When the star players on a high school football team are accused of violence by another student, their secret—and the secrets of their parents—threaten to shatter their entire community in [this] novel of race, class, and privilege.
Compelling ... Part of the pleasure of Pandya’s writing lies in his unravelling of identity politics ... Pandya, an associate professor in Asian-American studies at the University of California, clearly knows this world ... Reveals the inequality of America’s education system–how it rewards those with money and influence–and is a profound meditation on identity, class, privilege and masculinity.
Timely and timeless ... A novel that carefully plays with assumptions, expectations and subversions ... These are big, familiar topics, but Pandya’s approach to unpacking them stands out ... Racially, with its cast of Latino and Indian characters, the book urges us to reckon with the ways nonwhite Americans view and engage with one another ... Morally, the novel doesn’t offer clear or easy answers. Pandya presents flawed but understandable people trying to navigate a murky situation with high stakes ... Gorgeous yet understated storytelling. The book’s tone highlights that the struggles in Our Beautiful Boys are not exceptional dilemmas but rather uncomfortably common situations ... Highlights how we internalize and project certain perceptions, and what we’re willing to do and say so we can feel accepted.
Sly and captivating ... Pandya masterfully builds three distinct family units ... Issues of race and class are clearly obvious from the first pigheaded teenboy taunt, but they go lots deeper than mere name-calling ... There’s little moralizing ... Our Beautiful Boys is not into easy answers ... Beyond the attuned cultural criticism, Pandya also has great insight for the mechanics, struggles, and mirages of marriage.
