The author is originally for Pakistan and the lead character in the stories is a Pakistani-American. Has anyone read the book?
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Rahman stories display satiric wit
The protagonist of all his stories is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – not that one, but a Pakistani-American actor who performs in everything from re-enactments of crimes on America's Most Wanted'' to a dinner-theater musical version of Apocalypse Now.‘’ In between gigs, Kareem supports himself with such odd jobs as dog-walking or, in the story Real, Actual Life,'' as a repo man for a video rental store. His job: to retrieve an overdue tape of Forrest Gump,‘’ with the help of Valentina, a woman who speaks entirely in quotes from movies. Her not doing original material was like religion in its inflexibility,'' Kareem observes. This was somewhat problematic. I’d be thinking, Love? while she’d be thinking, Line?‘’
Rahman can also give his stories a sharp edge, as in Call Me Manny,'' a post-Sept. 11 fable that begins, It was not a good time to be me.‘’ In it, Kareem hooks up with two guys who call themselves Papa (as in Hemingway'') and Wolf (as in Howling’‘) and are on their way to Florida to catch terrorists. (``It came to me that I might be dealing with people who had seen `Fight Club’ one too many times,‘’ Kareem reflects.)
Rahman was born in Pakistan and came to America when he was 18. ``I Dream of Microwaves’’ is his first book, and though the stories in it don’t show a lot of range, they display an anything-goes satiric wit and a bracing freshness of vision – though sometimes that vision may make you feel the way you do when you put on someone else’s glasses by mistake.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/books/8461687.htm?1c