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Established 2016
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  • Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan

Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan

SKU: 9781632061423
$17.99
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"Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.... The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." --Kirkus Reviews


In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. Brought in to construct the towering monuments to wealth that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, this labor force works without the rights of citizenship, endures miserable living conditions, and is ultimately forced to leave the country. Until now, the humanitarian crisis of the so-called "guest workers" of the Gulf has barely been addressed in fiction. With his stunning, mind-altering debut novelĀ Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan delves into their histories, myths, struggles, and triumphs.


Combining the irrepressible linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who've fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish--until they don't, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony, Unnikrishnan brilliantly maps a new, unruly global English. Giving substance and identity to the anonymous workers of the Gulf, he highlights the disturbing ways in which "progress" on a global scale is bound up with dehumanization.

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  • About
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Returns Policy
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    • Contact Us
  • Photo Gallery
  • Blog
    • Reviews
  • Southern Bestseller List
    • 2020 Bestseller List
    • 2020 Southern Book Prize Winners
  • Programs
    • Free Books for Boone >
      • FBFB Support
    • 2021 Reading Challenge
    • Book Clubs >
      • Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club
      • Foggy Pine Book Club
    • Loyalty & Discount Programs
    • For Authors >
      • Local Authors
      • Southern Authors
    • Used Books
    • Conference Room Rental
  • Events
  • Shop
    • Shop Our Shelves
    • Mystery Box
    • Audiobooks
    • Gift Cards
    • Reading Lists >
      • Antiracist Reading List
      • Queer Literature Reading List
      • Summer Reading
    • Donation & Tip Jar
    • Products