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Immigrant, Montana: A novel
The author of the widely praised Lunch with a Bigot now gives us a remarkable novel--reminiscent of Teju Cole, W. G. Sebald, John Berger--about a young new immigrant to the United States in search of love: across dividing lines between cultures, between sexes, and between the particular desires of one man and the women he comes to love.
The young man is Kailash, from India. His new American friends call him Kalashnikov, AK-47, AK. He takes it all in his stride: he wants to fit in--and more than that, to shine. In the narrative of his years at a university in New York, AK describes the joys and disappointments of his immigrant experience; the unfamiliar political and social textures of campus life; the indelible influence of a charismatic professor--also an immigrant, his personal history as dramatic as AK's is decidedly not; the very different natures of the women he loved, and of himself in and out of love with each of them. Telling his own story, AK is both meditative and the embodiment of the enthusiasm of youth in all its idealism and chaotic desires. His wry, vivid perception of the world he's making his own, and the brilliant melding of story and reportage, anecdote and annotation, picture and text, give us a singularly engaging, insightful, and moving novel--one that explores the varieties and vagaries of cultural misunderstanding, but is, as well, an impassioned investigation of love.
The young man is Kailash, from India. His new American friends call him Kalashnikov, AK-47, AK. He takes it all in his stride: he wants to fit in--and more than that, to shine. In the narrative of his years at a university in New York, AK describes the joys and disappointments of his immigrant experience; the unfamiliar political and social textures of campus life; the indelible influence of a charismatic professor--also an immigrant, his personal history as dramatic as AK's is decidedly not; the very different natures of the women he loved, and of himself in and out of love with each of them. Telling his own story, AK is both meditative and the embodiment of the enthusiasm of youth in all its idealism and chaotic desires. His wry, vivid perception of the world he's making his own, and the brilliant melding of story and reportage, anecdote and annotation, picture and text, give us a singularly engaging, insightful, and moving novel--one that explores the varieties and vagaries of cultural misunderstanding, but is, as well, an impassioned investigation of love.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2017
275 people are currently reading
4804 people want to read
About the author
Amitava Kumar
39 books167 followersAmitava Kumar is a novelist, poet, journalist, and Professor of English at Vassar College. He was born in Bihar, India; he grew up in the town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty, and delicious mangoes.
He is the author of Nobody Does the Right Thing; A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb; Husband of a Fanatic: A Personal Journey through India, Pakistan, Love, and Hate, a New York Times “Editors’ Choice” selection; Bombay—London—New York, a New Statesman (UK) “Book of the Year” selection; and Passport Photos. He is the editor of several books, including Away: The Indian Writer as an Expatriate, The Humour and the Pity: Essays on V. S. Naipaul, and World Bank Literature. He is also an editor of the online journal Politics and Culture and the screenwriter and narrator of the prize-winning documentary film Pure Chutney.
Kumar’s writing has appeared in The Nation, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, The American Prospect, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hindu, and other publications in North America and India.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
December 19, 2018
I have the greatest respect for the way Kumar has structured this novel, because instead of going for maximun accessibility, he found a poetic form that reflects how his protagonist is trying to mentally integrate the disparate experiences of his past and present as a fresh immigrant to the United States. While the classic bildungsroman suggests that personal growth happens in steps, one building upon the next, Kumar knows that what might have been true for rich kids of the bourgeoisie in 18th century Germany (hello, "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship") certainly isn't for a young student from India whose father was born in a hut to an illiterate young woman. This Kailash, our protagonist, is now trying to make it as a grad student in the States, at a university that (although never named) is quite obviously Columbia. His development is interspersed with various obstacles and highly influenced by the effort to bring (at least) two cultures into a balance.
Kumar illustrates this by creating a text that contains large passages about Kailash's past in India, his family, Indian politics & history, US politics & history, foreign relations between India and the US, books and movies that influence the protagonist's personal growth, people he meets, stories he hears, and, importantly, his relationships with women. This mosaic shows the different forces that are occupying Kailash's mind while he is trying to make sense of himself as a foreigner, and I particularly liked how Kumar Shows that the experience of living abroad makes you re-think and re-evaluate what you thought you knew about your home country. As it is always the case with novels that dare to shatter contents to make a point, it takes a reader willing to work a little to appreciate this text.
But let's go back to the women in Kailash's life for a second: I found it interesting that quite a few other reviews state that every chapter is about a woman Kailash dates (incorrect) and that there is oh so much sex in this book (while this is a question of personal standards, I find it a little hard to maintain in this case). What is true though is that the development of the protagonist's sexual identity is an important part of the story, and that he isn't always nice to women - and I commend Kumar's approach to write about this as well as academic research projects and world politics in a coming-of-age novel, because life is all about simultaneous challanges, especially when you're in your early twenties.
And there is another interesting aspect I'd like to mention: It intentionally remains unclear how much of this account is the memoir of Amitava Kumar, and how much of it is a novel about Kailash. The connection between fact and fiction, mediated by memory, is sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and where the truth lies is yet another question altogether.
At one point, Kailash listens to the radio and hears the story of a wolf who got shot in "Immigrant, Montana" - there is no town called "Immigrant" in Montana, but there is one called "Emigrant". And that's the question at the heart of the novel: It's not even about arriving at a place that was once foreign, it's about what encompases the field between "here" and "there".
Kumar illustrates this by creating a text that contains large passages about Kailash's past in India, his family, Indian politics & history, US politics & history, foreign relations between India and the US, books and movies that influence the protagonist's personal growth, people he meets, stories he hears, and, importantly, his relationships with women. This mosaic shows the different forces that are occupying Kailash's mind while he is trying to make sense of himself as a foreigner, and I particularly liked how Kumar Shows that the experience of living abroad makes you re-think and re-evaluate what you thought you knew about your home country. As it is always the case with novels that dare to shatter contents to make a point, it takes a reader willing to work a little to appreciate this text.
But let's go back to the women in Kailash's life for a second: I found it interesting that quite a few other reviews state that every chapter is about a woman Kailash dates (incorrect) and that there is oh so much sex in this book (while this is a question of personal standards, I find it a little hard to maintain in this case). What is true though is that the development of the protagonist's sexual identity is an important part of the story, and that he isn't always nice to women - and I commend Kumar's approach to write about this as well as academic research projects and world politics in a coming-of-age novel, because life is all about simultaneous challanges, especially when you're in your early twenties.
And there is another interesting aspect I'd like to mention: It intentionally remains unclear how much of this account is the memoir of Amitava Kumar, and how much of it is a novel about Kailash. The connection between fact and fiction, mediated by memory, is sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and where the truth lies is yet another question altogether.
At one point, Kailash listens to the radio and hears the story of a wolf who got shot in "Immigrant, Montana" - there is no town called "Immigrant" in Montana, but there is one called "Emigrant". And that's the question at the heart of the novel: It's not even about arriving at a place that was once foreign, it's about what encompases the field between "here" and "there".
July 15, 2019
Immigrant, Montana is both novel and memoir. The main character, AK, is a recent immigrant from India arriving in the United States to study at Columbia.
AK shares about his family in India, as well as his experiences in the US trying to find himself, a way for himself, trying to fit in.
The structure here is unusual, but distinctive and interesting. There are pictures and footnotes that add to the narrative. The most fascinating aspects of the story were the times the main character shared about his life in India.
Overall, Immigrant, Montana is a slim novel relaying an immigrant experience in a nuanced way. This book is powerful and forthright. I look forward to more novels from Kumar.
I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
AK shares about his family in India, as well as his experiences in the US trying to find himself, a way for himself, trying to fit in.
The structure here is unusual, but distinctive and interesting. There are pictures and footnotes that add to the narrative. The most fascinating aspects of the story were the times the main character shared about his life in India.
Overall, Immigrant, Montana is a slim novel relaying an immigrant experience in a nuanced way. This book is powerful and forthright. I look forward to more novels from Kumar.
I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
August 12, 2020
There is a long, literary tradition of the bildungsroman. It is often a story of the author's fictional alter ego, a novel of ideas and politics, a story about love and lovers. There is also a more recent (at least as far as mainstream US literary fiction is concerned) literary tradition of the immigrant's story, the attempt to discover the self while straddling two cultures. IMMIGRANT, MONTANA takes both of these traditions and melds them into one ambitious, exciting, highly readable novel.
The book begins when Kailash gets to the US, a grad student in New York City recently from India, he is still forming his own identity. That journey to self-discovery becomes complicated by his journey to discover an entirely new country, and complicated even more by that country's refusal to acknowledge him as a normal person. The greatest joys of this book are when Kumar follows a question down line after line, moving in one direction and then another, piling complexity upon complexity. The voice and the ideas vibrate at a frequency that you can feel in your bones.
The style is both erratic and highly controlled, with footnotes and pictures and the ongoing question of how much is Kailash and how much is Amitava. Often reported like nonfiction, with side paths exploring Kailash's studies into both real and fictional political activists, the twining of fiction and nonfiction is one of the more satisfying I've seen in this type of novel. (More than once I found myself googling someone to see if they were real or a fictional version of a real person.) Kailash's study of global politics and the way America is almost always placed in a larger context that also considers countries like China and India opens up the book and opens up your view of the world and of Kailash's place in it.
The only real hesitation I have on this novel is part and parcel with a bildungsroman about a straight man in his twenties: its structure and its beating heart are all about the women he is involved with. It probably wouldn't be honest to write a book about this kind of protagonist without having the kind of lustful obsessions he has. And to be fair, the older Kailash writing about the younger Kailash can see with clear eyes how he mistreats his partners, how he objectifies them, and how it dooms his relationships. (Though it also seems quite possible that the older Kailash is still stuck in the very same pattern.) If you are a woman who has ever read a book, you will occasionally find yourself wearied and put off because you exist in the world and it can be exhausting to be constantly reminded of the way men look at you. But it is one of the less frustrating examples I have come across, and I was always willing to put up with it because the joys of the novel outweighed the annoyances. Just know that if you are in a place where you just cannot with male writers, you may want to give yourself some time before you read this book.
The book begins when Kailash gets to the US, a grad student in New York City recently from India, he is still forming his own identity. That journey to self-discovery becomes complicated by his journey to discover an entirely new country, and complicated even more by that country's refusal to acknowledge him as a normal person. The greatest joys of this book are when Kumar follows a question down line after line, moving in one direction and then another, piling complexity upon complexity. The voice and the ideas vibrate at a frequency that you can feel in your bones.
The style is both erratic and highly controlled, with footnotes and pictures and the ongoing question of how much is Kailash and how much is Amitava. Often reported like nonfiction, with side paths exploring Kailash's studies into both real and fictional political activists, the twining of fiction and nonfiction is one of the more satisfying I've seen in this type of novel. (More than once I found myself googling someone to see if they were real or a fictional version of a real person.) Kailash's study of global politics and the way America is almost always placed in a larger context that also considers countries like China and India opens up the book and opens up your view of the world and of Kailash's place in it.
The only real hesitation I have on this novel is part and parcel with a bildungsroman about a straight man in his twenties: its structure and its beating heart are all about the women he is involved with. It probably wouldn't be honest to write a book about this kind of protagonist without having the kind of lustful obsessions he has. And to be fair, the older Kailash writing about the younger Kailash can see with clear eyes how he mistreats his partners, how he objectifies them, and how it dooms his relationships. (Though it also seems quite possible that the older Kailash is still stuck in the very same pattern.) If you are a woman who has ever read a book, you will occasionally find yourself wearied and put off because you exist in the world and it can be exhausting to be constantly reminded of the way men look at you. But it is one of the less frustrating examples I have come across, and I was always willing to put up with it because the joys of the novel outweighed the annoyances. Just know that if you are in a place where you just cannot with male writers, you may want to give yourself some time before you read this book.
July 12, 2018
Immigrant, Montana. Those were the words I suddenly heard on the radio. The name of a place. NPR's Liane Hansen said that federal officers had killed a wolf at a ranch near Immigrant, Montana. I was instantly back in Yellowstone with Nina, listening to tapes as we drove through the forest. Her mock fear of bears when she took off her clothes. And the wolves. That morning in the motel, they were only half an hour north of us!
Immigrant, Montana is a strange collage of a book – part memoir, part novel; full of pictures, newspaper clippings, journal musings, footnotes, and a running interior dialogue between a recent immigrant and the imagined Immigration Court judge who might ask him to justify his presence in America (Airports, Your Honor, are the places where immigrants most feel at home. And also most uneasy.) – and while it all just might add up to a perfect encapsulation of author (and Professor of English at Vassar College) Amitava Kumar's own immigration story, it did little for me: I was reached neither emotionally or intellectually by this narrative; the mind often drifted. Not my cuppa, but it might well win awards. (Note: I read an ARC and quotes might not be in their final forms.)
In Daughter of Earth, Smedley transcribed from her life...Her book is neither a memoir nor simply a novel. And when I read it, I thought Smedley offered us a model for writing.
As the book opens in 1990, Kailash is recently arrived from his birth country of India as a grad student at a NYC university. He notes that his friends have given him the nickname “Kalashnikov”, which some then shorten into AK-47, or AK (the author's own initials), or even simply 47; through the course of the book no one calls him anything but Kailash, but this bit (and that footnote about Agnes Smedley) makes clear that Kailash is Kumar; this narrative a transcription from life. Kailash is a virgin (and if self-abuse were to be omitted from the reckoning, pure of body and heart), and just as he likes to inflame the imaginations of the schoolchildren back home who might read his telegrams for his illiterate grandmother with details of America's bounteousness (mentioning cooking gas that flows through the pipes like water or the fact that even garbagemen have their own trucks), Kailash regards the young women around him as further proof of the delights that are available for the plucking. This book has been released in India as The Lovers, so the three women who form the spine of Kailash's time in grad school seem more than incidental to his story: Jennifer is Kailash's first lover, and while older, she appears distant and disappointed in what he is unable to give emotionally; Nina is an affectionate and adventurous lover, and although she is a constant teller of small untruths, it is Kailash's own infidelities that doom the relationship; and Cai Yan is Kailash's equal in every way, and where her studies will take her India, Kailash is encouraged to pursue his own thesis with a trip to Cai Yan's native China. If this series of relationships is meant to mirror an immigrant's shifting allegiance to America, it is perhaps significant that when Kailash finally becomes a US citizen decades later, he remains unmarried.
As far as I was concerned, immigration was the original sin. Someone owed me something. This half-expressed thought found a home in my heart. It provided me an exaggerated sense of identity, and granted me permission to do anything I wanted. I'm not trying to justify anything; I only intend to explain.
Immigrant, Montana is about much more than Kailash's romances, though: In his studies, Kailash's mentor and thesis advisor is Ehsaan Ali, a Pakistani political scholar (modeled after Eqbal Ahmad); a lifelong activist whose tales involve plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger in order to end the Vietnam War, accidentally inciting the Weathermen to blow up the statue of a policeman at Chicago's Haymarket Square, and eventually, writing articles and making videos that warned, pre-9/11, that American intervention in Afghanistan would eventually come home to roost. Kailash and Ehsaan have many politico-philosophical discussions, particularly about Marxists and other radicals, and in his role as mentor, Ehsaan directs his student to what he should be reading, including Smedley and W. G. Sebald.
I had left home, and the immensity of that departure sought recognition in my new life. I think that was the main thing. What I was learning in America was new and illuminating but it became valuable only when it was linked to my past.
This is not a typical immigrant story: Kailash never wraps himself in the flag and even his studies – funded by the Ford Foundation – don't really concern American interests. That's probably a pretty common phenomena – looking for opportunities in the US doesn't necessarily equal embracing it as home; even if one stays for decades – and it seems of particular note that while the title town of “Immigrant, Montana” doesn't actually exist, there is an Emigrant, Montana. As I started with, this melding of fact and fiction, this collage of forms and media, might very well perfectly capture Kumar's experience as an emigrant from India, but it read to me as a disjointed series of anecdotes; a scrapbook of ideas that never truly engaged me. Again, it might win awards.
August 5, 2017
This is not something we just call a book. The story reads more like a painting of an artist drawn by the words in place of colors. It has colors. Colors of love, disappointment, guilt, regret, desire, and dreams. A story in picture and text, anecdote and essays. This is an extraordinary piece of art of literature.
This is a story of Kailash. His friends teasingly call him Kalashnikov or Ak-47 or sometimes just Ak. He is an immigrant who came to New York from India for a better future and eager to shine. He met some wonderful women Jennifer, Nina, Cai-Yan during the time of his college years and his mentor Professor Ehsaan Ali.
This is a story of a youth, Kailash and his campus life. This is a story of self-discovery. This is a story of love and lovers. This is a story for you to read and fall in love with it. This book is for the Lovers of literature. The author played exceptionally with words. The story is truly Mesmerizing.
This is a story of Kailash. His friends teasingly call him Kalashnikov or Ak-47 or sometimes just Ak. He is an immigrant who came to New York from India for a better future and eager to shine. He met some wonderful women Jennifer, Nina, Cai-Yan during the time of his college years and his mentor Professor Ehsaan Ali.
This is a story of a youth, Kailash and his campus life. This is a story of self-discovery. This is a story of love and lovers. This is a story for you to read and fall in love with it. This book is for the Lovers of literature. The author played exceptionally with words. The story is truly Mesmerizing.
September 6, 2018
A caddish Indian man humble-brags about his tragic (read: heroic) affairs with white woman upon arrival to the U.S. Reminded me of Junot Diaz's NYer pre-emptive apologia in which he catalogues his trail of broken hearts, purportedly out of a sense of shame and regret, yet with more than a trace of pride and sense of conquest.
Added a star for the references to cultural phenomenon and old Hindi movies, which piqued my interest, interesting context and critique if a bit parachuted into the novel's plot.
Added a star for the references to cultural phenomenon and old Hindi movies, which piqued my interest, interesting context and critique if a bit parachuted into the novel's plot.
October 9, 2018
2 and that's being generous..
No idea what I just read.
Is it memoir? Novel written as memoir?
Novel but really a memoir with just the names changed and a few stories embellished?
What's with the italics and weird asides to some judge?
Did the author just want to write about sex?
Hard to criticize when I'm not published, but this book stunk.
Hard pass.
No idea what I just read.
Is it memoir? Novel written as memoir?
Novel but really a memoir with just the names changed and a few stories embellished?
What's with the italics and weird asides to some judge?
Did the author just want to write about sex?
Hard to criticize when I'm not published, but this book stunk.
Hard pass.
January 31, 2019
A decent book that I would not read again as the male gaze was hard to relate to and, at times, made me pretty uncomfortable.
March 14, 2019
I was really taken by the themes brought out in the first part of this book. A horny immigrant narrator, whose primary characteristic is that he is horny -- "this crucial part of humanity that is denied to the immigrant" -- as opposed to industrious/productive/any of that. A university postcolonial studies department setting, but a thematic skepticism of the theoretical/explicitly political, to instead focus on love. Where love, in being personal rather than explicitly political, is a political act because it is practiced by those who aren't allowed to be everyday humans. "The plot of history advances through the acts of lovers" -- I thought the book would advance this boldly romantic thesis, and was excited.
But as I read on, the book devolved in a few ways. First, from weaving together love and radical politics/postcolonial studies as I had hoped it to. The parts of the book that do this best are the parts that describe the protagonist Kailash's studies of historical figures/lovers -- particularly Laura and Francis and their prison correspondence -- in part because these parts are strong, but also because by the end, Kailash's own story feels irrelevant and uncompelling. This is true on the basic level of page space that the author dedicates to nonfiction vs. Kailash: by the end, much more to the former than the latter. And it's telling that in the end, Kailash himself kind of states that he doesn't feel an emotional connection to his academic work. Likewise, I didn't feel that Kailash's story resonated much with the academic themes.
I also started resenting Kailash (and by extension, Kumar). In my view, two big failures of Kailash/Kumar are:
Failure to address sexual violence: Thinking about the relationship between love/sex and politics, you have to address sexual violence. The book knows this and brings the topic up but fails to meaningfully deal with it. There are numerous -- numerous!!! -- scenes where a female character (Nina, Maya, Cai Yan, also that recollection of being with his sister while she was harassed) brings up an experience of assault/harassment and Kailash feels self-conscious about how as a man, he doesn't have any personal experience/insight to meaningfully respond and goes, oh… and that's IT. The story moves forward. I get that Kumar is writing like Teju Cole, where we kind of just pass through moments of the narrator's life and storylines aren't necessarily resolved, but Open City's treatment of sexual violence was also criticized, and I actually think this book does it worse. In that Open City at least held the character somewhat accountable, but no one -- no other character, or the author -- seems really critical of Kailash's awkwardness around the subject in a way that feels meaningful. The subject is brought up, Kailash's male privilege is indicated, and then the subject is swept away. But just because your character doesn't know how to talk about sexual violence doesn't mean that your story shouldn't either.
Especially when there is a huge missed opportunity to examine how Kailash as an individual man actively hurts women! Not to conflate sexual violence with infidelity but as a parallel, the book completely fails to address Kailash's serial infidelity. If this was an intentional lapse, and Kailash is supposed to that unreliable/un-self-aware of a narrator, I don't think Kumar did enough to establish this foundation. I felt like I was really supposed to be convinced of and sympathetic to his deep romanticism. And Kailash was also aware of his other romantic flaws, like his jealousy/neediness when it came to Nina. But nearly nothing on infidelity.
Okay I'm saving my biggest gripe for last. CAI YAN. Can Asian men stop writing stories about Asian men falling in love with multidimensional (or at least quirky lol) white women and occasionally also Asian women except those Asian women's defining characteristics are how they are cold/stoic/quiet, basically the robotic opposites to the exciting white women, and also figures for the men to reject/hurt as some metaphor for how instead of the "perfect" but safe choice ("it's not you, it's me"), we should take risks! Go for the romantic! @The Big Sick, @Master of None. This intelligent beautiful Chinese empress deserves more than Kailash, and Kumar's flailing prose in her titular chapter. Her breasts were sucked like "mangoes." Gross gross gross.
In sum, interesting premise/structure didn't deliver. Plus really personally annoying stereotype.
But as I read on, the book devolved in a few ways. First, from weaving together love and radical politics/postcolonial studies as I had hoped it to. The parts of the book that do this best are the parts that describe the protagonist Kailash's studies of historical figures/lovers -- particularly Laura and Francis and their prison correspondence -- in part because these parts are strong, but also because by the end, Kailash's own story feels irrelevant and uncompelling. This is true on the basic level of page space that the author dedicates to nonfiction vs. Kailash: by the end, much more to the former than the latter. And it's telling that in the end, Kailash himself kind of states that he doesn't feel an emotional connection to his academic work. Likewise, I didn't feel that Kailash's story resonated much with the academic themes.
I also started resenting Kailash (and by extension, Kumar). In my view, two big failures of Kailash/Kumar are:
Failure to address sexual violence: Thinking about the relationship between love/sex and politics, you have to address sexual violence. The book knows this and brings the topic up but fails to meaningfully deal with it. There are numerous -- numerous!!! -- scenes where a female character (Nina, Maya, Cai Yan, also that recollection of being with his sister while she was harassed) brings up an experience of assault/harassment and Kailash feels self-conscious about how as a man, he doesn't have any personal experience/insight to meaningfully respond and goes, oh… and that's IT. The story moves forward. I get that Kumar is writing like Teju Cole, where we kind of just pass through moments of the narrator's life and storylines aren't necessarily resolved, but Open City's treatment of sexual violence was also criticized, and I actually think this book does it worse. In that Open City at least held the character somewhat accountable, but no one -- no other character, or the author -- seems really critical of Kailash's awkwardness around the subject in a way that feels meaningful. The subject is brought up, Kailash's male privilege is indicated, and then the subject is swept away. But just because your character doesn't know how to talk about sexual violence doesn't mean that your story shouldn't either.
Especially when there is a huge missed opportunity to examine how Kailash as an individual man actively hurts women! Not to conflate sexual violence with infidelity but as a parallel, the book completely fails to address Kailash's serial infidelity. If this was an intentional lapse, and Kailash is supposed to that unreliable/un-self-aware of a narrator, I don't think Kumar did enough to establish this foundation. I felt like I was really supposed to be convinced of and sympathetic to his deep romanticism. And Kailash was also aware of his other romantic flaws, like his jealousy/neediness when it came to Nina. But nearly nothing on infidelity.
Okay I'm saving my biggest gripe for last. CAI YAN. Can Asian men stop writing stories about Asian men falling in love with multidimensional (or at least quirky lol) white women and occasionally also Asian women except those Asian women's defining characteristics are how they are cold/stoic/quiet, basically the robotic opposites to the exciting white women, and also figures for the men to reject/hurt as some metaphor for how instead of the "perfect" but safe choice ("it's not you, it's me"), we should take risks! Go for the romantic! @The Big Sick, @Master of None. This intelligent beautiful Chinese empress deserves more than Kailash, and Kumar's flailing prose in her titular chapter. Her breasts were sucked like "mangoes." Gross gross gross.
In sum, interesting premise/structure didn't deliver. Plus really personally annoying stereotype.
August 27, 2018
To start. I did not finish this book. I’m about 75 in, and am tired of reading about sex. The story has a chapter for each woman in his life, which seems organized, but I found the author jumped around a lot timewise. Partly he his thinking back to growing up in India, which are actually the most interesting part of the book. May be interesting for a male reader who can relate more to the protagonist.
Note: I received this book in a Giveaway.
Note: I received this book in a Giveaway.
April 22, 2023
The truth, Your Honor, is that the immigrant feels at home in guilt.Immigrant, Montana is a fictional town that is based on the memory of trip past Montana and an entirely unrelated incident of finding the town Emigrant in Montana while looking at a map. The title of the novel and the process behind its naming characterizes the genre as somewhere in between fiction, memoir, and an ethnography of the international student. Constantly converting currency in the head, comparing one's skin, height, and nails to others, and relishing in the newness of everything and its potential to make one happy. I empathized with the story despite neither feeling close to protagonist nor abhorring him in any way. I fully identified with his struggle to make sense of his place in this world.
Your Honor, I'm describing another time. Calls used to be expensive, and it could take an hour to get a connection. When I called the neighbor's number, someone would run out to get my father. I usually hung up and then called AT&T to complain that the line had been disconnected. The operator would apologize and then call for me without charge. As far as I was concerned, immigration was the original sin. Someone owed me something. This half-expressed had found a home in my heart. It provided me an exaggerated sense of identity, and permitted me to do anything I wanted. I am not trying to justify anything; I only intend to explain.
The ease with which we are led through the part-history, part-fiction, and part memoir of a Bihari graduate student who wants to create identity and at the same time fit in. It reminded me of similar feelings I had when I moved to the U.S. and made my place here.-- Memory is real but it is not accurate.
--
November 2018
August 27, 2018
This is a compendium, a compilation, a novel and a memoir, with epigraphs at the start of each section, pictures, footnotes that are academic or personal, with photos and drawings, and pop cultural and literary theoretical and political theory references. The narrator - Kailash, presents his life, from two often interchanging viewpoints -- himself as a young Indian man newly arrived in America, in NY, to study at Columbia, and then with a 20-year hindsight. We learn about his family back in India, about how he seeks himself in this American host culture, how he finds that the immigrant is always already there in the host culture. It's about finding oneself through the bodies of others, through infatuations and sex, the different constructs of love, the motion forward as a scholar. Explaining our lives is difficult to put within a structure, and we often digress telling our own stories, so too here. Fascinating and compelling.
January 13, 2021
Ein Geburtstagsgeschenk, das ich skeptisch entgegen genommen habe. Buchgeschenke erlebe ich oft als schwierig; so einige stehen ungelesen respektive knapp angelesen im Regal, vorwurfsvoll. Ich mag die mit solchen Geschenken verbundene Leseaufforderung nicht, die ja immer auch eine Gutfindeaufforderung ist: "Das musst du lesen! So ein tolles Buch!" – In diesem Fall hat sich die Lektüre gelohnt. Selten habe ich etwas so gerne gelesen wie "Am Beispiel des Affen". – Wie Kumar über das Dazwischen schreibt, das, was zwischen zwei Liebenden ist, zwischen der Fiktion und dem historisch Verbürgten, zwischen Autor und Leserin, zwischen Westen und Osten und zwischen vielem mehr, das gefällt mir sehr. Sicher kann man auch recht anstrengend finden, was Kumar macht. Er verwebt eine Geschichte mit hundert anderen, arbeitet mit Fussnoten – in einem Roman! –, mit Fotos, mit echten und erfundenen Referenzen, springt von den 1990er Jahren in die Jetztzeit und zurück, zitiert aus Arbeitsjournalen und dann spricht er auch noch mit einem imaginären Richter. Ziemlich postmodern alles und insofern umso erstaunlicher, wie sehr es mir gefällt, vermutlich nicht zuletzt, weil Kumar witzig ist, schnell, klug und oft auch traurig. – Ich habe an dieser Lektüre rein gar nichts auszusetzen und bedanke mich für das Geschenk.
August 28, 2018
3.5 Stars
I definitely enjoyed this book more as it went along. The author explores a lot of interesting issues (such as communism, colonialism, and poverty) and themes (like migration, isolation, and relationships) while recounting the thoughts and personal life of a grad student in 1990s New York. This book really read more like a meditation on these themes and issues than a straightforward novel. Unlike most of the novels I read, this one didn't rely on its writing style, a plot, or its characters to propel it forward. Instead, connections were drawn through world events and the various texts, global events, and cultural contexts that the narrator encountered as an immigrant, but also as a young boy in India.
I haven't read much "autofiction," but one thing I find is that these types of novels do not feel quite as cohesive to me. Perhaps it is because they imitate real life much more than other novels. While this book read like an interesting thought exercise, it didn't really fulfill what I look for when I choose to read novels in particular.
I definitely enjoyed this book more as it went along. The author explores a lot of interesting issues (such as communism, colonialism, and poverty) and themes (like migration, isolation, and relationships) while recounting the thoughts and personal life of a grad student in 1990s New York. This book really read more like a meditation on these themes and issues than a straightforward novel. Unlike most of the novels I read, this one didn't rely on its writing style, a plot, or its characters to propel it forward. Instead, connections were drawn through world events and the various texts, global events, and cultural contexts that the narrator encountered as an immigrant, but also as a young boy in India.
I haven't read much "autofiction," but one thing I find is that these types of novels do not feel quite as cohesive to me. Perhaps it is because they imitate real life much more than other novels. While this book read like an interesting thought exercise, it didn't really fulfill what I look for when I choose to read novels in particular.
December 24, 2018
I really thought I was going to like this book, and did get to the end, but found it pretty disappointing in many ways. The first half felt like a forced attempt to channel young, angsty Philip Roth...and that was the best part! It was fairly enjoyable reading most of the time. Yet I never felt like I understood any of the characters, narrator included. The second half focuses more on his grad student friend group as a way of exploring late Cold War literary leftism. Again I usually found myself enjoying reading, though the treatment both of the ideas and the characters ends up feeling shallow.
September 13, 2021
Foi uma leitura divertida!
Uma autoficação escrita com um humor gostoso. A história de um indiano que se muda para os Estados Unidos para estudar (ele se chama Kailash mas é conhecido como AK, de AK-47) e conta sobre sua vida acadêmica de acordo com os relacionamentos que teve no período.
Ele rememora o período de adaptação - conhecendo uma cultura nova e refletindo sobre a que deixou para trás. Sobre ser imigrante e o que isso implica para ele. E enquanto ele analisa isso e seus relacionamentos (o livro é dividido pelos mais marcantes), ele insere também reflexões sociológicas, comportamentais e filosóficas sobre tudo. Achei genial isso!
Uma autoficação escrita com um humor gostoso. A história de um indiano que se muda para os Estados Unidos para estudar (ele se chama Kailash mas é conhecido como AK, de AK-47) e conta sobre sua vida acadêmica de acordo com os relacionamentos que teve no período.
Ele rememora o período de adaptação - conhecendo uma cultura nova e refletindo sobre a que deixou para trás. Sobre ser imigrante e o que isso implica para ele. E enquanto ele analisa isso e seus relacionamentos (o livro é dividido pelos mais marcantes), ele insere também reflexões sociológicas, comportamentais e filosóficas sobre tudo. Achei genial isso!
January 25, 2019
I am approximately halfway into this book and I will likely not finish it. The book is too much of a rambling muddle of unorganized thoughts and ego.
I can't really figure out what the point of the book actually is, unfortunately. I realize that, from a high level, it's the story of an Indian immigrant trying to reconcile what he believes to be his Indian and American identities as he curates a life in America. Instead, this book reads as a non-linear journal of thoughts, memories and allegories that don't really do any justice to the alleged point of the story.
The words he uses are poetic but for me they were in no way engaging. I found myself less and less curious about anything the book had to offer. The romantic adventures and lessons, his scholarly development, childhood flashbacks or political commentary were not at all captivating.
Much of his sentiment is pretty but simultaneously it's overtly egotistical. Also, it became very difficult to understand the depth of diversity in the character because of how often it was ping ponging between abstract musings and concrete recollections that seemed entirely unrelated.
I will, however, look forward to seeing what other works Kumar puts forth as I believe his writing is inherently exceptional even if this story was not compelling for me.
I can't really figure out what the point of the book actually is, unfortunately. I realize that, from a high level, it's the story of an Indian immigrant trying to reconcile what he believes to be his Indian and American identities as he curates a life in America. Instead, this book reads as a non-linear journal of thoughts, memories and allegories that don't really do any justice to the alleged point of the story.
The words he uses are poetic but for me they were in no way engaging. I found myself less and less curious about anything the book had to offer. The romantic adventures and lessons, his scholarly development, childhood flashbacks or political commentary were not at all captivating.
Much of his sentiment is pretty but simultaneously it's overtly egotistical. Also, it became very difficult to understand the depth of diversity in the character because of how often it was ping ponging between abstract musings and concrete recollections that seemed entirely unrelated.
I will, however, look forward to seeing what other works Kumar puts forth as I believe his writing is inherently exceptional even if this story was not compelling for me.
November 10, 2018
A meandering tale of an Indian graduate student in NYC struggling with sex, romance, cultural identity, historical politics, and personal identity. The transgressions are sometimes entertaining, especially in the beginning of the book where the focus is more on discovering the new American culture surrounding, and less so later on when the asides are more entwined with politics and his studies. It's basically an unreliable memoir, as it is not claiming to be an autobiography, though heavily personal. But isn't all writing? (That's sounds a bit pretentious, but still true, so I'm leaving it.) The book regains a bit of footing in the latter chapters, but it was quite trying to get through the middle, where the novel just sort of peters out of wonder, but the narrator's awareness isn't quite lucid or grown enough to maintain my interest until powering through to the final two chapters before the epilogue. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch, but I'm also sure my hindrance is nourished by the at-times freeform thought process the exposition seems to ride through.
June 27, 2018
I really wish I liked Amitava Kumar's novel, "Immigrant, Montana", better than I did. I enjoy books about Indians and Indian-Americans, but somehow just couldn't get more than about half-way through the book. Set in the early 1990's, it's the story of a young Indian student who comes to the US. He meets women, and a famous philosopher, and spends the years looking at American society and his place it it. I received the feeling while reading the book that it was written at a different level than the one I was reading it at.
I think for the right reader, Kumar's book could be a hit.
I think for the right reader, Kumar's book could be a hit.
May 16, 2024
I have loved other books by Kumar, whom I first read (Passport Photos) in a graduate course on Postcolonial Theory. Every Day I Write the Book is another favorite. So I started off this book with high hopes and much enjoyment. Added bonus: the actual "town" (it's barely that) of Emigrant, Montana is one of my most loved places. My partner and I had our commitment ceremony at the nearby hot springs, and we have made many return pilgrimages. There was much to appreciate in the book: the awareness of and enmeshment with postcolonial literature and scholarship; the thinly veiled storytelling about the scholar, Eqbal Ahmad, and graduate endeavors in the 1990s; the experiments with fiction and memoir; and more angles for thinking with and through the immigrant experience.
Kumar describes this book as being about love and sex. It is insofar as it is about his past relationships with women, and those were the threads that didn't work for me. I appreciate that he's working through his past relationships and these themes, and I often enjoy reading about sex, so when I say "didn't work for me," what do I mean? My hunch is that my lifetime of immersion in feminist and queer thinking lands me in a place with little interest in reading about male heteronormative development of rudimentary relationship skills. The understandings and explorations of love felt thin. And the descriptions of sex came across as cold and vulgar. Infidelity runs throughout but remains unexamined. And my much-loved Emigrant is nothing more than a place the author and one of his girlfriends passed through on a trip ... where they learned of a wolf shooting. For him, the wolf's story is nothing more than a metaphor for desire and the search for home. As with the topics of sex and love, there is and could be so much more to articulate here.
Kumar describes this book as being about love and sex. It is insofar as it is about his past relationships with women, and those were the threads that didn't work for me. I appreciate that he's working through his past relationships and these themes, and I often enjoy reading about sex, so when I say "didn't work for me," what do I mean? My hunch is that my lifetime of immersion in feminist and queer thinking lands me in a place with little interest in reading about male heteronormative development of rudimentary relationship skills. The understandings and explorations of love felt thin. And the descriptions of sex came across as cold and vulgar. Infidelity runs throughout but remains unexamined. And my much-loved Emigrant is nothing more than a place the author and one of his girlfriends passed through on a trip ... where they learned of a wolf shooting. For him, the wolf's story is nothing more than a metaphor for desire and the search for home. As with the topics of sex and love, there is and could be so much more to articulate here.
November 15, 2025
I don't have sufficient literary critical thinking to properly review this book, so I'm going to chat about the things that I think made it special.
*Immigrant, Montatna* is an autofiction--a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. It is written in the style of a memoir from the perspective of a fictionalized main character. This is a genre I look forward to exploring more deeply.
I loved the inclusion of footnotes. The only other book I've read with footnotes was *In the Lake of the Woods* by Tim O'Brien. I was a huge fan of the way O'Brien used footnotes, and I am for sure a fan of the way Kumar used them as well. Fiction writers, please include more footnotes in your novels!
I also liked the breaks into an imaginary courtroom where our MC, Kailash, defended his thoughts and actions as an immigrant to a make-believe judge. That was a unique facet of the novel.
There was something about the novel that was reminiscent of Richard Russo. Perhaps it was the informal tone or the recalling of various scenes from the past, the reader being taken out of such scenes as quickly as we had been introduced to them. There was another author that I was reminded of, specifically one book by this author: *The Road* by Cormac McCarthy. What McCarthy attempted in *The Road* with his stripping of the prose of all punctuation and interest was better accomplished in *Immigrant, Montana.* Kumar did not water his prose down to something barely palatable, but the lack of quotation marks surrounding the dialogue instead added another layer of individuality to a novel about an immigrant and his search for love and belonging. It added to the novel rather than detracted from it.
*Immigrant, Montatna* is an autofiction--a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. It is written in the style of a memoir from the perspective of a fictionalized main character. This is a genre I look forward to exploring more deeply.
I loved the inclusion of footnotes. The only other book I've read with footnotes was *In the Lake of the Woods* by Tim O'Brien. I was a huge fan of the way O'Brien used footnotes, and I am for sure a fan of the way Kumar used them as well. Fiction writers, please include more footnotes in your novels!
I also liked the breaks into an imaginary courtroom where our MC, Kailash, defended his thoughts and actions as an immigrant to a make-believe judge. That was a unique facet of the novel.
There was something about the novel that was reminiscent of Richard Russo. Perhaps it was the informal tone or the recalling of various scenes from the past, the reader being taken out of such scenes as quickly as we had been introduced to them. There was another author that I was reminded of, specifically one book by this author: *The Road* by Cormac McCarthy. What McCarthy attempted in *The Road* with his stripping of the prose of all punctuation and interest was better accomplished in *Immigrant, Montana.* Kumar did not water his prose down to something barely palatable, but the lack of quotation marks surrounding the dialogue instead added another layer of individuality to a novel about an immigrant and his search for love and belonging. It added to the novel rather than detracted from it.
February 13, 2019
"Airports, Your Honor, are the places where immigrants feel most at home. And also most uneasy."
Entirely agreed.
Alas, that was the one line in the whole book that spoke to me. Admittedly, I went to the library about 2/3rds of the way through and got out three books I'm immensely excited to read, and thus skimmed the last third instead of reading properly, but I don't think I missed anything.
This book had so many things going for it. It has MONTANA in the title. You know what my favourite state is? Yeah, it's Montana. And I'm always up for a good immigrant story. And it's set up in seven parts, all revolving around a girl, and y'know, even that is a concept that's super fascinating to me.
But! It kind of...sucked? There are no moments that are interesting. I was glad to realise a chapter in that it was fiction, which made all the delusions of grandeur slightly more bearable.
Also, majorly explicit content warning! So! Much! Sex! Ugh! Seriously, publishing industry, let's get some content flags 'cause I'll happily live my life without reading about people fornicating in strange mannerisms. Sometimes it can add value, but when it becomes the focal point such as in this, well.
This is what I get for getting too excited about books based on their titles. And what I get for assuming that intriguing copy makes an intriguing book. Sigh.
Entirely agreed.
Alas, that was the one line in the whole book that spoke to me. Admittedly, I went to the library about 2/3rds of the way through and got out three books I'm immensely excited to read, and thus skimmed the last third instead of reading properly, but I don't think I missed anything.
This book had so many things going for it. It has MONTANA in the title. You know what my favourite state is? Yeah, it's Montana. And I'm always up for a good immigrant story. And it's set up in seven parts, all revolving around a girl, and y'know, even that is a concept that's super fascinating to me.
But! It kind of...sucked? There are no moments that are interesting. I was glad to realise a chapter in that it was fiction, which made all the delusions of grandeur slightly more bearable.
Also, majorly explicit content warning! So! Much! Sex! Ugh! Seriously, publishing industry, let's get some content flags 'cause I'll happily live my life without reading about people fornicating in strange mannerisms. Sometimes it can add value, but when it becomes the focal point such as in this, well.
This is what I get for getting too excited about books based on their titles. And what I get for assuming that intriguing copy makes an intriguing book. Sigh.
September 6, 2025
Most of the great books I’ve read this year are written by immigrants about immigrants in America. This is beautifully written. It has footnotes and reminds me of Gore Vidal’s memoir Palimpsest. I love reading novels that read like memoirs and trying to figure out how much of the author’s life is in the story. Two problems with this book and the reason it doesn’t get 5 stars: 1) It’s a little bit disjointed. The narrative jumps all over the place and at times one section doesn’t really seem to connect to another. There are also a couple of minor characters that seem like they’ll be important but the books ends and you don’t know enough about them. 2) On the cover, the word “A meditation” is crossed out and replaced by “A novel.” I’d say that’s accurate. An interesting, thought provoking, well written meditation, but one that could have used just a little bit more action. That being said, I had a hard time putting this down. Recommended especially if you’re knowledgeable about India. There was a lot of historical information in the book that was important and the author did a good job summarizing it, but if I knew more about Indian history it would have made the book even better.
January 5, 2021
Who is a book written for- the author or the reader?
This book is an amalgam of memories blended by reality and fiction (after all, isn’t that what memories are?) that takes the reader through the narrator’s journey through grad school. While the writing is inaccessible at times, particularly if one doesn’t have the prerequisite literary or cultural background, the struggle to overcome imposter syndrome, stemming from both an immigrant identity and incessant comparison to peers, is relatable.
Most of all, reading this feels like (and probably is) an intrusion on someone reminiscing on their past. If anything, it seems like this book was primarily written because the author couldn’t bear not writing it.
As an Indian-American, I also found fascinating the history detailing the relationships between early 20th century Indian revolutionaries and American leftists, which I didn’t know about before.
This book is an amalgam of memories blended by reality and fiction (after all, isn’t that what memories are?) that takes the reader through the narrator’s journey through grad school. While the writing is inaccessible at times, particularly if one doesn’t have the prerequisite literary or cultural background, the struggle to overcome imposter syndrome, stemming from both an immigrant identity and incessant comparison to peers, is relatable.
Most of all, reading this feels like (and probably is) an intrusion on someone reminiscing on their past. If anything, it seems like this book was primarily written because the author couldn’t bear not writing it.
As an Indian-American, I also found fascinating the history detailing the relationships between early 20th century Indian revolutionaries and American leftists, which I didn’t know about before.
November 5, 2020
ainda não processei muito bem o que eu achei. tomo esse espaço de resenha do gr como um exercício pra pensar como foi cada leitura pra mim. esse livro é bem diferente, tem uma estrutura louca, em que mescla a narrativa do personagem com fatos históricos do interesse dele, história de seus antepassados e curiosidades. achei isso muito bacana.
por vezes, me incomodei com a forma que o protagonista fala sobre as mulheres e tem tudo como secundário ao seu principal interesse, que é o sexo. a questão da imigração e da discussão e estudos desses temas por imigrantes dentro do ambiente acadêmico foi bem bacana, e me interessa bastante. os posicionamentos políticos críticos retratados no livro tb me pareceram muito massa
por vezes, me incomodei com a forma que o protagonista fala sobre as mulheres e tem tudo como secundário ao seu principal interesse, que é o sexo. a questão da imigração e da discussão e estudos desses temas por imigrantes dentro do ambiente acadêmico foi bem bacana, e me interessa bastante. os posicionamentos políticos críticos retratados no livro tb me pareceram muito massa
July 8, 2019
An excellent novel. Who has the power to determine identity? Can the immigrant define himself, or must he always be seen relative to dominant cultural forces? Can the Indian-American man be an object of desire and can he be allowed to desire another? Does every waking moment in the life of an immigrant have to be dedicated to these questions of definition and determination or can there be time to just be wonderfully, frivolously alive?
Lost some narrative shape and momentum in the second half of the book, though the historical asides in those pages ended up providing significant resonance to the struggles of Kailash to answer the above questions.
Highly enjoyable. More like 4.5*
Lost some narrative shape and momentum in the second half of the book, though the historical asides in those pages ended up providing significant resonance to the struggles of Kailash to answer the above questions.
Highly enjoyable. More like 4.5*
January 27, 2019
Through the other reviews here, I came to learn about the genre called bildungsroman. Immigrant Montana was well crafted. By making the reader imagine this to be a autobiographical work and throwing in a lot of non fiction references, this work kept reminding me of WG Sebald's writing style. The candidness about immigrant life in a US Grad school - cerebral academic environment, alluring women, loneliness, love, sex, the longing for home, identity and a constant effort of trying to fit in, is probably what made this a compelling read.
October 15, 2019
Interesting fictional account of an Indian immigrant who comes to the USA firing the Reagan years and becomes a citizen as a middle aged professor while Obama is president. Told in several snapshots of the man’s life, the first story, his relationship with a woman named Jennifer is by far the best. He doesn’t love her but likes her and begins a sexual relationship that ends with an abortion. A flaw in the book is that no other part of his life lives up to or surpasses this story.
January 1, 2019
I like this “in-between” fiction about a certain period of time in the protagonist’s life: Kailash is from India feeling rootless, in grad school in NYC. His loves, his mentor, his studies, lust and curiosities. Of note: this book has the least cringe-inducing sex scenes ever.
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