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 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
In the Suburbs
Chapter 5 Summary
Late at night, Karim stays up and contemplates his life. He reveals more about his daily reality by disclosing the constant threat of physical violence he lives with at school. He faces daily name-calling, spitting, and other boys pissing on his shoes. He is even beaten by a predatory teacher. He wonders what world his father is living in to think that Karim can become a doctor; Karim can barely stand to attend school every day. He also contemplates Jamila’s life; her freedom suddenly brought up short by her father’s sudden devotion to patriarchal authority. He briefly considers how she can leave home, but no realistic options present themselves.
As he is bicycling around the neighborhood one day, he sees his father go into a telephone box. Certain that he is calling Eva, Karim waits. Karim confronts his father, asking him if he is in love with Eva. Haroon admits that he must be, but that he cannot tell his wife about his feelings because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He knows that his love for Eva will devastate and destroy his family.
Several days later, Karim meets Helen and Charlie when he’s leaving school. He’s on his way to meet Jamila to discuss her options. Charlie’s band, Mustn’t Grumble, is getting famous, and Charlie has basically dropped out of school. Charlie tells Karim that he loves Karim’s father and hints that everything in their lives is going to change soon. Helen and Karim meet Jamila, and they agree to consult Haroon about Jamila’s situation.
Haroon tells them, after meditating, that they must follow their feelings and be true to themselves. In that moment, Karim realizes that his father will abandon the family for Eva. However, Haroon doesn’t offer Jamila useful help with her problem. As they walk to her home, Jamila tells them she’s made her decision. Helen believes that Jamila will agree to the marriage, while Karim disagrees. Helen and Karim have sex, and Karim imagines that they are both thinking of Charlie while they do.
Chapter 6 Summary
Karim, Jamila, and Helen are at the airport to meet Changez, Jamila’s fiancé.
He is a disappointment. Anwar has been imagining a young, strong son-in-law to help him redecorate the store and move boxes. With a withered arm, Changez cannot possibly help around the store in that way. Changez is balding and fat and clearly expects to be waited on rather than working. The wedding is to take place the next day. Neither Jamila nor Jeeta will ever forgive Anwar for forcing Jamila into marriage.
On the same day that Changez arrives, Haroon stops by to congratulate Anwar’s family. Then, he asks Karim to come with him to Eva’s for an important discussion. Haroon tells Karim that he’s going to leave the family and live with Eva.
Karim wanders the streets, imagining his father’s conversation with his mother. He calls Aunt Jean, telling her what has happened and asking her to go see his mother.
Chapter 7 Summary
Aunt Jean arrives and takes Margaret and Allie to live with her. She invites Karim, but he says he’ll make his own arrangements. He vows to never live with them in Chislehurst. He moves in with Eva, Charlie, and his father. Eva welcomes him.
Karim drops out of school, and Eva arranges a college where he can finish his A-levels. Drifting from one family to another at his whim, Karim eventually stops going to school entirely. He cannot concentrate on his schoolwork; it holds no interest for him.
Despite Changez’s failure to be the model son-in-law, Karim befriends him. Changez and Jamila live in an apartment paid for by Anwar. Whatever his faults, Changez is friendly, kind, innocent, and sincerely wants his life with Jamila to be a success. Karim begins to show Changez around London, attempting to corrupt him by taking him to football matches and strip clubs. Jamila sets the rules for the relationship, so Changez sleeps on a cot in the other room. She makes it clear to her husband that she will never sleep with him.
Jamila studies and participates in activist groups, when she’s not working in her parents’ store. She studies philosophy, literature, and politics. Despite her situation, she is determined to keep learning. Her ambition and drive make Karim ashamed of himself.
Changez deliberately fails at all the work assigned to him so that he can be free to do nothing. Anwar’s excitement and hopes for future grandchildren are soon dashed. Though he does not know the particulars, he can see that things have not turned out as he had planned. Soon he fights with Changez, and their relationship sours. Changez is also disappointed by Jamila’s decision not to consummate the marriage. After talking things over with Karim, he decides to see a prostitute. That problem solved, he can go home and be happy with Jamila.
Karim visits his mother at Aunt Jean and Uncle Ted’s house. He is fearful of seeing his mother, who refuses to get out of bed. He hesitates to kiss her, because he is “afraid that somehow her weakness and unhappiness would infect” him (104). He attempts to cheer her up, but she remains full of self-pity, saying that no one loves her and that Karim has abandoned her.
Uncle Ted remains transformed, having been “released” by Haroon. He has stopped working and spends his time meditating and taking long walks. Aunt Jean is furious, but she cannot convince him to do anything he doesn’t want to do.
Disturbed by his visit with his mother, Karim returns to Jamila’s apartment. Jamila and Karim fall asleep after making love. Changez returns home and finds them in bed together. Karim feels as if he’s betrayed everyone he loves. He avoids Jamila and Changez after this event.
Chapter 8 Summary
The chapter begins with Haroon yelling at Karim for wasting his life. He has failed all his A-level exams by not showing up to take them. Karim is devastated by his father’s contempt and silent treatment.
In a brilliant move, Eva hires Uncle Ted to renovate her house. Uncle Ted and Karim begin work on it.
Meanwhile, Eva gains entry into the London arts scene by designing sets and costumes for one of her friend’s theatrical productions. She and Haroon begin attending art openings, plays, and other events in London.
Haroon begins leading meditation sessions at Eva’s home, and people pay to attend. Only one thing mars Haroon and Eva’s happiness: Margaret’s continued depression. She lies in bed at Aunt Jean’s house, unable to function. Haroon feels guilt and regret, and unthinkingly says so to Eva. They argue. Soon after, Eva decides to sell her house and take Haroon to central London.
Karim believes that by removing Haroon to a new place, he will begin to forget Margaret. Next, Karim updates the reader on Charlie’s whereabouts. His band is a failure, because they do not have an original sound. However, Charlie’s beauty, arrogance, and personality, has made him a celebrity.
Karim takes a bit of revenge on Charlie by telling him that he just doesn’t have any talent; he knows that Charlie wants to be considered brilliant more than anything else. Charlie disappears the next day, leaving Karim, Eva, and Haroon to pack his things for the move to London. Karim is 20 years old, and he’s completely ready for London to wow him with its opportunities for music, sex, and drugs.
Chapter 5-8 Analysis
These chapters cover about three years: beginning in about 1973, when Karim is 17 and his father leaves his mother, and ending in the move to central London when Karim is 20.
Karim flounders once his parents break up. He does not blame his father, but he is rootless and wanders from home to home, welcome everywhere but not settled anywhere. His failure to take his A-level exams means he will not graduate from secondary school and university is out of the question.
Karim is excited to go to London and leave the suburbs. For him, London represents opportunity to lose himself in the things he’s interested most right now: drugs, sex, and music.
Though it does not impact his life directly, Jamila’s arranged marriage disturbs her family permanently. Anwar’s behavior initiates a rift between Haroon and Anwar, and the rift becomes permanent when Haroon leaves his wife.
Jeeta, Jamila’s mother, never forgives or accepts Anwar’s decision to marry Jamila off. Jamila agrees to this marriage, but she and her husband do not have a life together. Anwar achieved his goal of forcing Jamila to marry, but he cannot force her to make the marriage real or to provide him with grandchildren. Though harmless, Changez is not a useful or helpful person. He performs no work willingly at the store and purposefully fails at every task he’s given.
Both Anwar’s and Haroon’s families are heartbroken at this point in the novel, due to decisions the patriarchs of each family impose on everyone. Haroon’s family is visibly shattered. While Anwar’s family is visibly together, the family’s relationships are completely broken. Kureishi indicates that some decisions impact everyone in a family, forever.
