The Buddha of Suburbia door Hanif Kureishi

Chapter 1

Karim Amir, seventeen years old, has his roots in India and England (his mum is English and his father Indian). He is easily bored and "looking for trouble, any kind of movement, action and sexual interest" he can find. He is ready for everything. His little brother is called Allie. At the end of the day, his father (Haroon) hands his supper to his mum (Margaret) and starts to practise his yoga exercises. In contrast to the fit Haroon, Karim´s mother is a plump and unphysical women with a pale, round face. She is ashamed of her husband's crazy ideas and begs Karim to draw the curtain so that she is sure of nobody can watch his yoga training. That night they have a meeting with Mrs. Eva Kay where Haroon may speak on one or two aspects of oriental philosophy. However, Margaret does not want to come with him because, in her opinion, Eva just wants to see Haroon and will ignore her. To her mind she is much "too English" and Eva is fascinated by Indian people. Because of that Karim joins Haroon, after taking ages to get ready for the meeting. He chooses turquoise flared trousers, a blue and white flower-patterned see-through shirt, blue suede boots with Cuban heels, and a scarlet Indian waistcoat. Karim likes to be dressed crazily.Karim has to help Haroon, who lived in England for more then twenty years since 1950 and who almost spends most of his time in South London suburbs, but still lacks any orientation of where he lives, and cannot find the way to the meeting on his own. Karim is ashamed of that. At the meeting, Karim realizes that his father and Eva are having an affair, because his father earlier told him of his unhappy marriage with his mum. Eva´s son Charlie, of whom Karim is fascinated, visits the same school as Karim. Moreover, Eva, who is good-tempered, is the only person Karim can really talk to. At the meeting everybody sits cross-legged on the floor and there is some chanting music around. Karim talks to Charlie, who tells him about his father who has nervous breakdowns and who hit Eva several times before they got divorced.The people at the meeting, basically artists, discuss about music and books and after watching them for a while, Karim reckons that they are all braggarts. Above all there comes along the aggravation with his father, who seems to have the best time of his live.Charlie invites Karim to his room in the attic, but before they go, they watch the group doing some relaxing Yoga exercises, led by Karim's father.When they arrive in Charlie’s room, Karim admires his spiritual attitude and feels inferior. Charlie impersonates his wishes and Karim wants to be like him. They listen to Pink Floyd and smoke a joint, so that Karim is impressed by the world Charlie lives in, a world of “mysticism, alcohol, sexual promise, clever people and drugs”.When he recognizes that his dad and Eva aren’t in the group of “hypnotized Buddhas” anymore, he looks for them and sees them having sex. After watching them, he returns to Charly and a sexual tension between them develops. They lay together in his bed and fumble around. Just before they kiss, Haroon and Eva enter the room and interrupt them. Back home, Karim's dad gets very angry about him and they argue. Also his mum gets upset when she sees her husband that drunken, so they sleep separated that night. After that incident, Karim’s dad doesn’t speak for several weeks and Karim recognizes how sick of life his mother is, but neither he nor his dad help her. Instead Karim reads her sketch pad and sees that she knows about Haroon’s affair. At the end of chapter one, Karim and his father get along again and Haroon tells him about his new business plans.

Chapter 2

Haroon and Anwar were neighbours and best friends when they lived in Bombay (Mumbai). Moreover, they did a lot of things together. Haroon thinks that Karim should become an actor but in fact he wants him to become a doctor with an ordinary life. Earlier Haroon was sent to England to be educated and after that to return to India again. But he did not know he would never see his mother again. But it put out Haroon had problems in practical life, especially concerning household chores. Living in London was not very comfortable for Haroon and he met a lot of poor people, he thought they would not exist in England. Above all Haroon and Anwar had to stay somewhere and they found an opportunity in the house of Dr. Lal, who is an Indian dentist and a friend of Haroon’s father. As to Anwar, he likes prostitutes, but he is married with ‘princess’ Jeeta. Moreover he studied in the north of London. Haroon did not take his studies very seriously, because he wasn’t able to concentrate. Later on Haroon got to know Margaret in a bar and they loved each other at first sight. At this time of his life he just drank beer and ended up as a low-paid clerk. Later on Anwar won a lot of money and established a shop with the help of Jeeta. Haroon begins to talk about Chinese philosophy which makes the others crazy and it seems he lives in another world where money does no matter. Haroon thinks that he can’t be successful in a community of white people, but Anwar wants him to begin a normal life again. Haroon meets Eva who is also impressed of Buddhist thoughts and shares his interests. Moreover they always dream of a better life, especially when passing nice housing areas. In the end a girl called Helen appears. She seems to be interested in Karim who rather dreams of Charly who has not called him since their last meeting.

Chapter 3

The 3rd chapter is centred around Uncle Ted and Aunt Jean also known as Gin and Tonic. Auntie Jean is Karim's mother's older sister. Uncle Ted and Karim have always had a nice relationship. The couple arranges big parties where money, power and social status are in the foreground. Therefore Karim´s family doesn´t really fit in. Unfortunately, Uncle Ted and Auntie Jean notice that Haroon has an affair with Eva. Aunt Jean is shocked and explains that she was really unhappy about Karim's father being black when he married Margaret, her sister.
The same day Karim goes to Helen to meet her. All of a sudden her father opens the door to show his utter disrespect and discrimination against coloured people. At that point, one realizes that Karim will face big problems if he dares to touch Helen. After the harsh ejection Karim realizes the dog's attraction to him. He even goes so far to think that the dog is in love with him, because he is treated like a sex-object by the dog.

Chapter 4

Karim thinks about the relationship between Eva and his Dad, when Ted comes to their house and talks to Karim's Mum about the situation. Then he goes to see Haroon in his room, who convinces him to fix his record-player. Ted tries to make him stop being a Buddhist and holding speeches in front of people, but Karim's Dad doesn't really listen to him. Instead, he starts ''freeing'' Ted from his work and his boring life. He influences him until Ted bursts into tears and is persuaded to change his way of life. Karim cycles to Anwar's and Jeeta's Paradise Store. Jeeta adjures him to go out for a walk with Jamila, on which he tells her everything about the events at home. She doesn't really help him to handle his problems. Then Jamila tells him about her problems, how she and her family have to tolerate all the racial discrimination, that her father was always worried about her future and, because of that, he tries to control her and decided to arrange a marriage for her. Jamila would already have run away and lived somewhere else, if Anwar didn't abuse Jeeta for all this. Karim thinks, that Anwar isn't able to make Jamila do things she doesn't want, but then she shows Anwar to him. He is on a hunger strike trying to extort Jamila and looks pretty awful. She is really desperate and even Karim has no idea how to help her.

Chapter 5

He thinks about all these things while he cycles to a teashop in another part of the town. But then he observes his father calling Eva from a public phone. When his father recognizes him, he goes to Karim and they have a conversation about Eva and his feelings for her in contrast to the feelings for Karim’s mother. Haroon doesn’t want his wife to suffer and he isn’t sure if he should leave her. After that he hugs and kisses Karim, then they both go their own way. That day Karim feels very close to his dad, but afterwards at home nothing has changed.
The following days Jamila’s situation becomes worse, so she wants to meet Karim after school. But that day he meets Helen at school, who kisses him and wants to spend the afternoon with him . He agrees because he has forgotten about the meeting with Jamila. Near school, they also meet Charlie, who usually ignores Karim, because of his success with his band “Mustn't Grumble”. But Charlie knows Helen and talks to her, so Karim uses the situation to ask him about his mother. After that conversation, Karim decides to encourage his father and Eva to get together, because that way he will be connected to Charlie for years. When Helen and Karim leave school, they meet Jamila and they spend the day in a threesome. Helen gets to know about Anwar's hungerstrike and that Jamila has to obey or he would die. For Jamila there is no way out, so the three decide to ask Karim's father for help. His dad meditates about the problem while Jamila, Karim and Helen go for a walk and finally they go into a pub. There they talk about Charlie’s sudden fame (Helen’s impressed, Jamila doesn't like him at all) and Jamila gets drunk. Later that night they go back to Karim's father who doesn't answer with "yes" or "no" to Jamila, but he talks about the loss of old values, spirit and culture. About secularism, materialism and other problems of a modern society. He says that Jamila has to think about the persons she lives with and that happiness is only possible if one follows his own feelings, intuition and real desires. For him only unhappiness is gained by acting in accordance with duty, obligation, guilt or the desire to please others. At that moment Karim knows that his father is going to leave his mother, but when Helen and Karim take Jamila home, she also makes a decision.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 deals with the arrival of Jamila's husband-to-be Changez, his integration into Anwar's family, and with Haroon's decision to be with Eva. Karim, Jamila and Jeeta drive to the airport to pick up Jamila's husband-to-be called Changez "Not-Flaubert". When they drive with the Rover of Helen`s dad "Hairy Back", it is a kind of revenge for Karim because Helen's father doesn't like him and would be very angry if he knew that some Indian guys were sitting in his car. Changez and Jamila are about to stay at the "Ritz" for a couple of nights. When the car turns into the street, Anwar is standing in the window of his "paradise shop" waiting for them anxiously.
Later, Anwar celebrates his victory over the women with Karim only because there is no one else to celebrate with. Anwar wants to take his wife Jeeta to an Indian restaurant because she is so loving towards her family. According to Anwar, Jamila will become pregnant and have many Indian children, which makes Anwar glad.
Jamila wants to tell Karim about her decision to marry the man her father has chosen for her but Karim forgets the meeting. He is so ecstatic about his triumph over the dog-owners daughter whom he has had sex with in the park. At dinner, Karim notices that Jamila wears the traditional Indian clothes for married women. After a few words with Changez, Karim begins to like him and is willing to show him the city. Karim meets his dad and Eva in Eva`s car and drives away with them because he wants to see Charlie, and he leaves Helen alone. That is the last time he sees her. On the way to Eva's home, Karim notices that she and his dad are a couple because his dad doesn't take his eyes off her face and their hands are constantly touching each other. When they arrive at Eva's home, she shoves Karim upstairs to Charlie's room. He sees that she and his dad go into the front room hand in hand and close the door behind them to have sex. Later, Karim's dad tells him that he wants to be with Eva.

Chapter 7

Karim’s parents get separated and he leaves the house with Eva and his dad to live with them at Eva’s place.
After a while Karim stops going to school and visits a college which Eva arranged for him. Unfortunately, he soon stops going there too and strolls around London, living at several places like Jamila's and Changez', who now have a little flat in South London. Changez has to sleep on a camp-bed in the livingroom because Jamila doesn’t want to sleep in bed with him. She has quit school, too, but unlike Karim she educates herself and reads a lot. Changez works in Anwar's shop for a while until Anwar gets mad at him because he doesn’t do his job properly. Changez gets injured because of Anwar, stops working and starts to stroll around in London with Karim. After a while both, Karim and "Chagey", become mates. One day Karim is asked by Changez if he thinks that Jamila will ever sleep with him, but he says that he doesn't think so and after Changez has had another argument with Anwar he visits a prostitute named Shinko with whom he sleeps from time to time because Jamila doesn’t want to sleep with him. Karim visits his mother who now lives with his Uncle Ted and his Aunt Jean. He feels very sad for her because she looks very unhappy and weak and she tells him that she feels like nobody loves her, even after Karim assures his aunt that Ted loves her and will be there for her.
After visiting his mother he goes to Jamila's and Changez's place and Changez tells Karim to keep Jamila distracted, while he visits Shinko. When Changez goes away Karim and Jamila have sex and Karim tells her about Changez and the prostitute Shinko but Jamila doesn’t seem to bother much. When Karim wakes up again Changez is back and watches him and Jamila from his camp-bed. So Karim leaves the flat in a hurry, leaving Changez and Jamila to their problems and feeling like he has betrayed everyone.

Chapter 8

Karim tells his father that he failed all of his exams, because he skipped school. His father gets angry, but Karim doesn't care. The next day Karim sees Uncle Ted at Eva's house in his dungaree. Eva wants to do reconstruction on the house and wants Haroon and Karim to help her with it. Then Karim is introduced to Shadwell, a theatre director and friend of Eva's. She helped him with one of his productions and they went out to dinners and parties together. She also takes Haroon to these parties, to meet people she thinks to be important. Though Haroon is living with Eva now, he still cares a lot for Margaret and feels guilty, because she suffers from their separation. Eva notices that and isn't too happy about it, of course. Haroon, Eva and Karim go to all of Charly's gigs, but they feel the band lacks an individual sound. Although he isn't very successful with his music, Charlie still behaves like God walking on earth. He seems to be able to make anyone fall in love with him. On the other hand, Karim starts seeing his relationship to Charlie with different eyes. He can't understand that his charm attracted him for so long. Finally, after one of Charlie's gigs, Karim tells him off, and leaves a baffled Charlie behind.

Chapter 9

Karim moves with his ‘new’ Family (including Eva, Charlie and his father) to West Kensington, which is situated in central London near Hyde Park. The flat that Eva buys to start a new chapter in her life, with all the furniture and damages, is dowdy and looks as if nobody lived in there for centuries.
Except Eva, nobody likes their new home. There aren’t any beds aside from an old sofa, so Karim and Charlie have to sleep in the front room. Eva is glad about the situation and knows exactly what it is supposed to look like in the future and neither Haroon and Charlie nor Karim denigrate her flat when she is present.
Impressed by the big city, Karim feels free but doesn't know what to do with this freedom. He just has to settle in the (big) city life. Karim appreciates the fact, that living in such a huge city also means anonymity.

Karim's main aim during his night-time activities is the "Nashville", a famous bar. After a night being there together with Charlie, Karim goes home alone, because Eva’s son seizes his chance to get to know the members of a punk band by jumping in their car after the show. Eva brims over with enthusiasm for parties and so she organizes one in their flat. She invites half of London. When Jamila, Changez and the Japanese woman arrive Karim is happy and talks to them, until Eva comes. Changez tells him, that Jamila is now friends with Shinko (the Japanese) and warns Karim not to forget his old friends. One of the many guests is Shadwell, a healthy, successful and well-known man, a long-time friend of Eva's. To help Karim with his career in London, she wants him to speak with Shadwell about theatre and acting, because Shadwell owns a theatre for one season and that's why he looks for actors who want to be set in his play. Shadwell invites Karim to prove his talent for acting. Karim works hard and it’s worth the effort. Shadwell is enthusiastic and offers Karim the main part in the play ‘The Jungle Book’ as Mowgli.

Chapter 10

In this chapter Karim´s mum leaves Ted and Jean and moves back into their old house. Now she feels much better and she’s active again, though she has become a bit fat. She still doesn’t speak very much and she does things she has never done before. One day, when the rehearsals start, Karim says goodbye to his mum and leaves South London to stay with his Dad and Eva once more. He looks forward to the work and being with the other actors, in the pub and the café. At first he feels bad, because of his costume as Mowgli he feels wrong and Mr. Shadwell doesn´t even try to understand him. Karim and the other actor named Terry become friends. They talk every day and Karim likes him more than anyone he has met for a long time. During rehearsal Karim gains confidence. At the flat there are drinks, parties and little dinners every week. Eva starts her career and gets more and more successful. One night Karim sees Charlie, he doesn´t recognize him at first, because he has only seen photographs of his new personality, his new punk style is very different from his old one. After this meeting he goes with Eva to one of Charlie's gigs to see what it was that has turned him into a new person. Karim is very impressed by Charlie's big con trick. The dress rehearsal of "The Jungle Book" is very good, no one forgets their lines and technically all is fine except for one slip. One evening Karim's mum, Ted and Jean come to see the preview, his mum now works as a receptionist at a doctor´s practise. One night the theatre director Pyke books a ticket for The Jungle Book and because of that everybody is very nervous. Pyke is the most important visitor, he has his own company and he's very popular and successful. Terry thinks that Pyke is looking about him to give him a job but Pyke wants to talk to Karim. The other actors are amazed and resentful that Pyke wants to talk to him. Pyke offers him a job, everybody reacts very jealous, especially Mr Shadwell is very angry with Karim and even Terry is jealous as well, even though he's a good friend of Karim's.

Chapter 11

Karim joins Pyke's new theatre group. It's a group of 6 people, 3 men and 3 women, no one is older than 30 years. After Pyke and the 6 actors are presented to the reader, the atmosphere in the group is described.
One time the group tells each other stories of their past, so they basically talk about sex. Karim gets attracted to Eleanor and he gives up on Terry. A few days later Pyke asks Karim if he knows another black man as a model character for Karim. Karim thinks of his uncle Anwar and starts to visit him every day to study his behavior, but some days later he is glad every time he gets the chance to leave uncle Anwar.
The following passages deal with Karim and Eleanor becoming intimate. He often visits her at her flat in Ladbroke Grove. Eleanor stems from a high social level, her father (American) owns a bank and her mother (British) is a well-respected portrait painter, but Eleanor does not have good manners. Later a man called Heater is introduced. He is Eleanor's guardian and Karim's rival for Eleanors affection. Heater's purpose in life is to protect Eleanor and to ensure her happiness. Karim and Heater hate each other. But one day when Karim and Eleanor are alone they start to kiss. At this point Karim gives a reflection of the last weeks, he has changed very much and he recognizes, that he is completely uneducated and he is angry about this fact. Back in Pyke's theatre-group, the actors present their characters to the rest of the group. Karim's presentation triggers a discussion about Anwar. Anwar shows Indians as unorganized aggressors, supporting the prejudices that white people already have about them.

Chapter 12

Chapter twelve of “the Buddha of Suburbia” mainly consists of three parts. In the first part Karim talks with Changez and tells him that he wants to play his character in Pyke’s theatre production. First Changez agrees but when he admits that he would do anything to just kiss Jamila once and that he truly loves her he becomes very furious because Karim tells him this is never going to happen. The result of their discussion about Jamila’s behavior is that Changez refuses to let Karim play his character in the play. Karim even has to promise he won’t play Changez. In the second part Karim drives to Eleanor's where he first meets Heater who tells him he cannot go to her. Nevertheless Karim goes up to Eleanor’s flat and finds her naked and crying as she suffers from a depression. Eleanor doesn't talk to Karim and so he starts to think about Changez again and realizes that he is confronted with a moral dilemma. When Karim wants to leave Eleanor starts to talk again and the two of them sleep together for the first time, which makes Karim confess that he is in love with Eleanor and that he has got strong emotions for her. As a consequence Karim becomes afraid of love. When he presents Changez as his character for the play in front of the group, Tracey doesn’t like it again, but Pyke decides that Karim can play this role. Afterwards Pyke drives Karim home and offers him to sleep with Marlene (his wife) as a "present". Furthermore he tells Karim that he has told Eleanor to go for him and invites both of them for supper. In the third and last part Karim realizes how helpless his dad is and that he actually considers him as a separate person and not as his dad. In the end Karim talks to Jamila on the phone who accuses him of moving away from the real world, which means from the ordinary people.

Chapter 13

The thirteenth chapter mainly takes place at the house of Pyke and Marlene. Karim and Eleanor visit the two actors in their impressive mansion: A four-storey place, with a watered front garden smothered in flowers and two sport cars outside. It has dark red and green walls and 1960s furniture. As they come in and sit together, they've several topics to talk about and try to have a comfortable evening. At first, Eleanor and Karim have small talk. He wants to know from her which experiences she has made with her last boyfriend. She responds that he's "bloody dead" and that she doesn't want to talk about it at the moment. Karim seems disappointed and Eleanor adds: "It would be dangerous to lay myself open to you." Pyke and Marlene come downstairs, dressed up for their guests, followed by their Irish maid, in order to begin with the dinner. At the table, Pyke is quiet and only speaks in clichés while Marlene does most of the talking. When Percy, Pike's son, comes in they have an "afterdinner joint". All four of them are now a little drunk and dizzy, especially Marlene, who is involved in a deep, intimate conversation with Karim. Funnily enough, they talk about Gene, who died from an overdose of drugs, as they smoke their joint. But Marlene is able to achieve what she wants: She hugs him and convinces Karim to kiss her. In the end, they've sex together and beside them lie Pyke and Eleanor who seem to have much pleasure. Marlene describes their evening like as follows: "There's so much we can do tonight! There's hours and hours of total pleasure for us..."

Chapter 14

Karim asks Eva to let Eleanor work for her too, and says, that he won't work for her, unless Eleanor does it too. Finally Eva agrees, but she decreases his wages by twenty five per cent. After the work is done, Karim goes with Eleanor to her place and then to the Bush, a small theatre. Karim describes these days as the best days and describes how he sleeps with her while both of them are half asleep. He thinks about probably living out his father's dream who once said when he was drunk that Indians love plump white women with fleshy thighs.
Karim feels that something bad will happen. One day, Changez meets uncle Anwar in the street. They have not seen each other for a long time and uncle Anwar wants to beat Changez due to the bad impression he has of him. Changez defends himself with a dildo and Anwar collapses and is taken to hospital for intensive care. While Karim and his brother visit Anwar in hospital, Haroon doesn't want to go and see Anwar at all. Even when Karim asks and begs his father to talk to Anwar, he refuses because he has fallen out with him.
Eventually Anwar dies of what heart failure. Because of that, Jamila decides to change her life and to move away to Peckham without Changez, who they all call "dildo killer" because of the incident with Anwar.
Jamila says that Changez could move back to Bombay to his family and that they never really were husband and wife. Finally she she gives in to Changez' pleads and allows him to move in with to their new neighborhood.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15 starts with a closer description of Pyke from Karim's point of view, for example that he's a good director and that he also likes other people even when they are difficult. Karim and his acting group start a tour. He is playing an immigrant who comes from a small town in India. To escape from the anxiety and the tension of whether the play is going to be successful or not, Karim visits Changez at his new place. Changez expresses his doubts about whether he can stay in the house or not, because every night he hears Jamila having sex with another flatmate - Simon - next door. While Karim and Changez are loafing around, Karim recognizes how poor this end of the city - South London - is compared to the London he is living in (there are housing estates looking like prison camps full of graffiti). After Karim and his group start previewing their play in London, Jamila rings to tell Karim that Changez has been attacked under a railway bridge when returning from Shinko. Unfortunately these attacks are happening all the time to foreigners and they can't stop it, they can only demonstrate, so Karim promises to join them in confronting the fascists. The day of the march, Karim sees Eleanor going into Pyke's house. In the train, he confronts her with his observations and Eleanor says that Pyke attracts her and she can't have men telling her what to do. So Karim resolves to break with Eleanor. For Karim it's difficult "to fall out of love" and he starts getting sick of theatre people and starts turning numb. Beside all of this, the opening of the play is a huge triumph. After the opening, for Karim it's surprising that his parents are there and are talking to each other, even in a friendly way. We also find out that Jamila is pregnant from Simon. Jamila is disappointed with Karim and blames him for not being at the march. At the end of the chapter, Karim needs some distance so he walks out to the river Thames where he meets a girl named Hilary. They also meet Heater, Eleanor's "protector", who wants to beat up Karim because he hates him, but the girl and he are able to run away.

Chapter 16

The show is so successful, that extra shows are planned. When Karim and his crew go out after the performance, people recognize them and and make them offers. So Karim appreciates his advantages of being an actor, he makes lots of new acquaintances with women and most of the time they don’t need to pay for their drinks, etc. Pyke asks the theater group if they could imagine to perform the show in New York. He gives them some time to think about the offer and invites Karim to his house at the weekend. In Pyke's house Pyke and Marlene have a an argument after she kisses Karim. He tells her to leave Karim alone, but she reproaches Pyke with going out with Karim's girlfriend, but Karim confirms that they have broken up. Because he wants to do Terry a favor, he asks Pyke for the money Terry needs to raise for his political party and Pyke agrees. He gives him a cheque of five hundred pounds. Before he hands out the cheque warns Karim that he needs to take care otherwise he will only be used by his friends. Then Karim leaves Pyke's house with the cheque. Furthermore Karim wants to ask Eleanor for more money and he takes the opportunity at the theater. He tries to explain that there is a difference between love and business but she just ignores him. Eleanor refuses to give Karim five hundred pounds because she is of the opinion that the Party is a "honky –thing" and doesn’t support the blacks. Then Karim visits Terry in his house in Brixton to tell him about the cheque Pyke gave him.Terry and Karim have an argument after Karim tells him about his plans to go to America with Pyke. Terry reproaches Karim that he is not attached to anything and requests him to fight for the Party and stay in London. Karim says goodbye with the intention to go to America.

Chapter 17

After the opening night, the theatre crew goes to an apartment building for a little party. There are some famous actors. Dr. Bob who runs the theatre has arranged a little show with black people dancing and playing on drums. Karim realizes, how much he likes Eleanor and that he doesn't know her at all. After the party they go to Pyke's bedroom. Pyke is admired by everyone and when Karim wants to talk to Eleanor, he makes them stay and listen to his writings. He reads something out loud but Karim doesn't listen. Pyke reads out loud predictions about Karim he wrote down months ago: How much Karim wanted to fuck someone and that it didn't matter if it was a girl or a boy. But among all the actresses he liked to fuck Eleanor the most. Karim is embarrassed and leaves the house. Charlie, who lives in New York comes and picks him up. Charlie offers Karim to stay with him. Charlie has become a famous rock star and he has released an album. In Charlie's house girls always hang around. The show of the crew doesn't last long. All the crew-members leave New York but Karim stays with Charlie. But then two events happen and they make Karim decide to go back to London. First Charlie beats up a desperate journalist, who wants to interview him. The second event is when Charlie invites a prostitute to torture him. He makes Karim watch him. That's the point of time when Karim makes his decision to go back to London.

Chapter 18

Supplied with the money Charlie gives him, Karim is able to buy a ticket and fly to London. He is very happy to be back home again and visits Terry, who tells him that there will be an election soon, because the government were defeated in the vote the day before, so that he hopes to win with his party. The next day he talks to the producers of the soap opera, he is being considered for and he finally gets the part, although he thinks that the people at the team are boring. In the soap he is going to play a rebellious student, who is the son of an Indian shopkeeper. With this news and with the feeling that he will be very popular over night he visits Eva and his Dad. When he arrives, Eva is just being interviewed by two people from the“Furnishings” magazine, because she wants to sell their place and move on. Karim notices that she does not recognise him immediately and knows that he has changed and got older during his time in New York. But also his Dad has a different appearance and looks very old and as if he is ill, in contrast to Eva, who seems to be fresh and businesslike. The journalists take photos of Eva and her house, which Karim considers to be very admirable, and they ask her about it and her philosophy of life. At that point, Eva sits down beside Haroon, and Karim realises that she still loves him a lot, but that his Dad does not behave like someone who loves. Eva then starts to tell how she has changed her life with her will to survive when she got to know that she had cancer. In her point of view, everybody has to empower oneself and one should not expect others to manage everything. She is not able to cease talking so that the interviewers finally have to stop her. They begin to question Karim’s Dad and he explains to them, that he will remain Indian to all intents and purposes, because he only thought the English to be superior when he was young. The society and achievements in the west are supposed to be the richest in the world, but something is missing: “There is no deepening in culture, no accumulation of wisdom and there are only body and mind, but no soul!” When they do not understand his statement, he only says, that this failure in their way of life will soon defeat them. Suddenly Uncle Ted comes into the room and desperately informs all of them that his wife fell down the stairs. A few minutes later, the reporters of “Furnishings” leave and Karim is able to talk to his Uncle, who has developed and is now like he was in earlier days. He loves his job and is glad that Eva has “saved” him. The two of them, Eva and Ted, eventually quit the house to work, and Haroon opens his heart to his son. He says that he feels unpleasant and alone due to Eva’s business, which keeps her away from him for too much time and that he sometimes even hates her for that. Furthermore he wants him to know that he has made the decision to quit his job and start teaching meditation to encourage people to think, because he thinks this is the destination of his life. Having spoken to his dad, Karim leaves to see his mother. He finds his brother Allie at their home and is amazed by his development. He is self-confident, works for a clothes designer and has enough money, too. When Karim tells him about his part in the soap opera, Allie is really enthusiastic about it and Karim cannot believe that this is really his brother. His mother is not at home at that moment, and Allie informs him that she has now got a boyfriend called Jimmy who seems to be very nice. When she finally arrives at home, she is nervous and announces that “a friend” is coming round later that day and she starts getting dressed and makes their home look comfortable. She does not want Jimmy to know that she still has got two sons who are that old, because that would make her seem less attractive to him. Due to that, she sends the boys away and the two of them can only observe Jimmy from outside by looking through the window. (Lisa V. Waninger) Karim is disappointed because of his mother’s new boyfriend. He’s an Englishman and not an Indian. Karim feels like his mother has let him and his family down. While walking through London with his brother Allie, Karim feels quite surprised, that the city has changed that much, while he was in America. “No hippies or punks” are there anymore, only well dressed people. But this makes Karim feel uncomfortable. He thinks he’s not indifferent enough to seduce someone. So he goes home, where he actually doesn’t stay for a long time either and goes out again to visit Changez and Jamila for the first time after his return from America. When he enters their house, he feels “like a dog about to be kicked”. Changez is not that happy to see Karim again, because he’s occupied with caring for Leila Kollontai, Jamila’s daughter and he’s doing the washing and the cooking as well.
Jamila is in a lesbian relationship now, because Simon, Leila’s father, left for America.
While Karim’s in their house, Changez and Jamila have an argument about their relationship. Changez only wants to be loved by Jamila and he neither understands nor to believes that she dates a woman. He's disappointed because he still loves her and wants to be her husband not only on paper, but Jamila won’t agree to his arguments and wishes. Changez starts to blame Karim for being the person that stands between a real relationship between him and Jamila.
While visiting his Dad and Eva, Karim tells his Dad about his role in the soap opera but his father doesn’t seem to be content with it. As they talk about Karim’s Mum, Haroon for the first time really seems to regret having left his former wife. At the very end of the chapter Karim invites his family for dinner. Everybody seems to have fun and Karim is glad to see them all happy together. At the end of the evening, Eva announces that she and Haroon are very happy together and that they want to marry. Everybody is happy about their luck.
The book ends with Karim reflecting about his situation. He’s glad to be back in London, in the city he loves, and finally feels accepted. All the people surrounding him are people he loves, and he feels happy and miserable at the same time, because he knows now “what a mess it all had been, but that it wouldn’t always be that way”.