I remember trying to get ‘Coconut Unlimited’ published, faced with comments from agents and publishers about the energy and hilarity matched with the misanomer characters. Could they be not Asian? Could we have some authentic protagonists? Why are these Asians doing these things? Shouldn’t they be having arranged marriages and stuff?
One of the comments I’ve been getting most from readers and reviewers is about how they’ve never read anything like this from an Asian author before. Which is a nice compliment. The Asian readers see the work as giving them more ownership of their literature? We’ve found a way to get more Asian males to read. We’ve found a unifying bind for Diasporic Asians. However, this hasn’t precluded non-Asian readers from enjoying the book. They’ve been sucked in by the warmth and hilarity and this has made them appreciate a world they didn’t know.
Which is the point of writing the book. I’ll get back to reviewing and journalising soon, but in the meantime, here’s a self-congratulatory collection of review links for ‘Coconut Unlimited’:
@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }
http://www.times-series.co.uk/leisure/freetimefeatures/8470189.A_celebration_of_Asian_writing/
http://davidhblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/nikesh-shukla-coconut-unlimited-2010/
http://theransomnote.co.uk/coconut-unlimited/
http://winstonsdad.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/coconut-unlimited-by-nikesh-shukla/
http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/845086-nikesh-shukla-breaking-out-of-the-pigeonhole
http://londonist.com/2010/10/book_review_coconut_unlimited_by_ni.php
