Showing results for "Ayad Akhtar" in Historical Fiction

Set in 1985, Junk tells the story of Robert Merkin, resident genius of the upstart investment firm Sacker Lowell. Hailed as "America's Alchemist", his proclamation that "debt is an asset" has propelled him to a dizzying level of success. By orchestrating the takeover of a massive steel manufacturer, Merkin intends to do the "deal of the decade", the one that will rewrite all the rules.

In remote Pakistan, Nick Bright awaits his fate. A successful financial trader, Nick is kidnapped by an Islamic militant group, but with no one negotiating his release, he agrees to an unusual plan. He will earn his own ransom by helping his captors manipulate and master the world commodities and currency markets.

A deeply personal novel of identity and belonging in a nation coming apart at the seams, Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of belonging and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made. Part family drama, part satire, part picaresque, at its heart it is the story of a father and son and the country they call home. Ranging from the heartland towns of America to palatial suites in Davos to guerrilla lookouts in the mountains of Afghanistan, Akhtar forges a narrative voice that is original as it is exuberantly entertaining.

Un racconto intimo sul reale valore dell’identità, sulle difficoltà di essere americano e mussulmano nel mondo post 11 settembre, ma anche la storia dell’influenza della crisi economica e della cavalcata elettorale di Trump nei rapporti tra un padre immigrato, che ama gli Stati Uniti e tutto ciò che rappresentano anche quando ciò mette in pericolo la sua stessa posizione e sicurezza, e un figlio, americano per nascita e formazione, che però inizia a dubitare dei valori con cui è cresciuto, quelli domestici, ma soprattutto quelli patriottici e consumistici tipici della sua generazione.