Ode to Lata - Author's Edition

by Ghalib Shiraz

Overview

Author's Edition. Banker by day, and denizen of Los Angeles' clubs by night, the protagonist of Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla's "compelling and extraordinary debut novel" (gaywired.com) is navigating between more than just a day job and an active social life. Ali has left behind a tempestuous childhood in Kenya, the overprotective mother who raised him on a steady diet of Hindi cinema, an emotionally abusive bisexual lover, and confused memories of his father's violent death. Now his mother's messages ramble on his answering machine when he wants no one but his one obsession, Richard to call. Passionate and unflinchingly honest in its narrative, Ode to Lata scavenges the depths of one man's misguided search for love in a world of emotionally-void encounters and tangled memories. All the while, Ali's story is intertwined with the unraveling of his parents' own doomed relationship and the film music of Bollywood's eminent singer Lata Mangeshkar (Diva of Indian film music and the namesake of the book's title). And it is this hopelessly romantic music that scores their tormented lives and goads them to pursue love through chaos and ecstasy. "An achievement" (LA Times), Ode to Lata "will touch anyone who has felt out of place, unattractive, and unloved" (The Library Journal). The Author's Edition contains a bonus short story.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012402912
Publisher:	Final Word Books
Publication date:	03/29/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	689 KB

About the Author

Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla is an LA-based writer, director, producer whose work has been showcased at the Lincoln Center in New York (2009), MIT (2004), and the Yale Master's Tea (2011). A passionate activist, Dhalla co-founded the South Asian program for the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) and is also one of the founding members of SATRANG, a support group for LGBT and "questioning" South Asians in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

"There are only two things in life worth living for. Passion and Truth", begins Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla's first novel. Ode to Lata serves up deeply gratifying portions of both. It is a reinvigorated tale of one gay man's search for love. Dhalla's undeniable narrative power carries the reader through an emotional terrain where West Hollywood nightclubs and ancient Kenyan mosques stand side-by-side. His insight into questions of sexuality and race helps craft a universal tale of longing, loss and the

Christopher Rice

"'Ode to Lata' is quite an achievement. Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla traces the history of a life over three continents, through three generations of a family, exploring multiple facets of human sexuality in the process...This story resonates for any and all of us. 'Ode to Lata' engages cultural differences and the loathing dismissal engendered by racism and intolerance...This is a book of healing, of a soul coming to terms with itself and the body mind it inhabits."

DJ Carlile

"Halfway through this highly readable first novel, Ali, an Indian for whom West Hollywood assimilation means nightly bar crawls with his pack of cronies, is confronted with his visiting mother's distaste for his life and sexual orientation. The gay and Indian cultures clash, and author Dhalla seizes the opportunity to explore this conflicting duality...the struggle becomes poignant, and Ali has some heft...by that point Dhalla has found his voice and given one to an entire community"

Eddie Shapiro

"Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla's Ode to Lata is a multicultural gem that transcends all borders of race, ethnicity, and sexuality. The sharply written story of Ali unravels like a beautiful tapestry, treating the reader to exotic locales and universal longings."

Mark Jude Poirier

"Talk about multiculturalism, this book has it. Last year's Nobel Prize for literature was won by V.S. Naipaul...In Ghalib Dhalla we just may have the gay V. S. Naipaul."

Robert Hodges