea of how it actually worked - and her character irritated me. The rest of the characters felt one-dimensional, and I stopped reading when Raks made some poor woman go on a date with him and then immediately started offloading all his problems onto her. Perhaps the last chapter picked up again, but I'm not invested enough to continue.
March 15, 2020
“You forget you’re living. And it’s only in the brief moments after you remember to cherish what little time you have, that you do anything to take life by the hands and dance as though no one is watching.”
The publishing industry isn’t always fair; sometimes – maybe, too often – I come across a book that’s an absolute gem but has not received the recognition it so richly deserved. And, so, we have Nikesh Shukla’s achingly beautiful, The One Who Wrote Destiny, a fantastic, passionate and revealing examination of mortality, destiny and the experience of immigrants to the UK.
This was published two years ago, back in 2018, but I have only just got around to reading it (the burden of the TBR pile) and, oh, what I would have given to have had this in my life earlier. It is a brilliantly executed novel that captures all the insight into the experience of immigrant communities in the UK – the racism, the clash of cultures, the hostility, the questioning of ‘home’ – and wraps this up in a novel that follows three generations of the same family as they live their lives, ever aware of what they have inherited and their ever-evolving battles to live their lives in peace.
The story is centred around a wider Gujarati family settled in Bradford with roots in Kenya. We start with Mukesh, an awkward young man who arrives in the UK in the 1960s and promptly falls in love with Nisha, the young woman he is completely smitten by. Only the path of love does not run smooth: Nisha is terminally ill with cancer and the racist hate mobs are circling.
Yet this is a novel with as much wry humour as insightful analysis; take this little gem on the married couple eating a curry: “This was food we had never experienced before, food that we had certainly never cooked or eaten at home. Yet it was being culturally packaged as our own. Our country had existed for only about thirty years at that point and already its cuisine was world-famous.”
But though Nisha dies, this isn’t before she gives birth to a boy, Raqs, and a girl, Neha. Only, later in life, Neha too is diagnosed with the same terminal cancer that killed her mother and so she embarks on a driven mission to fathom what is destiny and what is coincidence. And this journey will bring her into scientific and analytical mind into open conflict with the beliefs of her ancestors for whom destiny governs much.
“It is not for us to question the one who writes destiny, only to honour their wishes.”
This novel is so brilliantly written, various themes so effortlessly blended together – the different experiences across the generations of racism hitting the head, the bonds of family hitting the heart. And all this in a novel with a strong narrative drive that also gives time for the characters to develop and reveal themselves before our eyes. Absolutely gorgeous.
The publishing industry isn’t always fair; sometimes – maybe, too often – I come across a book that’s an absolute gem but has not received the recognition it so richly deserved. And, so, we have Nikesh Shukla’s achingly beautiful, The One Who Wrote Destiny, a fantastic, passionate and revealing examination of mortality, destiny and the experience of immigrants to the UK.
This was published two years ago, back in 2018, but I have only just got around to reading it (the burden of the TBR pile) and, oh, what I would have given to have had this in my life earlier. It is a brilliantly executed novel that captures all the insight into the experience of immigrant communities in the UK – the racism, the clash of cultures, the hostility, the questioning of ‘home’ – and wraps this up in a novel that follows three generations of the same family as they live their lives, ever aware of what they have inherited and their ever-evolving battles to live their lives in peace.
The story is centred around a wider Gujarati family settled in Bradford with roots in Kenya. We start with Mukesh, an awkward young man who arrives in the UK in the 1960s and promptly falls in love with Nisha, the young woman he is completely smitten by. Only the path of love does not run smooth: Nisha is terminally ill with cancer and the racist hate mobs are circling.
Yet this is a novel with as much wry humour as insightful analysis; take this little gem on the married couple eating a curry: “This was food we had never experienced before, food that we had certainly never cooked or eaten at home. Yet it was being culturally packaged as our own. Our country had existed for only about thirty years at that point and already its cuisine was world-famous.”
But though Nisha dies, this isn’t before she gives birth to a boy, Raqs, and a girl, Neha. Only, later in life, Neha too is diagnosed with the same terminal cancer that killed her mother and so she embarks on a driven mission to fathom what is destiny and what is coincidence. And this journey will bring her into scientific and analytical mind into open conflict with the beliefs of her ancestors for whom destiny governs much.
“It is not for us to question the one who writes destiny, only to honour their wishes.”
This novel is so brilliantly written, various themes so effortlessly blended together – the different experiences across the generations of racism hitting the head, the bonds of family hitting the heart. And all this in a novel with a strong narrative drive that also gives time for the characters to develop and reveal themselves before our eyes. Absolutely gorgeous.
March 5, 2019
Curiosity level: If you enjoyed “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy, this will be a contemporary and moving treat for you.
•
“Do you believe in destiny?”
•
Neha is a programmer, jarred by her lung cancer - the same one her mother died from. She is desperate for answers. She tries to C++ a programme based on patterns of deaths according to her family tree: To find out where she stands. But life and destinies are unpredictable. What is destiny? Patterns in the family? Choices? That are intertwined with family? All of the above? Neha’s migrant family wrestles with “The One Who Wrote Destiny” (aka God?) by searching out the meaning behind their ancestors and their homeland, and above all, figuring out how to live as “Good Immigrants” in a country that does not necessarily welcome them. Dislocation, destiny, racism - these are the themes of the book.
•
This novel by #NikeshShukla is so intelligently written. We’re catapulted into a few POVs, each with personalities and thoughts so unique to the other that you’re amazed at his empathising powers! He is incredibly sharp in his observations, witty, and enchanting - the magic of his prose reels you in and keeps you hooked for pages on end. Unpredictable storyline.
•
“Do you believe in destiny?”
•
Neha is a programmer, jarred by her lung cancer - the same one her mother died from. She is desperate for answers. She tries to C++ a programme based on patterns of deaths according to her family tree: To find out where she stands. But life and destinies are unpredictable. What is destiny? Patterns in the family? Choices? That are intertwined with family? All of the above? Neha’s migrant family wrestles with “The One Who Wrote Destiny” (aka God?) by searching out the meaning behind their ancestors and their homeland, and above all, figuring out how to live as “Good Immigrants” in a country that does not necessarily welcome them. Dislocation, destiny, racism - these are the themes of the book.
•
This novel by #NikeshShukla is so intelligently written. We’re catapulted into a few POVs, each with personalities and thoughts so unique to the other that you’re amazed at his empathising powers! He is incredibly sharp in his observations, witty, and enchanting - the magic of his prose reels you in and keeps you hooked for pages on end. Unpredictable storyline.
July 1, 2018
I get what the author is getting at but speaking as someone whose home country was colonised by the British, I think the view of colonialism here has been oversimplified. It kept on talking about the negatives of colonialism, but never mentions the other side (i.e. if not for the British, such practices as sutti — widow burning — or footbinding might still be around). Colonialism wasn’t all bad for women who were living in very oppressive circumstances under men of their own race. For a book that looks at the effects of colonialism and what it means to be a poc immigrant in a western country, the scope is a little too narrow.
The female characters felt flat to me. Neha was the one I most enjoyed but I didn’t feel she got the chance to fully bloom. What happened between her and Mika leading up her death? We never find out.
The female characters felt flat to me. Neha was the one I most enjoyed but I didn’t feel she got the chance to fully bloom. What happened between her and Mika leading up her death? We never find out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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