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Growing up as a first generation Pakistani-American in the suburbs of Wisconsin was, at best, unusual circumstance for a young boy. Hayat Shah's life brightens when his mother's best friend, Mina, shows up from Pakistan to rebuild her life after a vicious divorce back in her homeland. Beautiful, brilliant, and devout, Mina teaches the eleven-year old Hayat about his Islamic faith, opening him up to a way of life that seems, to him, as wondrous as Mina herself. But when Mina falls in love with Hayat's father best friend, Nathan Wolff, a local Jewish intellectual and doctor, problems ensue. The local Muslim-American community's anti-Semitism blends and incubates Hayat's jealousy about losing Mina, driving a dramatic rift through the Shah household.
Set in the 1980s, AMERICAN DERVISH chronicles young Hayat's journey deep into the Islamic faith, and the damage his journey inflicts on the one person he loves more than anyone, Mina.
About the author
Ayad Akhtar is an American-born, first-generation Pakistani-American from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. An alumnus of the Graduate Film Program at Colombia University, he is the author of numerous plays and screenplays. He was star and co-writer of The War Within, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and was released internationally. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and an International Press Academy Satellite Award for Best Picture. His stage play, Disgraced, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013. American Dervish is his first novel.
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Summary
An extraordinary debut from a talented new writer
