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Tell me how to be  Cover Image Book Book

Tell me how to be / Neel Patel.

Patel, Neel, (author.).

Summary:

"From rising star Neel Patel ("refreshing...defiant...consistently surprising" --New York Times), a darkly funny and heartbreaking debut novel about an Indian-American family confronting the secrets between them Renu Amin always seemed perfect: doting husband, beautiful house, healthy sons. But as the one-year anniversary of her husband's death approaches, Renu is binge-watching soap operas and simmering with old resentments. She can't stop wondering if, thirty-five years ago, she chose the wrong life. In Los Angeles, her son, Akash, has everything he ever wanted, but as he tries to kickstart his songwriting career and commit to his boyfriend, he is haunted by the painful memories he fled a decade ago. When his mother tells him she is selling the family home, Akash returns to Illinois, hoping to finally say goodbye and move on. Together, Renu and Akash pack up the house, retreating further into the secrets that stand between them. Renu sends an innocent Facebook message to the man she almost married, sparking an emotional affair that calls into question everything she thought she knew about herself. Akash slips back into bad habits as he confronts his darkest secrets-including what really happened between him and the first boy who broke his heart. When their pasts catch up to them, Renu and Akash must decide between the lives they left behind and the ones they've since created, between making each other happy and setting themselves free. By turns irreverent and tender, filled with the beats of '90s R&B, Tell Me How to Be is about our earliest betrayals and the cost of reconciliation. But most of all, it is the love story of a mother and son each trying to figure out how to be in the world"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781250184979
  • ISBN: 1250184975
  • Physical Description: 324 pages ; 22 cm
  • Edition: First Edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Flatiron Books, 2021.
Subject: Family secrets > Fiction.
Mothers and sons > Fiction.
East Indian Americans > Fiction.
Gay men > Fiction.
Widows > Fiction.
Illinois > Fiction.
Genre: Domestic fiction.

Available copies

  • 7 of 7 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at North Kansas City.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 7 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
North Kansas City Public Library FICTION PATEL 2021 (Text) 0001002398921 Fiction Available -

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Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 9781250184979
Tell Me How to Be : A Novel
Tell Me How to Be : A Novel
by Patel, Neel
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Summary

Tell Me How to Be : A Novel


* INAUGURAL LILLY'S LIBRARY BOOK CLUB PICK FROM LILLY SINGH * "A beautiful book about a mother and son...I really loved this book." -- Rumaan Alam on The TODAY Show "My first great read of 2022...[Will] make you cringe with recognition and melt with longing." --Jennifer Weiner "This debut novel about an Indian-American family has all the right ingredients: family secrets, love, sexuality, loss, identity questions and remorse." -- Good Morning America Renu Amin always seemed perfect. But as the one-year anniversary of her husband's death approaches, she is binge-watching soap operas and simmering with old resentments. She can't stop wondering if, thirty-five years ago, she chose the wrong life. In Los Angeles, her son, Akash, has everything he ever wanted, but he is haunted by the painful memories he fled a decade ago. When his mother tells him she is selling the family home, Akash returns to Illinois, hoping to finally say goodbye and move on. Together, Renu and Akash pack up the house, retreating further into the secrets that stand between them. Renu sends an innocent Facebook message to the man she almost married, sparking an emotional affair that calls into question everything she thought she knew about herself. Akash slips back into bad habits as he confronts his darkest secrets--including what really happened between him and the first boy who broke his heart. When their pasts catch up to them, Renu and Akash must decide between the lives they left behind and the ones they've since created, between making each other happy and setting themselves free. By turns irreverent and tender, filled with the beats of '90s R&B, Tell Me How to Be is about our earliest betrayals and the cost of reconciliation. But most of all, it is the love story of a mother and son each trying to figure out how to be in the world.

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