Synopses & Reviews
Traveling from the ashrams of India to the underground rock scene of New York City, Blue-Skinned Gods explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, and examines the need for belief in a fractured world
In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child's blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Kalki is confronted with three trials in his tenth year — tests of his power that will prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. Over the next decade, as the story of his family unravels, his relationship to everyone — his dominating father, his beloved cousin, his cancer-stricken aunt, and the young woman he imagines he will marry — threatens to fall apart. At once a personal tale of youthful searching, and a magisterial, continent spanning tour-de-force, Blue-Skinned Gods is unwaveringly honest and heartbreaking, a powerful novel told through the eyes of a wonderfully winning and idiosyncratic protagonist.
Review
"[A] marvelous coming-of-age story....The imagery is vivid and the slow-burn narrative by the end becomes incandescent. Sindu's stunning effort more than delivers on her initial promise."
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"Sindu's excavations of Kalki's internal struggles are detailed, nuanced, and rich....Remarkably moving in its explorations of faith, doubt, and what it might mean to be a charlatan."
Kirkus Reviews
Review
"An explosive, provoking examination of what we are forced to or choose to believe to be true."
Booklist
Review
"A thoughtful exploration of contemporary religion and the relations between modern culture and tradition."
Foreword Reviews
Review
"A beautifully written story that begs to be discussed with others."
Book Riot
Review
"A uniquely brilliant tale."
Ms. Magazine
Review
"A rich, beautifully told and moving examination of the allure of superstition and legend, the pains of growing up and the pitfalls of lying to others and lying to yourself."
The Guardian
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"SJ Sindu has written another brilliant novel in Blue-Skinned Gods. This time, she tells the story of a boy with blue skin who is trying to be the god everyone tells him he is....Here is a novel about the bonds between brothers, a deceptive tyrant and son, a mother who doesn't know how to save herself or her child, a boy and how he yearns for his young loves, and so much more. The richness of this story will take hold of you and never let go."
Roxane Gay
Review
"Blue-Skinned Gods is a marvel of a novel. SJ Sindu has created a cast of characters so compelling it was difficult to set the book down. I was enraptured by the careful twining of these lives: a manipulative father, a mother who loves her son to the point of agony, the joy and despair of tender first love, the pressure of knowing your destiny and the devastation of losing everything at once. It is a true joy to encounter a book so beautifully written. The prose is lush and stunning, the narrative wildly gripping. Sindu is a phenomenal writer and Blue-Skinned Gods is a treasure."
Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things
Review
"SJ Sindu has given us a true gift in Kalki Sami and his journey. A coming-of-age story wielding philosophical, historical, and emotional moments full of passion, vividly described, Blue-Skinned Gods is one of the most original and beautiful novels I've read in a long time."
Brandon Hobson, author of Where the Dead Sit Talking and The Removed
Review
"This marvelous novel offers up the most extraordinary circumstance in which to live a life. It delivers everything I didn't know I desperately wanted: snake bites, ink baths, god-energy, gurus, post-punk music, viral videos, redemption, and an unforgettable character asking all the big questions. What am I and what am I capable of? In the asking comes revelations on the nature of love, power in friendship, weight of dogma, and the visceral seeping together of diverse cultures. These pages left me with the best case of culture shock, and in awe over Sindu's storytelling talent."
Devin Murphy, national bestselling author of The Boat Runner and Tiny Americans
Review
"Blue-Skinned Gods is a memorable and vivid coming-of-age story that feels timely in its pursuit of exploring the meaning of truth and how we know what to believe about ourselves and others. Kalki's journey from an isolated ashram in India to the kaleidoscope of New York City's clubs and streets is captivating. This is a wonderful book about family, friendship, and miracles."
Elise Hooper, author of Fast Girls, Learning to See, and The Other Alcott
About the Author
SJ Sindu is the author of the novel Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which won the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and was an ALA Stonewall Honor Book; as well as the hybrid fiction and nonfiction chapbook I Once Met You But You Were Dead. She holds an MA in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University. Sindu teaches at the University of Toronto Scarborough.