The Impressionist - Paperback

by Hari Kunzru (Author)

From the author of White Tears and Blue Ruin, this bestselling, award-winning novel of a young man's journey explores what it means to be Indian or English, black or white, and every degree that lies between.

Pran Nath Razdan, the boy who will become the Impressionist, was passed off by his Indian mother as the child of her husband, a wealthy man of a high caste. Pran lived a life of luxury just downriver from the Taj Mahal, but at fifteen, the news of Pran's true parentage is revealed to his father and he is tossed out into the street--a pariah and an outcast. Thus begins an extraordinary, near mythical journey of a young man who must reinvent himself to survive--not once, but many times.

From Victorian India to Edwardian London, from an expatriate community of black Americans in Paris to a hopeless expedition to study a lost tribe of Africa, Hari Kunzru's unforgettable debut novel dazzles with its artistry and wit while it challenges with its insights into the self, nationality, race, and beyond.

Author Biography

Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears, Blue Ruin, and the award-winning, bestselling novel The Impressionist, was named as one of Granta's "20 Best Fiction Writers Under 40." The Impressionist was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist; was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and a British Book Award; and was one of Publishers Weekly's Best Novels of 2002. Kunzru has written for a variety of English and international publications, including The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, The London Review of Books, and Wired.