The Year of the Runaways
Sunjeev Sahota, 2015 (2016, U.S.)
Knopf Doubleday
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101946107
Summary
Shortlisted, 2015 Man Booker Prize
From one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists—a sweeping, urgent contemporary epic, astonishing for its richness and texture and scope, and for the utter immersiveness of its reading experience.
Three young men, and one unforgettable woman, come together in a journey from India to England, where they hope to begin something new—to support their families; to build their futures; to show their worth; to escape the past.
They have almost no idea what awaits them.
In a dilapidated shared house in Sheffield, Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his life in Bihar. Avtar and Randeep are middle-class boys whose families are slowly sinking into financial ruin, bound together by Avtar’s secret. Randeep, in turn, has a visa wife across town, whose cupboards are full of her husband’s clothes in case the immigration agents surprise her with a visit.
She is Narinder, and her story is the most surprising of them all.
The Year of the Runaways unfolds over the course of one shattering year in which the destinies of these four characters become irreversibly entwined, a year in which they are forced to rely on one another in ways they never could have foreseen, and in which their hopes of breaking free of the past are decimated by the punishing realities of immigrant life.
A novel of extraordinary ambition and authority, about what it means and what it costs to make a new life—about the capaciousness of the human spirit, and the resurrection of tenderness and humanity in the face of unspeakable suffering. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1981
• Where—Derby, England, UK
• Education—Imperial College, London
• Currently—lives in Sheffield, England
Sunjeev Sahota is a British novelist whose first novel, Ours Are the Streets, was published in 2011 and whose second novel, The Year of the Runaways, was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize.
Background
Sahota's paternal grandparents emigrated to Britain from the Punjab in 1966. Sahota was born fifteen years later, in 1981, in Derby, England. When he was seven, the family moved to Chesterfield. After finishing school, Sahota studied mathematics at Imperial College London. As of January 2011, he was working in marketing for the insurance company Aviva. He lives with his wife and children in Sheffield, England.
Surprisingly, Sahota never read a novel until he was 18 years old. Although he studied English literature at GCSE level—reading poetry and full-length plays (including Shakespeare)—students were not required to read a full-length novel.
Then, the summer before starting college, Sahota wandered into an airport bookstore while waiting for a flight to visit his relatives in India. He picked up Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. Captivated, he went on to read The God of Small Things, A Suitable Boy, and The Remains of the Day.
In a January, 2011, Yorkshire Post interview, Sahota spoke of that sudden devotion to reading:
It was like I was making up for lost time—not that I had to catch up, but it was as though I couldn't quite believe this world of storytelling I had found and I wanted to get as much of it down me as I possibly could.
Works
Sahota's first novel, Ours are the Streets, was written in the evenings and on weekends, his free time from his day job. The novel tells the story of a British Pakistani youth who becomes a suicide bomber. Sahota was prompted to start writing the book by the July, 2005, London bombings.
His second novel, The Year of the Runaways, about the experience of illegal immigrants in Britain, was published in 2015 (2016, U.S.).
Recognition
In 2013 Sahota was included in a Granta list of 20 best young writers. His second novel, The Year of the Runaways, was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/30/2016.)
Book Reviews
[P]owerful.... Mr. Sahota creates an ensemble portrait of young immigrants struggling to find work, to sort out their love lives, to come to terms with duty and tradition and their own confused ambitions.... Mr. Sahota…has an instinctive sense of storytelling, immersing us in the dilemmas of his characters.... Writing with unsentimental candor, Mr. Sahota has created a cast of characters whose lives are so richly imagined that this deeply affecting novel calls out for a sequel or follow-up that might recount the next installment of their lives…At the same time, he's written a novel that captures the plight of many immigrants, who count themselves lucky enough to have made it to the land of their dreams, only to worry that those dreams may be slipping out of reach.
New York Times - Michiko Kakutani
Granta magazine tapped Sunjeev Sahota as one of the 20 best young writers of the decade, and his new novel, The Year of the Runaways, was shortlisted for last year's Booker Prize, and yet it's only now reaching the United States. That seems like an intolerable delay for such a celebrated book, but America's fresh spasm of xenophobia makes this devastating story about the plight of immigrants all the more relevant now...Relentless.... Absorbing.... The great marvel of this book is its absolute refusal to grasp at anything larger than the hopes and humiliations of these few marginal people.... The story's momentum feels absolutely overwhelming.... Read this novel.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
A brilliant political novel, deeply felt, told in the most intimate of ways...Sahota knows how to turn a phrase, how to light up a scene, how to make you stay up late to learn what happens next. This is a novel that takes on the largest questions and still shines in its smallest details...a brilliant and beautiful novel.
Kamila Shamsie - Guardian
A novel of great moral intelligence...deeply impressive.
Claire Lowdon - Sunday Times
Sahota proves a wonderfully evocative storyteller...fascinating...the real thing.
Mihir Bose - Independent
Should be compulsory reading. A magnificent achievement.
John Harding - Daily Mail
The best novel of the year....judges of forthcoming literary prizes need look no further.
Cressida Connolly - Spectator
A rich, intricate, beautifully written novel, bursting and seething with energy.
Kate Saunders - London Times
Nothing short of an asteroid impact would have made me put the book down.
Irish Times
(Starred review.) Lyrical and incisive...a considerable achievement: [an]...exploration of the lives of three young Indian men, and one British-Indian woman, as their paths converge in Sheffield, England.... Sahota’s characters are wonderfully drawn, and imbued with depth and feeling. Their struggles to survive will remain vividly imprinted on the reader’s mind.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) This intense and dramatically realistic novel...delves into the illegal immigrant situation in contemporary England.... Sahota depicts the culture, language, and mentality of Britain's Indian immigrant community from deep within. A harrowing and moving drama of life on the edge. —James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.
Library Journal
[A]s Sahota demonstrates...every immigrant story is wholly individual, no matter how familiar it feels.... [His] observations of our broken social system are razor-sharp. When the place you've left is burning and the one you're in doesn't want you, how do you find your way home?
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Woven throughout the narrative of The Year of the Runaways is a complex exploration of class and economics. Discuss the rigidity of the class system in India. How does social class prohibit or grant economic opportunities for the characters in the novel? Does social class carry the same significance in England as it does in India?
2. What role does the gurdwara play in the community? Does it have different functions in India than it does in England? Which characters rely on it most heavily?
3. A sense of anxiety pervades throughout The Year of the Runaways, particularly regarding the prospect of raids. Discuss how this anxiety manifests for various characters. Who is most cautious in their day-to-day life?
4. Discuss Narinder’s personal evolution over the course of the novel. What is the catalyst for her rebellion? Which characters help to challenge her ideas about the roles that women can fulfill?
5. Of the three male protagonists, Randeep’s entrée into England is seemingly the least dangerous method. Discuss his experience getting to England, and his expectations for his relationship with Narinder. What hopes does he have for their marriage?
6. When Randeep and Avtar arrive in England, they initially stay in Randeep’s aunt’s home. Discuss the interaction between Avtar and Randeep’s cousin Aki on page 196. What does their conversation reveal about biases held towards immigrants? About family structure in Indian communities? Gender roles?
7. Discuss Avtar’s relationship with Dr. Cheema over the course of the novel. How does their first meeting set the tone for the rest of their interactions? How does Cheema’s own search for identity coincide with Avtar’s journey towards citizenship?
8. Tochi’s class, or caste, identity as a chamaar follows him throughout the novel. How are chamaars discussed by other characters in the novel? How is Tochi’s careful crafting of an ambiguous "immigrant identity" a means of survival? Discuss the incident with the matchmaking aunty. What does this assert about the ugly and pervasive face of classism?
9. Early in the novel, out of obligation to Randeep, Avtar chooses Avtar chooses to turn down the position that Dr. Cheema secured for him. Discuss the concept of familial obligation over personal freedom. How does this echo throughout the novel? Which characters feel that most acutely?
10. How does food serve as a form of comfort throughout The Year of the Runaways? Discuss how Tochi and Narinder’s relationship is deepened through the act of cooking.
11. On page 289, Narinder asks: "Did these women not understand that duty, that obligation, could be a form of love?" Discuss how Narinder’s understanding of her duties and obligations changes over the course of the novel. How does her faith cause familial tension? How does her relationship with Savraj expand her worldview?
12. How would you characterize Avtar and Randeep’s relationship? How much of their bond is attributed to Avtar’s obligation to Randeep’s sister? Discuss the scene wherein Avtar takes a job, leaving Randeep behind. How does the desperation for jobs strain their relationship? Other relationships in the novel?
13. Narinder and Tochi slowly forge a bond out of mutual respect and trust, and eventually realize that these feelings are that of love. Given the depth of their feelings for each other, why do you think she turns him down? Is it out of guilt? Obligation?
14. The Year of the Runaways is a novel that celebrates the incredible tenacity of the human spirit. Where does each character find hope in the most dire circumstances? What comforts them, if anything?
15. Discuss the epilogue of the novel. How would you describe the fate of each character? Which character, if any, has found happiness?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)