Ode to Lata - Hardcover

Dhalla, Ghalib Shiraz

3.54

54 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1893329135 ISBN 13: 9781893329133

Publisher: Really Great Books, 2002

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Banker by day, and denizen of Los Angeles' clubs by night, the protagonist of Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla's first novel is navigating between more than just a day job and an active social life. In Ode to Lata, Ali has left behind a tempestuous childhood in postcolonial Kenya, the overprotective mother who raised him on a steady diet of Hindi cinema, an emotionally abusive bisexual lover, and confused memories of his father's violent death at the hands of his mistress. Now his mother's messages ramble on his answering machine when he wants no one but his one obsession, Richard to call. Passionate and unflinchingly honest in its narrative, Ode to Lata scavenges the depths of one man's misguided search for love in a world of emotionally-void encounters and tangled memories. All the while, Alis' story is intertwined with the unraveling of his parents' own doomed relationship and the film music of Bollywood's eminent singer Lata Mangeshkar (Diva of Indian film music and the namesake of the book's title). And it is this hopelessly romantic music that scores their tormented lives and goads them to pursue love through chaos and ecstasy. A special "Author's Edition" on Kindle includes the bonus short story, "A."

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About the Author:

LA-based writer, director and producer, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla’s work has appeared in various national publications. An excerpt from Ode to Lata was featured in the anthology Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America (Rutgers) which received the 18th Annual American Book Award of the Before Columbus Foundation. In 2008, Dhalla turned Ode to Lata into the motion picture, The Ode. Ghalib Shiraz's work has been celebrated at MIT, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the prestigious Master's Tea at Yale. Ode to Lata is his debut novel and was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "an achievement" and Library Journal as "brilliant."

From Publishers Weekly:

Los Angeles, "the natural and human disaster capital of the world," is the setting for Dhalla's debut, an occasionally witty but somewhat stale portrayal of a young banker's fruitless search for love and happiness in the gay ghetto of West Hollywood. Life for Ali, an ethnic East Indian from Kenya, consists of office work by day and vigorous cruising of local hot spots by night. He also spends time nourishing an unhealthy obsession over Richard, his deceptive ex-lover, and avoiding his overbearing mother's telephone calls. But lately, even the dark corners of bars and the ripe, seedy sex clubs fail to bring Ali the pleasure they once did. Beset by feelings of self-loathing, he thinks back on his anxious childhood in Kenya, his sexual relationship with his best schoolmate, Amin, and lush afternoons watching Hindi cinema featuring chanteuse Lata Mangeshka (of the book's title). A sudden visit from his "dramatic Indian mother" results in an emotional standoff pitting proper Kenyan ways against his homosexual lifestyle. When Ali's close friend Salman makes a "life-altering decision" to leave the gay sex scene and abandon their shared circle of friends, Ali considers making the same choice then falls for a brutally honest street hustler. Fond of the ill-tempered, jaded dialogue that makes a lot of campy gay fiction such a devilish indulgence, Dhalla piles it on thick here. While the genre has seen better efforts, this author gets kudos for creating Ali, a chatty, outrageously embittered protagonist. The references to ancient Kenyan mosque culture are enlightening (the language glossary in back is interesting in its own right) and several auxiliary characters stand out, but none of these extras liberate the book from its hackneyed premise. 6-city author tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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