Slow Down, You’re Here

by Brannavan Gnanalingam

Kavita is stuck in a dead-end marriage. A parent of two small kids, she is the family’s main breadwinner. An old flame unexpectedly offers her a week away in Waiheke. If she were to go, she’s not sure when - or if - she’d come back.

200 pages, Paperback

Published April 10, 2022

About the author

Brannavan Gnanalingam was born in Sri Lanka and moved to New Zealand via Zimbabwe at the age of three.
He is a music and film reviewer for the Lumière Reader, Under the Radar, and the Dominion Post, and also works as a lawyer in Wellington, New Zealand.
He is the author of five novels, all published by Wellington publishing collective Lawrence & Gibson which specialises in experimental non-fiction and heavyweight literature.

Reviews

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawrence and Gibson is a small publishing collective out of Wellington that is possibly not as well known as it should be. Quietly "printing, binding and guillotining" books themselves. Their catalogue of fiction is skewered towards the "morose, satirical, verbose and thoughtful". L & G are punching above their weight in the often incestuous NZ literary prize scene, with Brannavan Gnanalingam's previous novel Sprigs winning the Ngaio Marsh award for crime fiction and ( I would like to think ) narrowly missing out on last year's Ockham Award for fiction.

Slow Down You're Here is Gnanalingam's latest novel and it is a ride. It is also a fiendishly difficult book to review because the best possible experience would be to go in knowing very little. A loose summary: a stale marriage between taxi driver Vishal and accountant Kavita, they share two children under the age of four. An old flame offers Kavita a chance to escape the daily grind, - a sneaky weekend away to that island designed for such assignations - Waiheke.
That's about all I can say about the plot.
For the first 60 pages, this is similar territory to Gnanalingam's 2017 novel, Sodden Downstream, it is a little grim, a social realist style of writing, that comes with welcome interjections of wry humour. Still, it doesn't seem to be headed anywhere new. However, the story has a surprise hook, one that goes in deep. All of a sudden, it becomes impossible not to hurtle yourself through the book desperate to allay your growing concerns. This is smart, compelling story-telling.
Gnanalingam delights in reflecting a view of "kiwi-life" that is less flattering than what we collectively imagine. There is an ugliness in the finely balanced scenes of casual racism, passive-aggressive office politics and the daily graft of living in New Zealand's largest city. Contrast this with the faux-hippie / high rollers pleasure dome that is Waiheke, it feels like an indictment.
Readers might find a need to debate the merits of some plot developments. Could more time in the relationship-building phase have lessened the feelings of discombobulation that are inevitable early on ?. Finally, if there is such a thing as a nappy trigger warning, then, I am sounding it, - there is more baby poo here than you might anticipate.

New to the work of Brannavan Gnanalingam? then this book is a great place to start. At the very least, go and check out the deliciously quirky catalogue of Lawrence and Gibson and their "nine fun facts".

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crikey this is a bleak story. Slow Down, You’re Here doesn’t give much away on the cover or in its blurb, and I think it’s probably best read that way. So I won’t say much about what is in this novel, except that yet again Gnanalingam has captured NZ society with such unflinching clarity. The underlying pervasiveness of racism which lingers in ordinary interactions is a quiet but constant feature of this novel. Gnanalingam is at his masterful best here, it’s a measured, carefully crafted, creeping, anxious novel. It was at once hard to read and harder still to put down.

[Chloe Fergusson-Tibble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow Down You’re Here by Brannavan Gnanalingam is a short, sharp book that I raced through in two sittings. It’s centres around Kavita and her family. Vishal, her husband, is having difficulty supporting the family financially because NZ is - SPOILER ALERT - racist and he can’t even get pissed Englishmen to pay their taxi fees. Kavita is also working extremely hard and is losing interest in her marriage. When an old friend shows up and invites her on a short holiday she sees an opportunity.

I can’t say what happens while she’s gone but it’s one of those books where the reader knows everything and the characters don’t and the tension propels the whole book forward. I raced to the end because I was worried about the outcome.

Similarly to Sprigs, this novel explores racism and privilege really well. There are lots of moments throughout the novel where the reader becomes aware of the extra hurdles that people of colour have to navigate in everyday interactions. There are also some bigger systems like the workplace, tourism industry and real estate outfits that are appropriately scrutinised for the structural racism that they perpetuate. It’s very good.

I felt connected to both Kavita and Vishal and their respective woes. I even liked Aswhin. Probably because I felt outrage at how much harder he had to work only to be treated half as good. I also appreciated the exploration of how difficult a marriage can be and how green the grass can look somewhere else. This novel made me wonder how extra racist baggage might make a marriage even harder. All marriages have difficulties but when partners are both battling racism you have to wonder how that also contributes to marriage breakdowns.

This is a novel that explores racism in New Zealand, the difficulties of marriage and how these intersect.

I loved Sprigs and I loved this. Read something by this amazing author!

Thanks for sending this review copy Lawrence & Gibson Publishing Collective.
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#books #bookish #ilovebooks #womenreading #booksimreading #currentlyreading #slowdownyourehere #brannavangnanalingam #marriage #racism #justfinishedreading #women

[Pieta Holani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phwoar @ this book - so stressful but couldn’t stop turning the page. Really captured the perception of each character so simply but so authentically. Painted an almost painfully honest picture of kiwi society for ethnic people - racist undertones / micro aggressions. Held my breath through some chapters. Great to read a book written by a kiwi (& a lawyer!) - something I need to do more of

[Frazer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simultaneously excruciating and compelling. Written in punchy, no nonsense prose that shifts depending on the character being narrated. Doesn't make for particularly beautiful reading but by gosh does it push the story along at a clip.

A mother leaves her children, dead-end job and husband for a few days to find out what her life would be like if she'd done things differently: fit lover, wine, me-time.

Chapters alternate between her holiday and the unraveling and alarmingly dystopic situation back home. Her almost neurotic self-indulgence juxtaposes starkly to the selflessness and ingenuity of her 5-year-old daughter back home, left to fend for herself and her baby brother.

I was struck by the lack of real love in this book. All the characters are to a large degree self-obsessed (a toxic by-product of modern NZ society?) and emotionally pretty insensitive. The only real hero in the story is the daughter. A comment on a culture that breeds empathy out of its populace or a lack in the book? Difficult to say.

Some very knowing observations on casual racism alive and well in Aotearoa these days, though I found the little bit about stolen land (in both Māori and Bengali contexts) a bit shoehorned in. You may as well not do it at all rather than touch on it so fleetingly and apparently irrelevantly (the characters showed no previous interest in this subject and it served mainly as a device to create conflict).

So there are a few rough edges but these are forgotten because of its mesmerising pace. Printed on pleasingly thick paper, thanks publishers.

[Lisa]

This is the story of Kavita who is unhappily married with two children. She decides to sneak away to Waiheke Island to meet an old flame, Ashwin. The chapters alternate between what takes place in Waiheke and what is happening back at home with her husband and kids.

Surprisingly, I found the chapters with the kids more interesting than those in Waiheke, there was a suspense element to these. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this book takes an unexpected turn, and I found myself reading it quickly to find out how it would all unfold.

This novel makes you think that the grass isn't always greener. Kavita believed things might be better elsewhere, she takes a chance because of the ‘what-ifs’. “Like, if I walked away now, then there'll be the what ifs. What if I'd walked away earlier? What if I stuck around?"

Slow Down, You're Here calls attention to the racism that exists in New Zealand through numerous experiences with the characters. Vishal tolerated racism directed at him as a taxi driver. Ashwin faces racism on arriving at his accommodation when the owner sees he is Indian she says "The bach is already booked, I'm sorry.”

Overall it was a reflective read, that makes you examine the consequences of our actions. It covers topics of racism, office politics, relationships and infidelity. I wanted Kavita and Vishal to communicate better with one another, this book leaves you wondering what could have been.

[Eileen Merriman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this down (so I read it in two days). Another page-turned from one of my favourite writers.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kavita is looking for an escape from her daily struggle that is her life as a working mum of 2 young children, with a husband who seems unhelpful and unmotivated to make a better life for his young family. This could be described as a love story but it's also infused with guilt as Kavita decides to throw caution to the wind and escape with an old crush to Waiheke Island for a week. Enjoy is almost not the right word for this author's novels, but they are great to read and make you think. They also feel 'real' and this one is no exception. Not an awful lot happens in this short novel, but there are a few unexpected turns to keep readers on their toes. Highly recommended.

[Jimmylanyard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skinamarink (2022)
Dir. Kyle Edward Ball

[Sarah Pettett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely devastating but couldn’t put it down. Needs one hell of a trigger warning.

[Eliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hook sets in very abruptly. Suddenly you are following a narrative far off from what you expected of the first fifty or so pages. I think that works very well in Slow Down, You're Here's favour. It very quickly becomes and enthralling read with a lot of urgency placed upon even the more mundane moments the characters engage in. Despite the short time frame the book takes place in, Gnanalingam manages to get down some poignant moments that comment on the casual and careless racism in New Zealand, as well as the insurmountable drag that day to day life in Auckland can present to even the most well intentioned folks.

As a parent I was absolutely mortified at the prospect of a story like this being left with an ambiguous ending. I don't think my heart could have taken it. Mercifully things wrapped up, well as nicely as they could have given the circumstances.

[Ciaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow Down, You’re Here is so good, and an absolute marvel of narrative payoff. The tension, built into the story from the get go, adeptly shifts and changes right before your eyes. The use of short, snappy chapters, quickly flickering between the perspectives of the three main characters three, as even though one of the perspectives changes about a quarter of the way through, the perspective is still that of Home makes the book constantly feel current, new, and intriguing. The blurb on the back is, honestly, remarkable in the wake of the story itself. I want to re-read it immediately.

I can't stop thinking about this book as a subversion of the Hero's Journey because of the blurb on the back. It's going to haunt me.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s interesting how sometimes you can come to bodies of work that manage to do so much more with less - like a movie that doesn’t stretch itself to the modern two and a half hours but rather succeeds in everything it’s set out to do in a cool ninety minutes. That’s my feeling towards Brannavan Gnanalingam’s Slow Down, You’re Here. In two hundred pages they’ve created a gut-wrenching, anxiety inducing novel that truly amplified character over needless fluff.

Vishal and Kavita are married with kids but things have been getting rocky since Vishal lost their high-end marketing job and became a taxi driver to make ends meet. He spends little time with the kids, works long hours and often graveyard shifts. Kavita has had enough of his lacking gratitude and when the opportunity arises to rekindle an old flame she accepts. She sneaks away for a tryst on Waiheke island while Vishal babysits…only an unfortunate accident means Aarani and Bhavan (their two children) must fend for themselves.

I honestly didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did (for context, drama/romance is not a genre I tend to read). But here the characters we spend the vast majority of the novel with are complex and well developed. Getting an insight into how the children make do with what they can reach is heartbreaking - listening to the inner monologue of Kavita as she questions whether what she’s doing is justified is infuriating - hearing Ashwin (Kavita’s new lover) describe how he’s pined for her for years and longed to take back missed opportunities is almost endearing.

The flipping back and forth between the two main perspectives - that of the children and that of Kavita - created a beautiful imbalance of peril. Normally being pulled to and fro between the moral ambiguity of an affair and the potentially life-threatening situation the kids find themselves in would be distracting. However what’s happened here is a balancing act that enhances our anger towards the questionable choices Kavita has made as only a page before we read the latest struggle her children manage through.

The novel is executed beautifully. There’s a very real sense of danger that permeates the page. Gnanalingam has shown a mastery of leveling several perspectives, multiple stories and a fundamental understanding of their character’s true nature. All of this culminates in a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, no matter how anxiety inducing it was to experience!

[Tama]

My expectations were a much darker story. Nothing but torture. As a POC family go for a rural holiday on borrowed time in a holiday home. And then are held up by racists. It’s tamer.

‘Slow Down, You’re Here’ is a readable erotic thriller, filled with adultery and negligence, underpinned by sociopolitics of BIPOC in the west. For what it sets out to do it doesn’t miss. It’s a good book. I was hit by the orchestra of emotions the book sets out. What it’s missing is a unique perspective. The characters don’t think unique thoughts. They don’t ask big enough questions. Unless provoked by unusual things like a pet tortoise.

Kavita and Ash are everymen. Not in a very crushing way as they both have reasons to feel guilty. If they were doing purely immoral things but were especially working class their psychologies would be more interesting. To explore these types, to shine a light on a mid life crisis lonely mother and a single capitalist loser, they could’ve had one more distinctive trait each that added a specificity to add more human depth. For example, make Ash a barroom philosopher and Kavita OCD. Less random than these though, and it’d barely make the book better if at all. As is, they needs more layers, some way. I don’t know what Sally Rooney does with characters and their relationships that works so well, to feel so real. Because Bran has these things. Particularly with the crushing simplicity of Bhavan and Aarani’s world. Maybe Kavita and Ash weren’t simple enough. Weren’t living in the moment. Maybe it’s because Marianne might voice her self doubt rather than think it. Kavita and Ash are overthinking everything and you know all their thoughts. Down to a fixation on an old come stain.

The length at a neat 200 pages is favourable. I’d have preferred 160 or less.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book, but I don't recommend starting to read it in the evening. I started at 9pm and it ended up being a very late night.

Like Sprigs, this is an excellent novel about an awful thing happening. So be prepared for that as well.

[W Silos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved his previous books so went out and pre-ordered this. Finished it in an afternoon - the pace of the book just draws you on. Feels like it would translate brilliantly into a film.

[Skipptymonster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy can certainly write! I felt there were two novels here: an insightful ‘kitchen sink’ drama about struggling immigrants and systemic racism in NZ, and a stomach-churning, clock-ticking horror story about abandonment. Personally, I would have been happy with the former, as Brannavan is so good at concisely depicting character and situation in a compelling way. The horror story, while a total stress-inducing roller coaster ride of sorts, felt a little too contrived and heavy-handed in its moralistic judgement of the mildly duplicitous female character vs. the blameless, if flawed, males.

[Ipshita · Rating 4 out of 5]

One can easily be bored by the characters and the simple plot line. However there is very little literature exploring the south Asian migrant NZ experience, and it's simplicity this book allows deeper issues of racial difference, culture and complicated family life to surface up. Not often I finish a book within the first 12 hrs of picking it up

[Casey Dunstan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gnanalingam writes for an audience that knows that a "Blues player" doesn't mean a jazz performer.

Aotearoa is just the backdrop, this story is about South Asian Kiwis and their experiences of and with racism. All the while there's a kettle on the stove top screaming away and threatening to explode.

[Caitlyn Thomassen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snooze fest of a book. Nothing interesting happened the entire book. Half the book was about cheating, the other was about kids slowly starving. The ending was also stupid and was a cliff hanger. 2.5/5

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just wish I hadn't finished this in a day. It's a nail biting read, with a lot of witty observations on white privilege and casual racism. Can't wait for Brannavan Gnanalingam's next novel!

[Kornelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading this...the story keep you at the edge of your seat., very enjoyable.

[readkrautread · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. I wish BG would write more. And more. And more.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few plot holes but a total page turner. Recommended.

[Sharon N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some very odd dialogue spoiled the book.

[Rubyryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good gripping book. Easy read

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Often very difficult to read, which goes to the heart of the story's themes of racism and alienation.

[Dorothy Dentata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Farrrrr out. Beautiful! I devoured it in a day, so blimmin emotional. So beautifully written.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book packed a punch! I went into this one blind, without reading anything by Brannavan before an wow did it surprise me. There is a major twist early on which absolutely blew me away and flipped the book into nothing like I thought it would be. I felt I was so in these characters heads that I was flipping and reading as fast as I could to get to the end to find out what was going to happen 😳 this was so well written and one that is going to stick in my memory for sure! I have left off writing a synopsis for this as I think it is best to go in pretty blind (I also had no idea how to write one without giving away the twist 😂) but I highly recommend giving this story a read!