Play Book Tag discussion

Babur "Bobby" Singh and his daughter Anjali "Angie" live in a small, upscale community.

Both have Americanized their names to fit in better. Angie is a champion swimmer in the local high school and is an A student, with a great future ahead of her.

Over the summer, Angie is a witness to an attack by one student on another. The alleged attacker is black, while the victim is white. The incident tears the town apart, destroying friendships and threatening Bobby and Angie's place in the world.

The author was inspired to write this story after hearing about a similar incident from an Uber driver. She really wanted to explore the concepts of Indian/Asian immigrants who act as "model minorities" to fit in, but then are never really accepted by society. She also delves into the distinctions of wealth, privilege and race.

Some of the writing was a little heavy-handed. (view spoiler)[For example, Bobby and Angie disagree about accepting what is essentially a bribe from the privileged family trying to protect the presumed victim of this attack. Angie can't quite articulate what's wrong with the scenario. Then a neighbor - who we never see again - arrives to help with the crossword puzzle. The answer to the clue just happens to be quid-pro-quo. In case we as the blockheaded readers aren't really getting the message. (hide spoiler)] Still an interesting book overall.