How May I Help You? - by Deepak Singh (Paperback)

About the Book

"How May I Help You? is Deepak Singh's insightful and thought-provoking account of disillusionment when, as an educated upper-class Indian, he moves with his American wife to the United States and discovers that America doesn't care if he has an MBA from India or had worked for the BBC. Like many immigrants before him, Singh discovers that in America employers only trust him with a minimum wage job as a clerk, but his disappointment and embarrassment soon give way to shock when he realizes that in this world of low-wage work he is joined not merely by other immigrants, but by many Americans, a whole swath of the citizenry who goes unacknowledged and unassisted in their struggles to make a living wage. In sincere and straightforward prose, Singh takes the reader along on his journey full of dismay and compassion when the expectations he had of the United States, built around interactions in India with well-educated, affluent expatriates, collide with the reality of a coworker who must skip lunch until payday and the customers who buy in anticipation of a paycheck."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In this moving and insightful work, Deepak Singh chronicles his downward mobility as an immigrant to a small town in Virginia. Armed with an MBA from India, Singh can get only a minimum-wage job in an electronics store. Every day he confronts unfamiliar American mores, from strange idioms to deeply entrenched racism.

Telling stories through the unique lens of an initially credulous outsider who is "fresh off the plane," Singh learns about the struggles of his colleagues: Ron, a middle-aged African-American man trying to keep his life intact despite health concerns; Jackie, a young African-American woman diligently attending school after work; and Cindy, whose matter-of-fact attitude helps Deepak adapt to his job and his new life.

How May I Help You? is an incisive take on life in the United States and a reminder that the stories of low-wage employees can bring candor and humanity to debates about work, race, and immigration.

From the Back Cover

"Deepak Singh shares his incredible stories of learning, feeling, beauty, work, friendship, and marriage. It is at once deeply personal and specific, while also resonating with fellow humans' similar struggles across the globe."--Dr. Susan D. Blum, author of Lies That Bind: Chinese Truth, Other Truths

"I devoured Deepak Singh's memoir at home, at work, on the subway and on the streets of New York. It's funny, eye-opening, and deeply human in its regard for working-class Americans and for all people who struggle to make ends meet. If Barbara Ehrenreich had been born in India, Nickel and Dimed might've looked a lot like this." --Arun Venugopal, WNYC

"Deepak Singh reanimates the fears, joys, bafflements, and general vertigo of those first few months after immigrating to the United States. With humor and pathos in equal measure, Singh shows us how difficult it is to work at the most insecure levels of American society." --Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia

Review Quotes

"An interesting look at a puzzling society--ours--from the point of view of a sympathetic but not uncritical outsider."

-- "Kirkus Reviews" (12/6/2016 12:00:00 AM)

"With careful candor and clarity, [Deepak Singh] shows the challenges facing new immigrants and the effort it takes to surmount them."
-- "Booklist" (2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Deepak Singh is a writer, radio producer, and journalist. He is a frequent contributor to PRI's The World and has written for The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe and The Atlantic.