May 16, 2022
Kutub weaves heartbreak with Muslim-inspired fantasy in a bighearted genre-blending debut. After closeted 17-year-old Indian American Sy’s boyfriend Farouk breaks up with him and promptly leaves the U.S., Sy throws himself into his thankless L.A. coffee shop job. There, he meets avant-garde English heiress Reggie, who offers to grant him three wishes in exchange for an egg salad sandwich. As a joke, he wishes for a million dollars, which immediately appears in his bank account. When his father learns that he’s queer and kicks him out of the house, Sy asks Reggie to help him find Farouk, and the duo traipse the globe aboard a private jet searching for him. Along the way, Sy experiences Islamophobia and homophobia, while his fantastical adventures offer levity en route to an emotional resolution. Though the jam-packed plot and alternating past and present chapters occasionally overshadow Sy’s interpersonal relationships and lessen narrative urgency, Kutub’s highly stylized prose (one minor character is referred to as a “bearded-to-the-neckline LumberChad”) and Sy’s energetic deep dive into his heritage present an upbeat, wish-fulfillment tale. Ages 13–up. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary.
August 1, 2022
Gr 7 Up-Kutub commingles the preposterous and poignant, heightened with myths of lost love. Shawn K. Jain is a sensitive cipher, opening with Kutub's author's note that includes content warnings about abuse and expulsion, both of which happen to Sy, the 17-year-old Muslim Indian gay son of a homophobic father. Sy's still mourning beloved Farouk's abandonment. Enter-rather, crash into the coffee shop window-Reggie, who, in exchange for a kind lending hand, offers Sy three wishes. A million-dollar deposit and an egg sandwich later, Sy's en route toward his true love. Jain's focus is, of course, Sy, but he's equally affecting as Sy's smothering mother, sarcastic sister, and especially capricious Reggie. He affectingly shifts tone and cadence for Hamza and Delima's nested tale; Orpheus and Eurydice also make brief appearances. VERDICT Kutub's debut occasionally turns bewildering with excessive narrative prongs, but Jain adroitly guides readers through.
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