American Dervish

ENG

Akhtar, Ayad Ayad Akhtar is an American-born, first-generation Pakistani-American from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An alumnus of the Graduate Film Program at Colombia University, he is the author of numerous plays and screenplays. He was star and co-writer of The War Within, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and was released internationally. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and an International Press Academy Satellite Award for Best Picture. His stage play, Disgraced, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013. American Dervish is his first novel.

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A terrific first novel, warm and wise. -- Kate Saunders THE TIMES 20120121 this book is prescient and timely in both recognising and dramatically exploring this increasingly unbreachable social divide. ENTERTAINMENT FOCUS 20120118 his dialogue is free-flowing and natural, and he has a good eye for small visual details within a scene that colour the mood of the action around them. -- Alan Morrison THE HERALD 20120121 Both extremists and the ambivalent are accorded even-handed coverage and the characterisation is strong -- Catherine Taylor THE GUARDIAN 20120128 American Dervish is an extraordinary novel and one you certainly won't regret reading -- Roddy Ashworth SUNDAY EXPRESS 20120129 Akhtar proves the capacity of the great American stories to be endlessly renewed by each generation of writers -- Claire Allfree METRO 20120125 There are themes here reminiscent of The Go-Between by L.P.Hartley and Ian McEwan's more recent Atonement, of a life scarred by chame at a childish act that has catastrophic consequences in adult life. TLS 20120224 American Dervish is about the collision of cultures, identity and religion in 1980s America. BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH 20130114 a pleasing read THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST 20130120 Ayad Akhtar's first novel is deftly plotted, with a frame narrative that shows how Hayat's sense of shame pursues him into adulthood. There are shades of Ian McEwan's Atonement, but Akhtar's writing has a crisp, imagistic quality all its own. THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 20130224

A terrific first novel, warm and wise. Kate Saunders THE TIMES 20120121