Home Boy by HM Naqvi
With the announcement of the second DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, Dina Patel looks back at the novel which was propelled to fame after winning the inaugural Prize last year
HM Naqvi’s debut novel, Home Boy, is a unique take on the changes that occurred in the US after 9/11. The novel delves into the life of three Muslim men in New York City after the attack on the twin towers and provides a harrowing yet refreshing perspective into a shaken world.
Naqvi chronicles the lives of three friends, Chuck, AC and Jimbo, who find each other in the expansive realm that is New York City. Chuck comes to America to study and after three years of studying and one year of working in the financial services, finds himself in post 9/11 New York, suddenly jobless and making a drastic career move into taxi driving. It is this career move which permits all three friends to embark on a dangerous journey.
Whilst Home Boy may appear to some to be a disparaging account of America, it is in fact both a critique and a celebration of life in America, and documents the changes that occurred following the events of 9/11. Chuck states early on in the novel, before the tragedy occurs, that “in New York you felt you were no different from anybody else; you were your own man; you were free.” Unfortunately, the tragedy in New York causes something of an arrhythmia in the city and also in the lives of all three men who were formerly content with their dynamic, yet secure lives.
Identity – both the lack thereof, and the quest to find one – is one of the biggest themes within the novel. Chuck, AC and Jimbo all seem to be attempting to establish their identity in the huge metropolis, but after the events of 9/11, their identity – as terrorists – is forcibly branded onto their foreheads, and they are dragged from the comfort of their friendship circle into the greater political sphere of
Filled with stylish writing, Navqi eloquently weaves poetry and hip-hop into the novel, bringing to life the exuberance of New York City life before 9/11. Navqi’s use of different languages, including Punjabi, Urdu and Spanish, also accentuates the multi-cultural aspect of New York.
New York City is a focal point in the novel and is given a personality of its own. The city almost becomes a fourth protagonist – the popular friend everyone wants to be acquainted with. Unfortunately for the three men, they soon find that their New York is no longer the same friendly, welcoming host it used to be. Naqvi also artfully includes speeches read by President Bush; these speeches, intended to bring calm to a terrified nation, are ironically a terrible realisation for these young men who find that they are in fact living in ‘an age of terror’.
Read SALF’s interview with HM Naqvi here. His novel Home Boy is published by Penguin (Oct 2011) in the UK
Share this article
