The novel The Buddha of Suburbia is a novel written by Hanif Kureishi. In this novel, Kureishi depicts a young boy Karim eagerly escaping suburban London, going to the cities and United States. He first suffers from the divorce between his parents and his father’s new lover, Eva. Karim is shocked by his father’s decision to abandon his family and his mom, something not socially accepted in his time. Later, as he moves to central London, he meets different people of contrasting races and social statuses. Karim then travels to the United States to perform his play. Then, he stays with Charlie, his first crush, and his brother (Eva’s son). He undergoes a period of rampant life with unlimited money and brimful sexual temptations. With a final conflict with Charlie, Karim decides to go back to London and accepts a soap drama as an occupation. The story ends with an announcement of the marriage between Eva and his father.

       Kureishi vividly depicts all the characters with various personalities and cultural backgrounds, establishing diverse perspectives and illustrating multiple social problems. Jamila, Karim’s friend, is forced to marry Changez, arranged by her father, Anwar. Kureishi describes Anwar as a bizarre Muslim who eagerly seems to divert from society. He uses extreme mechanisms to obtain his goal and express his Muslim identity. Jamila, a strong feminist, presents how a woman struggles to find independence in that society, but the responsibility from a family tangles her. Nevertheless, she finally copes with the arranged marriage and a disabled husband by keeping a distance from her husband and living her own life, even though Changez is following her. Controversially, Changez provides unconditional love for Jamila, which never gets a response back. 

       Charlie, Eva's son, is a year older than Karim. Charlie is charismatic. Despite his appearance and personality, he is cruel. Charlie is a well-known musician, successful, and wealthy. Still, the monetary and sexual satisfaction seems to be an expression and outflow of his inability and emotions that he can’t express in front of the crowd as a public figure. Karim, the main character, is initially attracted to his charm and physical appearance. Later, Karim realizes the emptiness of his glamorous life after staying with Charlie in the United States. Charlie presents an individual who is rich but will never indeed receive the fame and respect he desires. Initiated in such high status and well-loved in school, he isn’t satisfied by the daily life with all his money and can only search for extreme sensation-seeking through pain.

       With each of such well-developed and portrayed persons, I am dragged into this society through vivid images, experiencing different people’s lives. I highly recommend this story to high-schoolers and even adults. However, the discrimination and sex incorporated in the novel may need some correct guidance and will bring misleading thoughts while it’s introduced to the students. These portrayals may be realistic or relatively exaggerated, but it certainly inspires me to deliberately think more about my relationship with different identities and religious beliefs.