Aithal

Although Stroke of Luck meanders sometimes I truly enjoyed Aithal's courageous memoir. Aithal is coming up on the 23rd anniversary of his stroke so it is fitting for him to look back at his long road to recovery. I appreciated his honesty, vulnerability, and determination. Every chapter of Aithal's story was eye opening for me. Before reading Stroke of Luck I did not think about every element of life that has to be rebuilt beyond speech and other motor skills after a traumatic brain injury. show more Appropriate emotional reactions or driving a car, for example. As an aside, I practically cheered when Aithal got his license back. Stroke of Luck is proof positive that with the right supports you can regain a full life after a traumatic brain injury.
I wish my friend could have read this book. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and his biggest downfall was something Aithal cautioned against doing. He said do not compare your current abilities to what you could do before the stroke. As a drummer with decreased ability my friend sunk into a depression he could not fight. show less

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, I'm a recent Indian immigrant myself and a lot of the stories here are relatable either by first-hand experience or stories heard from others in the community. It feels wonderful to be seen and to read an immigrant story that I can see myself in.

On the other hand, I also had reflected back to me a host of assumptions many Indians (including myself) make before we arrive in the US -- ideas about gendered roles in cooking, show more commentary on a co-worker's body, etc. I suspect that the generation difference between the author's and mine also plays into some of this thinking. Regardless, these were unpleasant detours along the mostly enjoyable narrative of the book.

While many FOBs (common diaspora lingo for Fresh off the Boat, aka brand-new immigrants) can probably see their triumphs and joys reflected back to them, I suspect those of us who came here as students in the more recent decades have had significantly different experiences. The universal themes of Indian grocery stores, the importance of community that can relate to our unique experiences, and the struggles of navigating sub-par healthcare and transit systems are probably abiding though.

I suspect this would be a quick, fun read for Indian immigrants (or really, any immigrants) but I also sense an opportunity for people who have grown up in the US and are curious to learn about the nitty-gritty of the Indian immigrant experience. Your friends, coworkers or partners are probably immigrants and the task of uprooting yourself to start all over in a new-to-you society is not an easy one. show less

NOTE: I received a free eBook copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers (December 2022).

"Confessions of an Indian Immigrant" is a memoir of Aithal's (pen name?) experiences as a self-proclaimed "FOB" ("Fresh Off the Boat") from India in the United States during the early days of the tech boom. The book takes the reader through the author's IT training in India, his arrival in New York City, and a later career stint in Florida before his eventual settling in Los Angeles with his show more family. Though nothing in Aithal's narrative is particularly shocking, his attention to social detail and recounting of the ways in which his experiences thwarted his expectations is intriguing. His prose is unpretentious, yet takes gentle twists and turns as if the reader is talking to an older uncle or narrative. The "Confession" passages, set off from the main passages with plain-text font mimicking HTML code, will make readers grin with amusement. In all, this is a worthwhile read of one immigrant's unique personal story. show less

If you read science fiction to escape reality for a few hours, then this book is not for you. The book is supposed to be about three lost astronauts who want to return to their timeline on earth. While this is the underlying premise behind the storyline, the book does not deliver. Most of the book’s rhetoric is about global geological decline and slavery in the future; the cause of which is tied to our current administration’s environmental policy and the divisiveness it creates in our show more population. I see this book as being a political blog pretending to be a sequel to a science fiction book.

There was a lot of political ranting in the “Beyond the Milky Way”, the first book in this series, but I attributed that to this being a fairly new author who happened to be wrapped up in a present-day political moment as he wrote the book. I rated that book highly as I saw potential in the author, Aithal. Many other reviewers criticized him for the political rants. After that, I would have expected him to take the criticisms to heart. He did not. Instead, Aithal chose to double down on the political rants in the second book.

I read the whole book hoping that he would redeem himself. He never did.

Although I agree with several of Aithal’s political positions, a book intended for sci-fi enthusiast is not the appropriate place to air these views. The title and description of this book are misleading. My expectation was that it would be escapist reading, not doom and gloom like today's daily news feed. show less