HOMELAND ELEGIES

A Novel
by Ayad Akhtar

In this powerful novel, Ayad Akhtar tells the story of what it was like growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in America’s heartland the Muslim son of Pakistani immigrant physician parents. His father, a successful cardiologist, embraced the American dream, thrilled with his seemingly unlimited opportunity and all that his money could buy.  Even while feeling a part of the U.S., however, father and son experienced discrimination because they were Black.  Those experiences were magnified after the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11, when being Muslim became another reason for discrimination.

As an adult, Ayad rebelled against his father’s (and America’s) emphasis on money and acquisitiveness as all-important. Critical of his father’s life style, he pursued his own, different path and became a writer – a career he could maintain with his father’s financial support.  Ayad found success when he wrote a Pulitzer prize-winning play that was produced in New York.  Shortly thereafter, his mother died and left him a significant inheritance. He made some prudent investments and found himself quite wealthy.  Meanwhile, his father’s life was spiralling out of control.   He was drinking, gambling and hiring prostitutes. Eventually, he was sued for malpractice, became ill and lost all of his money.

Akhtar writes a powerful climactic scene to this father/son story where they meet at a restaurant over an expensive dinner. Akhtar’s father says he wants to give up and return to Pakistan.  Though he strongly disagrees with his father’s decision, Ayad ends up supporting his father financially.  The tables have turned.

I’ve been a son and I am a father and I found the interplay between this father and this son to be very powerful.  Reading Homeland Elegies at a time in U.S. history when isolationism and anti-immigrant sentiments abound and when entire populations of the U.S. think making it great means making it white, made the story especially poignant. Akhtar’s elegant writing brought me to tears.  This book is formidable.  Do not miss it. 

Duke Skinner is a retired insurance executive living in Naples, Florida.  He attended the Boston Latin School and Bowdoin College as a young man.  He has been married for 68 years to Jeanne, is father to three (including one son), grandfather to seven and great-grandfather to four.  Loved by all, L&L feels incredibly honored that Papa Duke contributed this review.