50 pages • 1 hour read
Hanif KureishiThe Buddha of Suburbia
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
In the Suburbs
Chapter 1 Summary
17-year-old Karim Amir, born to an English mother and an Indian father, lives with his family in a South London suburb. He also has a younger brother, Allie (Aman). He yearns for excitement and adventure, because his home life is “gloomy, slow and heavy” (3). One day, everything changes. His father, Haroon Amir, comes home from work as usual, but by the time Karim goes to bed that night, his life is forever different.
Haroon has been asked to give a talk on Eastern philosophy by his friend, Eva Kay. Karim goes with his father to Eva Kay’s house. Margaret Amir’s refusal to go hear her husband speak is a turning point in their relationship, leading directly to its end. Karim, who clearly hates his suburban life, refers to the adults surrounding him as the “miserable undead” (10).
Eva Kay is a family friend, who knows Haroon and Karim well; she recommends books to Karim and talks to him like he’s a grown-up. Both Haroon and Karim seem fascinated by her. After the talk, which is taken seriously by the suburban, white, English people, Karim spies on his father and sees him and Eva having sex.
Karim has a sexual encounter with Charlie Kay, who is a year ahead of Karim at school. Karim admires Charlie intensely, both for his rebellious behavior and his physical beauty. Karim is extremely attracted to Charlie, who usually does not respond to Karim’s advances. On this night, Charlie allows Karim to touch him.
Karim’s father walks in on them. Haroon is extremely upset at the revelation that Karim is gay. Karim tells Haroon that he doesn’t have much moral authority over Karim, after what Karim just witnessed. The two form an uneasy alliance over their secrets, which must be hidden from the rest of the family.
Chapter 2 Summary
This chapter begins with Karim revealing his father’s idyllic, privileged childhood in Bombay and Haroon’s ambition that Karim become a doctor. Raised with servants to take care of his every need, Haroon’s expectations crash against a different reality in England. As Karim explains it, “Life was thrashing him for being a child, an innocent who’d never had to do anything for himself” (26). In an attempt to deal with his disappointment with the reality of his life, Haroon makes a serious study of philosophy, particularly Eastern philosophy, meditation, and yoga.
Haroon’s childhood friend, Anwar, immigrated to London with Haroon; they both came to England to study at universities. Haroon studied law, and Anwar studied engineering. The two men remain lifelong friends. Karim and Haroon visit Anwar in the grocery store he runs with his wife, Princess Jeeta. Karim sarcastically refers to her as a princess, but in fact, she is an Indian princess.
No one in Haroon’s family, including Anwar, understands or appreciates Eastern philosophy. In fact, Anwar makes fun of Haroon’s hobby. Despite everyone else’s bafflement and disinterest, Haroon is driven to discover the secrets of life. Haroon works as a government clerk in London.
Though he doesn’t share his father’s interest in philosophy, Karim sees the positive effect that his father’s innocence and sympathetic interest has on others, along with his genuine desire to share his philosophical notions—a quiet mind, self-knowledge, and being true to yourself. Haroon has something that others respond to, so Karim cannot dismiss his father as a fraud or a charlatan.
About a month after the first talk, Eva Kay arranges another opportunity for Haroon to speak to a group of her friends. At this event, Eva announces that she is trying to get them all to London. Just as Haroon is about to begin speaking to the group, Karim’s Aunt Jean and Uncle Ted walk in.
Chapter 3 Summary
Aunt Jean is Margaret Amir’s sister and Uncle Ted is her husband. They are both alcoholics. They have wandered into their neighbor’s house, on Margaret’s orders, only to find their brother-in-law disporting himself as a yogic guru. They are both flabbergasted and upset, especially Aunt Jean.
Karim gives a little background on Jean and Ted. They refuse to call Haroon by his Indian name, instead calling him “Harry,” a more acceptable English name. Unable to fight them openly, Haroon takes revenge by calling them Gin and Tonic. Karim loves his Uncle Ted, because he is useful and knows how to do things, like fish, unlike his father.
Karim meets a girl his age named Helen. She is attracted to Karim, but Karim insists that he’s not attracted to her, since he’s preoccupied with Charlie. However, Karim and Helen exchange addresses and telephone numbers. Charlie, now with his hair dyed silver, arrives with a hippie girl. Karim is upset and distracted. He tries to focus on “God’s” (Haroon’s) instructions, which consist of a brief lecture and questions, followed by yoga and meditation.
The evening is a great success, but when they get home, Margaret is on the telephone with her sister, Jean, getting a full report of the evening. Karim does not know what his father is thinking or what he is up to. He suspects that his father is in love with Eva.
The next morning, Karim bikes over to Helen’s house, where her father refuses to let him see her, calls him names, including ‘blackie,’ ‘coon,’ and ‘nigger,’ and chases him away with his dog.
Next, he stops by to see his Aunt Jean, at her request. Uncle Ted, who avoids confrontations, listens while Aunt Jean castigates Karim for his father’s behavior. She expects Karim to stop his father from conducting an affair with Eva Kay and giving any more spiritual talks. Jean is embarrassed, and Margaret is upset.
Karim reveals important backstory on Aunt Jean and Uncle Ted. They were an up-and-coming couple, with Ted’s heating business raking in the cash, when Aunt Jean had an affair with a young man from a prominent wealthy family. His parents stopped the affair, and Jean and Ted became social outcasts. Though Jean and Ted have stayed together, they are miserable.
Chapter 4 Summary
The Amir household endures terrible strain regarding Eva, but no one talks about it openly. Two months later, Ted arrives on the doorstep for a visit. He tells Haroon that Jean insists that all the so-called Buddha of suburbia business has got to stop. Haroon confuses Ted by sympathizing with him. Ted is disarmed, and through a mixture of listening and affirming Ted’s feelings, Haroon encourages Ted to leave his misery behind and live more authentically. Ted agrees that his business, Peter’s Heater’s, is failing anyway, and that letting go of the house, the business, and the fear that Jean will leave him is liberating. Haroon clearly has a talent for understanding and “releasing” people (50).
The next Saturday, Karim avoids being at home by biking over to Anwar and Jeeta’s to visit their daughter, Jamila. Jamila is Karim’s best friend. Karim looks to them as his “alternate family,” a place to escape to when his own family drives him crazy (52).
Karim relates that Jamila, strong and independent, is more advanced than he is in every way. A librarian introduced her to French literature, art, music, and philosophy, including feminist thinking, when she was thirteen. After that, Jamila wanted to imitate Simone de Beauvoir. This imitation extended to experimental sex with Karim. They continue to have sex every couple of weeks, but Karim asserts that he’s actually learned nothing about sex or intimacy from these experiences.
Karim tells Jamila about all of the happenings in his family, including his father’s affair with Eva. He asks for her advice, but she refuses to tell him that Haroon is doing anything wrong. She believes that love should win the day. Jamila herself is in a terrible situation regarding love.
Jamila has been training in judo and karate for the guerilla war she believes will break out, when “the whites finally turn on the blacks and Asians and tried to force [them] into gas chambers or onto leaky boats” (56). Jamila believes this because her neighborhood is full of neo-fascist groups that regularly attack people of color on the street or firebomb their houses and businesses.
Seeing his beloved daughter running wild, Anwar recently arranged a marriage for her with a 30-year-old man from India. Anwar now insists that she marry this stranger. Jamila refuses.
Jamila takes Karim upstairs, where her father is on a hunger strike. Jamila must agree to the arranged marriage, or he will starve to death. The usually even-tempered and casual Anwar is suddenly staking his life on his Muslim Indian male prerogative to have authority over his daughter.
Karim is infuriated by Anwar’s irrationality and does not know how to help Jamila, but he promises to try to come up with something.
Chapter 1-4 Analysis
Karim Amir announces from the first sentence of the novel that he is both English and not English; this incongruity runs through the novel and permeates all Karim’s experiences. Both race and class are ever-present issues throughout the novel.
Karim constantly refers to himself as “the voyeur” (37) and the “nosiest person I’ve ever met” (39), highlighting his status on the sidelines of life, gathering information and observing but not participating. Perpetually curious about human nature and what his friends and family are up to, Karim constantly spies on his friends and family. Spying is a coping mechanism for Karim, a way for him to control his chaotic life. In addition, Karim has the dirt on everyone, and he uses this information to his advantage. For example, he gets his Uncle Ted to back off on his father by threatening to reveal that Uncle Ted destroyed a railway carriage on the way home from a football match.
Jamila’s situation highlights gender issues, particularly male dominance in Indian and Muslim culture. Anwar represents an extreme example of patriarchal authority, through his use of a hunger strike to force Jamila into an arranged marriage with a stranger. That choice over shadows the rest of the novel. Jamila’s philosophical, political, and literary studies also bring in the theme of colonialism—or suppression of Indian culture—both during the colonization of India by Britain and in present-day Britain.
The structure of the novel, with its episodic plot and narration completely from Karim’s point of view, adds realism to the story and draws the reader immediately into Karim’s world. Because Karim is sharing his life so honestly and openly, the reader instantly trusts and empathizes with him. He describes his life with zest, wonderful insights into other’s behavior, and humor, if at times very dark humor. Every reader relates to Karim’s very human teenage preoccupations, with sex, fitting in, identity, and the direction of his life.
