Description
"Imran Ahmad shares his story of life as a Pakistani Muslim growing up in England in this coming-of-age memoir"--Provided by the publisher.
Collection
Publication
New Generation Publishing (2019), 400 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member autumnblues
Poignant and thought provoking a roller-coaster ride of emotional consciousness.
This memoir had me laughing from the first chapter. Imran really pours his heart out in this book and it is easy to tell he is completely sincere. In The Perfect Gentleman Imran shares a little bit about each year of
At times it was sad to read about the bullying and racial discrimination Imran and his family endured while living in London. Although Imran did not grow up in Pakistan, he and his family went back regularly throughout his early life to visit his extended family still living there. During these moments in the book one gets suggestive moments of what life in Pakistan may have been like. Life for Imran is mostly in London although he does speak about a few short trips to the America as a child.
I went through many emotions while reading this book especially when Imran hit his later teens and he became more set in his ways. I found this memoir very compelling, at times informative other times irritating, yet overall thoughtful and surprising. In the end the little boy who started the conversation turned into a wise and wonderful man who left me enlightened along the way.
This memoir had me laughing from the first chapter. Imran really pours his heart out in this book and it is easy to tell he is completely sincere. In The Perfect Gentleman Imran shares a little bit about each year of
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his life, from his birth up until his late teens, skipping through later adulthood at faster pace. It easy for the reader to immerse themselves into this story and follow Imran along as he attends school and later college in London. At times it was sad to read about the bullying and racial discrimination Imran and his family endured while living in London. Although Imran did not grow up in Pakistan, he and his family went back regularly throughout his early life to visit his extended family still living there. During these moments in the book one gets suggestive moments of what life in Pakistan may have been like. Life for Imran is mostly in London although he does speak about a few short trips to the America as a child.
I went through many emotions while reading this book especially when Imran hit his later teens and he became more set in his ways. I found this memoir very compelling, at times informative other times irritating, yet overall thoughtful and surprising. In the end the little boy who started the conversation turned into a wise and wonderful man who left me enlightened along the way.
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LibraryThing member knitwit2
This book wasn't as funny as I had expected based on the blurbs on the cover; one of which read "...irresistible - a charming, laugh-out-loud-funny memoir." Imran's boy meeting west memoir was really an examination of Christianity vs. Islam. I found that fascinating but not funny as promised. His
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inability to connect with girls and later women had more to do with him being a pious bore and a nerd than the fact that his heritage was Pakistani. His neurotic fantasy life about marrying Janice became redundant and pathetic after several excruciating chapters. The best part of the book was the afterword where he examines his life in less black and white terms and shows a little more of his humanity thatn he did in the rest of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member diovival
The author has a very direct, matter-of-fact writing style that I enjoyed. He lost me at the end though. I followed the author from childhood into his mid-twenties and then a jarring jump into his forties. What the? There is no explanation, absolutely nothing to shed light on what happened to the
I received this book via Goodreads' giveaway program.
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relationships of his youth. I am left to guess at how he actually came to be the man presented at the end of the book. I enjoyed reading his memoir but I resent being "yada, yada, yada"-ed through some clearly life changing events.I received this book via Goodreads' giveaway program.
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Original language
English