BLURB
Never has been the conversation on immigration more pertinent than now, post 2016 US elections. From cancellation of refugee protection and zero tolerance to undercurrent crackdown on H visas, the resurgence of nationalism is hitting the globalized population head-on.
But what is immigration today? A question of life or death - fleeing of persecution? A compulsion? Or a mere pursuance of privilege?
And what is the US today? A land of opportunities? Or a quagmire impossible to comprehend, inherently racist and selfish?
From An-Other Land dives deep into immigration today for the Indian diaspora and its many facets with characters who seek to define themselves in an intercultural setting that is less and less sure of itself. A reality check and a guide for anyone who wants to understand the modern-day US.
Review:
Starting from the book’s cover and blurb, everything about ‘From An-Other Land’ by Tanushree Ghosh had made me want to read it for a while now. I had seriously considered renewing my Kindle Unlimited Subscription just to read this book. And that was how much I wanted to delve into this.
And in one line: the book did NOT disappoint.
It was everything I assumed it would be, and then some more. When I first delved into this, I had expected a book that discussed tales of experiences of people who make their living in another land. And the book delivered this, and also gave stories of hope and courage, of the different minute things that might happen in a land that is simultaneously strange and familiar.
It is clear that the author has built the characters and their lives with stories and experiences in real life, and the way she ends the individual sets openly and then connects them makes it a worthy read. The language is not quite easy flowing but is a pleasant treat to read, (that might be a relative perspective, but that is still a good plus in my opinion).
The book says what it says it would, and is a must read for people who have lived the dream (and can hence relate with it) and those who are dreaming the dream (and will serve to be an eye-opener).
What worked:
Excellent myth-buster, for those who are starry-eyed about NRIs and the land of opportunities. That was the purpose of the book, and it attains that directly.
Brilliantly woven canvas of stories that proves that events that look random maybe connected together on some level that we may not be immediately aware of. The significance of the introductions and the wrap up get special points.
Each character has a distinctive voice and is well-etched in the readers’ mind.
What could have been better:
All stories are tinged with melancholy, and somehow are a dose of reality that may not encourage deluded readers to continue. The book was not written for the purpose of entertainment or casual reading, and it shows. This is not a negative point, and I personally loved it. But it is not for everyone.
The beginning takes time to get used to, and the first few pages apparently introduce too many characters. But the writing will quickly pull you in. The writing as such helps this.
Grab your copy @
About the author
Tanushree Ghosh works in the technology sector in the USA and is also a social activist and a writer. She has a Doctorate in Chemistry from Cornell University and has worked at the Brookhaven National Laboratories and is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and Presidency College Calcutta.
Her blog posts, op-eds, poems, and stories are efforts to provoke thoughts, especially towards issues concerning women, social justice, and immigration - which is the topic of her first solo-author work From An-Other Land published by Readomania publishing.
As a contributor to the Huffington Post US, she has published several posts on topics that affect the under-represented and the lesser privileged, whether that's a population, a nation, or an individual. Her first article for the Huffington Post went viral and was picked up by the Yahoo news. She has since written on the Syria war and its children, open borders, the unfair coverage in the Western media of the Brazil Olympics, societal differences in outlook on issues like gun control in the US, and off-course - women. She has written on postpartum depression, acid attack and its state globally, #MeToo and a myriad of related topics and was interviewed for Reddit and the Indian Express. She is a regular contributor to several popular publications (incl. The Tribune (Sunday Diaspora segment), Thrive Global, The Logical Indian, Youth Ki Awaaz, Café Dissensus, and The Women's Web). Her literary resume also includes poems and stories featured in national and international magazines, including Words Pauses and Noises, UK; TUCK, Glimmer Train honorable mention, and inclusion in seven anthologies (through winning national and international contests), including Defiant Dreams (Oprah 2016 reading list placeholder) and The Best Asian Short Stories 2017 (published out of Singapore by Kitaab). She has served in coordinator and chapter head roles of ASHA and AID India and has affiliations with several women's organizations and non-profits. She is also the founder and director of Her Rights (www.herrights.website), a 501(3) c non-profit committed to furthering the cause of gender equality and supporting victims of gender violence.
You can stalk her @
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