Deep Singh wants out out of his family, out of his city, and more than anything, out of his life. His parents argue over everything and his brother, who hasn’t said a single word in over a year, suddenly turns to him one day and tells him to die.
So when Lily, a beautiful, older, and married, woman, shows him more than a flicker of attention, he falls heedlessly in love. It doesn’t help that Lily is an alcoholic, hates her husband, and doesn’t think much of herself, or her immigrant Chinese mom either. As Deep’s growing obsession with Lily begins to spin out of control, the rest of his life seems to mirror his desperation culminating in his brother’s disappearance and an unfolding tragedy.
Ranbir Singh Sidhu’s debut takes us into the heart of another America, and into the lives of the other Indiansthe ones who don’t get talked about and whose stories don’t get written.” With a sharp, funny and unsentimental eye, Sidhu chronicles the devastating consequences of racism in eighties’ America and offers a portrait of a wildly dysfunctional family trying to gain a foothold in their adopted country.
Sidhu writes with keen wit and crafts every character with psychological texture, exploring the effects of racism as well as the desire to control a world spinning off its axis. Kirkus Reviews
One ofLibrary Journal's picks for Top Spring Indie Fiction:
Swift, dense, and touching. Barbara Hoffert,Library Journal
I don't know which virtue ofDeep Singh Blueto recommend: the love-hate letter to northern California; the rich portraiture of Deep Singh, his family, and his tempestuous girlfriend; the oh-no-did-he-just-do-that storytelling; or indeed the blue that informs the restless, cutting, tender intelligence of the book. Enjoy them all, weeping and laughing and gasping. Matthew Sharpel3²