Synopses & Reviews
Francisco D'Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son all the way back to the beginning of a long line of proud Konkans. Known as the "Jews of India," the Konkans kneeled before the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's sword and before Saint Francis Xavier's cross, abandoned their Hindu traditions, and became Catholics. In 1973 Francisco's Konkan father, Lawrence, and American mother, Denise, move to Chicago, where Francisco is born. His father, who does his best to assimilate into American culture, drinks a lot and speaks little. But his mother, who served in the Peace Corps in India, and his uncle Sam (aka Samuel Erasmus D'Sai) are passionate raconteurs who do their best to preserve the family's Konkan heritage. Friends, allies, and eventually lovers, Sam and Denise feed Francisco's imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history.
Filled with romance, comedy, and masterful storytelling, The Konkans leaves us surprised by what secrets history may hold for us if only we wonder enough to look.
Review
"This vibrantly written novel, with colorful descriptions of India and the experiences of new immigrants in America, alternates between the hilarious and the heartbreaking; highly recommended." Library Journal
Review
"Every page yields its pleasures D'Souza is a natural." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"D'Souza stays character-focused throughout the novel, gently mixing irony and fatalism with a warm affection for humans and the stupid things they do." Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
"...The Konkans has significant problems, mainly having to do with its narration....The point of view...seems stage-managed....Altogether, what remains to be admired, nonetheless, is D'Souza's ambition, and the talents his storytelling demonstrate. To write so ably about racism, cultural envy and family conflict and with such panache about history indicates that D'Souza's great book may be possible, and that his talents may yet be well served." Alan Michael Parker, The San Francisco Chronicle (read the entire San Francisco Chronicle review)
About the Author
Tony D'Souza is the author of the novel Whiteman, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for First Fiction and winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award and his fiction has been published in the New Yorker, Playboy, Tin House, the Literary Review, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and elsewhere. He considers Sarasota, Florida, his home base.