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Free Kindle Nation Shorts - February 19, 2011
An Excerpt from
THE MESSIAH
OF GREEN STREET
A Novel by Shuab Parvez
By Stephen Windwalker
Editor, Kindle Nation Daily
ŠKindle Nation Daily 2011
Anyone who takes a look at author Shuab Parvez' "About the Author" text in the right sidebar will probably join me in concluding that, at least when talking about himself, he is a man of a few words. It may be a risky posture for an novelist, but it worked for J.D. Salinger and for many others.
For it to work, of course, the proof must be in the pudding when it comes to the writer's fiction. And as you will see when you read this weekend's generous 6,000-word Free Kindle Nation Shorts excerpt from his novel The Messiah of Green Street, Mr. Parvez has every reason to be confident in his silence.
He has written a remarkable novel that resonates with the picaresque wonders of Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum, the enchanting magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, and the seemingly effortless balance of humanity and humor that animate the pages of a Zadie Smith or Salman Rushdie. The morning I began reading it I had to stop myself after just a couple of pages so I could bring my Kindle into the bedroom and begin reading aloud to Betty from the beginning.
Betty and I don't always share the same taste in fiction, but we agreed about Shuab Parvez' gifts as a novelist, and before the morning was over The Messiah of Green Street was on both our Kindles. He grabbed us both from the beginning and diverted our attention from the unlikeliest elements of his story with the dazzling details of the most commonplace.
Click here to read the free excerpt from
The Messiah of Green Street
Here's the set-up:
The Messiah of Green Street tells the story of Sahil, born to Bangladeshi immigrants Karim and Anjana in the deprived melting pot of Upton Park, London. This strange-looking prodigal of a boy - who can allegedly speak Arabic and Hebrew from birth - is greeted as a miracle and 'a child of the world', but the superstitious adulation of his community slowly ebbs and sours as the realities of life as a disenfranchised and dispossessed second generation immigrant take over.
The story of Sahil and his family, of their friends, relatives and neighbours is mordantly satirical, deeply poignant and very funny. As Sahil grows into adulthood and becomes more and more disillusioned with his lot, his reluctant attempts to connect with his roots, buried under the weight of slavery, colonialism and racial hatred, take him in unexpected directions on the way to his own particular truth.
Click here to purchase the entire book from Amazon for just $2.99
THE MESSIAH
OF GREEN STREET
by Shuab Parvez
Kindle Edition
List Price: $2.99
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THE MESSIAH OF GREEN STREET
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