Gabriel's Gift - by Hanif Kureishi (Paperback)

About the Book

Portraying the seemingly perpetual adolescence of the sixties generation through the eyes of its children and capturing the spirit of the new generation as well, "Gabriel's Gift" becomes a multilayered meditation on fame, failure, other family legacies, the nature of talent, and the possibility of redemption.

Book Synopsis

Gabriel's father, a washed-up rock musician, has been chucked out of the house by Gabriel's mother, who works nights and sleeps days. Lonely Gabriel finds solace in a mysterious connection to his deceased twin, Archie, and in his gift for producing real objects simply by drawing them. Then a chance visit with rock star Lester Jones, his father's former band mate, provides Gabriel with a tool that might help mend his family. All he has to do is figure out how to use it.
Hanif Kureishi portrays Gabriel's naive hope and artistic aspirations with the same insight that he brought to the Anglo-Indian experience in The Buddha of Suburbia and to infidelity in Intimacy. Gabriel's Gift is a tender meditation on failure, talent, and the power of imagination, and offers a humorous portrait of a generation that only started to think about growing up when its children did.

Review Quotes

Matthew Craft The Hartford Courant Smart, sensitive, and brisk...Gabriel's Gift does what many of us are unable to do: It plumbs through the small deceits and cheap antagonisms of everyday family life and emerges open-eyed and smiling.

Stephanie Zacharek Newsday Compact and lovely...Kureishi's love of pop music sings out on every page.

Todd Pruzan The Washington Post A gently charming, comic novel, exhibiting the brilliant dialogue that makes Kureishi's movies so entertaining.

About the Author

Hanif Kureishi is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is the author of nine novels, including The Buddha of Suburbia (winner of the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel), The Black Album, Intimacy, and The Nothing. He was twice nominated for Oscars for best original screenplay (My Beautiful Laundrette and Venus, which starred Peter O'Toole). In 2010 Kureishi received the prestigious PEN/Pinter Prize. He lives in London.