The Konkans - by Tony D'Souza (Paperback)

About the Book

Francisco D'Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son in a long line of proud Konkans. His mother and his uncle Sam feed Franciscos imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history, in this novel filled with romance, comedy, and masterful storytelling.

Book Synopsis

Francisco D'Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son--all the way back to the beginning of a long line of proud Konkans. Known as the "Jews of India," the Konkans kneeled before the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's sword and before Saint Francis Xavier's cross, abandoned their Hindu traditions, and became Catholics. In 1973 Francisco's Konkan father, Lawrence, and American mother, Denise, move to Chicago, where Francisco is born. His father, who does his best to assimilate into American culture, drinks a lot and speaks little. But his mother, who served in the Peace Corps in India, and his uncle Sam (aka Samuel Erasmus D'Sai) are passionate raconteurs who do their best to preserve the family's Konkan heritage. Friends, allies, and eventually lovers, Sam and Denise feed Francisco's imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history.

Filled with romance, comedy, and masterful storytelling, The Konkans leaves us surprised by what secrets history may hold for us if only we wonder enough to look.

From the Back Cover

"There is a kind of freshness and bubbling wonder in this book, the sense of a writer genuinely searching for answers." -- The Washington PostFrancisco D Sai is a firstborn son of a firstborn son all the way back to the beginning of a long line of proud Konkans, the Jews of India, who abandoned their Hindu traditions, knelt before Vasco da Gama s sword and Saint Francis Xavier s cross, and became Catholics. In Chicago circa 1973, Francisco s Konkan father, Lawrence, does his best to assimilate into American culture. But Francisco s American, Peace Corps veteran mother, Denise, and his uncle Sam are passionate raconteurs set on preserving the family s Konkan heritage, feedingFrancisco s imagination with proud visions of India and Konkan history. Like his acclaimed debut Whiteman, Tony D Souza s The Konkans is an absorbing portrait of assimilation filled with romance, comedy, masterly storytelling, and the truth of family in any country."D'Souza's compelling tale of one extended family's trials and triumphs in a foreign land is an astute glimpse of the challenges, dangers, and rewards of assimilation." -- The Boston Globe"[F]unny and romantic and heartbreaking..." -- St. Petersburg TimesTONY D SOUZA is the author of Whiteman, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize. A Guggenheim fellow, his fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Playboy, Tin House, the Literary Review, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and elsewhere. He lives in Sarasota, Florida.

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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR WHITEMAN

"Quirky, seductive and funny . . . The author has acquired the arts of a master storyteller, and each little tale nestled in this novel has an intoxicating, fireside charm. Some of the tales are sad, or spooky or bawdy, but all of them seamlessly combine the ancient allure of folklore with a modern, Western literary elegance."--Salon

"It's the quality of vision that makes D'Souza's novel notable and, for a first book, unusual."--The New York Times Book Review --