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Ayad Akhtar

Author of Homeland Elegies

13 Works 1,680 Members 92 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Ayad Akhtar is a screenwriter, playwright, actor, and novelist. He was nominated for a 2006 Independent Spirit Award for best screen-play for the film The War Within, and his plays include Disgraced, produced at New York's Lincoln Center Theater in 2012. He lives in New York City.

Includes the names: Ayad Akhtur, Akhtar Ayad

Works by Ayad Akhtar

Homeland Elegies (2020) 782 copies
American Dervish (2012) 615 copies
Disgraced: A Play (2013) 191 copies
Junk: A Play (2017) 29 copies
The Invisible Hand (2015) 27 copies
The Who & The What: A Play (2014) 23 copies
The War Within (2009) 4 copies
Elegie alla patria (2021) 2 copies
Američki derviš (2016) 1 copy
Geächtet 1 copy

Tagged

2012 (9) 2020 (9) 2021 (12) adult (8) America (10) American (14) American literature (19) audiobook (13) coming of age (19) contemporary fiction (9) drama (17) ebook (8) family (19) fathers and sons (9) fiction (144) identity (8) immigrants (32) immigration (12) Islam (35) Kindle (10) Koran (12) literature (10) memoir (11) Muslim (20) Muslims (23) novel (22) Pakistan (33) Pakistani (7) Pakistani Americans (10) play (15) play drama (6) plays (15) read (18) religion (12) terrorism (7) theatre (8) to-read (154) unread (8) USA (14) Wisconsin (8)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1970-10-28
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Places of residence
New York, New York, USA
Occupations
screenwriter
playwright
actor
novelist
Agent
Chris Till
Donna Bagdasarian
Short biography
Ayad Akhtar is a screenwriter, playwright, actor, and novelist. He was nominated for a 2006 Independent Spirit Award for best screenplay for the film The War Within. Akhtar lives in New York City. [from Disgraced (2013)]

Members

Reviews

This book grabbed me right from the start and held me to the end. It was well written, believable and dealt with some timely subject matter, Highly recommended.
½
 
Flagged
BBrookes | 43 other reviews | Dec 5, 2023 |
This is a challenging book. I like to think I'm a "good" person, but I know my outlook is colored by my white privilege, and my American-centric opinions of the world. (Is there a word for this?) But I try to have empathy for people different from me: different colors, religions, sexual choices, country of origin, etc. Learning about the narrator's (who may be the author?) life, his family, his upbringing, education, prejudices against him, etc. reminds me how little I know of others who have entirely different upbringing and world view.
It is billed as a novel, but I believe most of the stories related are true. There may be some things he has fictionalized, and I think a couple of times he says he's changed the name of someone.
What is it like to grow up Pakistani, in the United States? To have your every thought and action questioned simply because of your name, the color of your skin, and assumptions others make about you? This book will make you ask these questions, but will you come up with definitive answers?
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Flagged
cherybear | 35 other reviews | Nov 20, 2023 |
I was so gung-ho about this book because I’d not only enjoyed the play the author wrote but the teaser about his father being a physician of Trump in the 1980’s sounded irresistible. But after that gang bang beginning, the book slipped into political posturing. Thankfully I had a rare case of patience and continued reading. I was rewarded an exploration of what it would be like to be a Moslem after 9/11. The book continued to fascinate after the author became a Pulitzer prize winning playwright and acquired wealth through investments. The writing about his relationships was gripping.
In the middle of the book there was a sequence dealing with the profound feeling of “otherness”when the author looks in the mirror.
In my complexion alone I saw a person I didn’t recognize, someone who, had I seen him in the school hallways or at the mall or municipal swimming pool, I would have thought did not belong here.
I knew that about myself because I knew that was how I saw others."

From there, the novel/memoir builds to a overpowering ending.
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Flagged
GordonPrescottWiener | 35 other reviews | Aug 24, 2023 |
I couldn’t tell where fact moved into fiction and I didn’t care. The stories/essays Ayad Akhtar built Homeland Elegies around are compelling, heartrending, compassionate, and thought-provoking. A powerful book of ideas, some simple, some complex, all timely. Highly Recommended.
 
Flagged
MugsyNoir | 35 other reviews | Jul 19, 2023 |

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Eric Fuentecilla Cover designer

Statistics

Works
13
Members
1,680
Popularity
#15,304
Rating
4.0
Reviews
92
ISBNs
89
Languages
13
Favorited
1
Touchstones
32

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