Sorry for the Inconvenience - by Farah Naz Rishi

Book Synopsis

"Incredible...this story ripped my heart in two, had me grabbing for the tissues, and then put me back together again." --Mindy Kaling

From a Pakistani American author comes a bracing memoir about tradition, upending expectations, and the volatility of family, friendship, and, inevitably, love.

Pakistani American Farah Naz Rishi's first year of college was perfectly, thankfully, uneventful. After all, she was in college to learn and forge a path of self-sufficiency, especially after her last relationship fell apart--dashing her mother's aspirations for an early marriage. What could Farah expect, anyway? For the ideal guy to just conveniently waltz into her life? Life isn't a love story.

Enter Stephen, a Jamaican student with an open smile and a disarmingly laid-back attitude. It's not love at first sight. And there's no way Farah's mother would approve of him as marriage material. But they have something better: an inexplicable connection. Through a series of impossible tragedies, grief, and trying to find her place in the world, Stephen is always there as Farah's confidant, champion, and, most of all, best friend. Anything more could ruin a perfectly good thing...Right?

Spanning thirteen years of complex family dynamics and a surprising kinship, Farah Naz Rishi's story explores the unpredictability of love--familial, platonic, and romantic, but never truly instant.

Review Quotes

"With forthright prose and dashes of acerbic humor, Rishi does justice to the complexities of inchoate affection and cross-cultural clashes. It's powerful stuff." --Publishers Weekly

"This memoir is incredibly unputdownable--readers will leave it breathless and in awe of Rishi's clarity and strength...All will be endlessly grateful to Rishi for sharing so generously her experiences of the beautiful contradictions of family." --Booklist (starred review)

"Eloquent, intimate, fascinating and memorable..." --Midwest Book Review