The Laughter is a story that resonates with Lolita but has its own flavor and setting. The story is set in a a college campus during the 2016 election. The main character of Dr. Oliver Harding is a repugnant misogynist and so you have to decide if you're willing to take this journey with him. If you do decide to take the journey it will be memorable one and Sonora Jha is definitely an author to watch.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jha’s stunning debut is a modern day Lolita - with a fascinatingly awful male narrator. I can see this one being very divisive as it does get difficult being inside Oliver’s head for the whole book, his takes on women, his students, and just people in general can be hard to stomach but this was SO well done.

Love a campus novel. I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about this book, I hated almost all the characters but I still couldn’t stop reading.

An enthralling and unsettling read about the politics of race, gender, and the white male American sense of entitlement and victimhood ensconced in a sharp campus novel.

This one starts out as a typical campus novel, almost veering toward satire in its portrayal of the relic professor as narrator, out of touch with the desires of modern students and obsessed with his Pakistani colleague.

The plot takes a unique sharp turn relatively early in the novel, fusing the problem of Ollie’s entitlement with the perception of the threat of the “other” in a world where fear mongering almost always points us in the wrong direction.

I didn’t hate Ollie as much as the zeitgeist will want me to, but certainly the hero of the story is the intensely interesting and quietly fierce Ruhaba, and it’s most likable character is Adil. To that end, the way this book concludes wasn’t my favorite, though it’s certainly and sadly a more likely outcome than the relative peace and progressive change I had hoped for. Jha writes in a way that is both captivating and unsettling, and the tone was pitch perfect for this intriguing read.

The Laughter by Sonora Jha 👨🏻‍🏫

Dr. Oliver Harding is insufferable. He’s getting pushed out of his long-reigning popularity at the Seattle college where he is a tenured professor of English, and ultimately blames his ultra-woke students. A new law professor, Dr. Ruhaba Khan, piques his interest, and he begins befriending her nephew as a way to get closer to his desires. Meanwhile, a sit-in on campus begins dividing the campus community — including Oliver and Ruhaba.

This book is written from Harding’s perspective, in present tense in his journal after something terrible has happened, juxtaposed against the events leading up to the horrific event. While I thought the book took slightly too long to get to the resolution, my jaw dropped once I found out what had actually occurred. I felt like I was back in Seattle while reading this book, and genuinely laughed out loud multiple times over some phrases and scenes.

For full disclosure this book was sent to me by the author (my former professor!) and I really loved it because it felt so similar to some of the events that occurred when I was a student at Seattle U in and around 2016. If you like dark academia and thrillers, definitely pick this one up. Even if you aren’t, I’d like to see what people who aren’t from Seattle think of this one! The Laughter publishes Tuesday, Feb. 14. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If <em>You</em>'s Joe Goldberg is the prototype for sociopathic creep, Dr. Harding is the primordial ooze from which he sprung. I haven't disliked a narrator so intensely, credit to Jha.

This book takes on so many charged topics, but perhaps too many. Toxic masculinity, codeswitching, racial biases, and more – all set against a backdrop weeks before the 2016 election – WOOF. However, Jha has written an important book here. <em>The Laughter</em> is a one to be discussed.

thank you for the arc! <3

3.5 stars ! i enjoyed the writing style a whole lot. didn't like dr harding one bit (tho i can appreciate a good unlikeable narrator) and didn't really connect w/ anyone else either. also kinda wish i looked into tws before reading bc the subject matter was nauseating at times. but can't deny it's a really well-written book either way! the ending will def stick w/ me for a long time.

If you’ve read and loved the “You” series, but found yourself wondering “what if Joe Goldberg was the worst human on the face of this earth?”, I think you’ll really enjoy this. I did, to a certain point, because it becomes absolutely exhausting to spend time with the narrator. He has not a single redeemable quality or thought.
That being said, I think this book has very specific intentions. And the ending was chilling to reach.
Ultimately, I am glad that I read this, though I don’t know that I’d revisit it.
I will be posting my review when the union is no longer on strike. Thank you to HC for the opportunity.

I am still reeling from the conclusion to Sonora Jha’s most recent novel. The Laughter is a campus novel, narrated by Dr. Oliver Harding, an aging white male college professor who becomes fixated with his Pakistani colleague, Ruhaba Khan, and her nephew. The story is set against the backdrop of campus protests, placing the two main characters at cross-purposes; Khan supports students’ demands for change and Dr. Harding represents the old guard of academia at which these demands take aim.

The Laughter was a challenging read for me, since Harding is the most repugnant narrator I’ve experienced in some time. I also felt reluctant to return to the 2016 election, the period in which the book is set. Even so, I’m glad I trusted the reviews and picked up this book – it’s angry, nuanced and absolutely fascinating. Jha’s novel reads like a thriller, and once I hit the halfway mark, I couldn’t put The Laughter down.

I can’t wait for this book to be published, so I can discuss it with friends. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC.

Any number of times as I was appreciating with great intellectual relish Sonora Jha’s “The Laughter” I was given to wonder what an old literature professor friend of mine, now deceased, would have made of the novel and its ruminations about what its narrator regards as the veritable assault of multicultural progressivism on the traditional literary canon with the primacy that the canon attaches to rigorous pedagogy over trends of the moment.
Impossible to say now, of course, what he might have thought, though I can extrapolate somewhat from the clear hostility he always voiced toward unionism in the academy as well as his disdain of the current politically correct crowd (fascists, he called them). Purity of scholarship unadorned by topical concerns was his abiding creed, a sentiment given vigorous expression by one of the lesser characters in Jha’s novel, David Meyer, a fellow academic and onetime good friend of the narrator, Oliver Harding, who is initially supportive of Meyer but comes in the course of the novel to turn his back on, betray even, as Meyer makes an impassioned plea against student calls for more relevance in the curriculum, looking in particular for support from his old friend but astonished to find himself alone in his fight. “A thing that would keep you up at night,” Harding says of Meyer's disappointment with him, “the look on the face of a man who believes he is leading the charge but turns around to find the troops behind him gone.”
Not that Harding isn't every bit as passionate about scholastic purity as Meyer, more so even – the inmates have come to run the asylum, he says – but his defection is occasioned by his desire to bed a new faculty hire, a Pakistani Muslim woman who is sympathetic enough with the students to stand with them in their call for a vote on their demands for more relevance, something Harding can't countenance but is prepared to back off on a bit to get his way with the woman– indeed, he asserts in the novel's very first sentence that all the unfortunate events that have followed, including his defection from his friend, have stemmed from his unmitigated lust. The tyranny of sex, he says of his obsession with the woman, invoking a phrase of a favorite writer of his, G.K. Chesterton, whom I was familiar with only to the extent of his being the creator of the Father Brown stories and, as Harding instructs us, being known as the prince of paradox.
An appellation that could as well be applied to Harding, for that matter, with how for all his sneering at the student protesters – most of them can't even splice a comma correctly in their press release, he sneers – he's also a strong advocate of the Second Amendment who even takes the woman’s visiting nephew to the firing range.
All to the good, then, the setup, with its promise of a robust consideration of the relativism issue that is all the thing on campus today while also being respectful of individual differences over the issue. However, the relativism issue comes to take something of a back seat as the novel takes a turn toward more conventionally dramatic developments, including a shooting and unsettling revelations about Harding, including that he once was too sexually aggressive with his wife and that he has pornography on his computer. They made the novel less a probing consideration of relativism for me than an idiosyncratic portrait of a particular academic, which was of course Jha's prerogative, to make of her novel what she likes, but I'd been hoping for a more restrained consideration of the novel's relativism issue which to my mind has the potential in and of itself to be every bit as dramatic as the novel’s more dramatic turns (more than once as I was reading I was put in mind of how my old friend had it in mind to call a book he was working on but sadly never finished "The Passion of Reason").
Still, for all that the novel wasn't the unalloyed consideration of the relativism issue that I’d been hoping for, the issue is dealt with comprehensively enough, such that Harding's and Meyer's laments about the current state of affairs in the academy recalled for me not just how my old literary friend would get positively apoplectic sometimes about the state of higher learning today -- this isn’t an institution of higher learning, he'd grouse about seeing scantily clad students tossing Frisbees on the quad – but also how another old campus acquaintance of mine, a fiery Scotsman now also sadly deceased, would get so riled about the state of student writing that he'd seek me out sometimes at our favored watering hole, where, amid the drink stains on the bar, he'd plop down a stack of student papers and let loose with one of his considerable tirades. What are these students trying to say, he'd demand about the clear incomprehensibility he found in their test responses, a sentiment also voiced by a former newspaper colleague of mine who'd been a writing instructor as well and would simply shake his head over the state of student writing. And indeed I was brought to a similar head-shaking state myself just recently when I was looking to buy a new car and some of the correspondence I received from car dealers was such that sometimes I truly couldn't make heads or tails of what they were trying to say.
So not just the pedantic lament of academics in the ivory tower, the relativism issue that is at the heart of Jha’s novel, but something of real import in the real world, where to my mind it's the undisciplined thinking evident in those students' papers as well as in those car dealers' correspondence that is to a large degree responsible for bringing our democracy to its currently perilous straits after the still-raw-for-me 2016 election, which in fact much is made of in the novel and whose results would truly have appalled my old friend. So to the extent that Jha's novel does address the relativism issue, and she does give it a good ride, I think I can safely guess, allowing for the vagaries of individual thought that my friend was given to surprise me with at times, that he would indeed have shared my enthusiasm for Jha's novel, which, for all my caveat, was easily the most interesting and provocative book I've read this year and one I'm comfortable recommending to anyone with the slightest interest in contemporary scholastic matters.

I reached just about the halfway point, but this is going to be a DNF for me. I will skim the rest of the novel just to find out what happens to Ruhaba and Adil. But I was so disinterested with Oliver Harding that I lost the momentum to finish.

The novel's humor, tension, and dramatic structures are all compelling. I really appreciate Sonora Jha's critique that is presented in the character of Oliver--an entitled, kinda nasty, out-of-touch white male academic--and I understand the purpose that having this character narrate the novel serves. It was a risk, and it seems to have paid off for many other readers. But I thought that the distaste and loathing for Oliver that readers are supposed to feel is unbalanced; it's not supported by glimpses into Ruhaba and Adil's interior lives (two people whose lives are described from the outside but readers never really see for themselves), and once Oliver becomes complicit in their downfall, it defeated the purpose of finishing the novel for me.

Oliver (and thus, the author) self-consciously likens himself to Humbert Humbert, and this comparison is obvious but felt a little trite. The novel at times felt fresh and contemporary, taking place in November 2016, but its markings of the present and recent-past also felt dated and trying.

Ultimately, I've always liked the idea of a campus novel, but I've rarely found one I enjoyed reading. So the mismatch between me and "The Laughter" may just have been a simple incompatibility.

The Laughter, by Sonora Jha, is a compelling and angry book about academia. Taking place in Seattle, most likely Seattle University where the author teaches, it focuses on an unlikeable professor of literature, Dr. Oliver Harding. Dr. Harding is old-school, a tenured white male who is puzzled and angered by the changes he's witnessing in the university's diversity program and hiring policies. He feels entitled but is concerned that he may become obsolete.

When he meets Ruhaba Khan, a junior Pakistani professor of law, he becomes smitten and wants desperately to seduce her. He is at least 20 years her senior and she doesn't show interest in his desires. However, when she becomes guardian of her 16 year old nephew Adil, Oliver finds a way to infiltrate her life. As Oliver subtly gets more and more involved with Ruhaba and Adil, things do not turn out the way he hopes.

Adil had been in trouble in France, where his parents live. They have sent him to live with Ruhaba to avoid his getting more and more off the straight and narrow, Oliver tries to take Adil under his wing and hires him to walk his dog twice a day. Despite his best efforts, Oliver is not sure if Adil is playing with him or being straight on.

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating Adil, and Ruhaba is being investigated by the University. Oliver insinuates himself with the FBI, acting both as an ally for Ruhaba and Adil, but also reporting their suspicious actions to the feds. One might call this two-faced.

As all this is going on, there is a student rebellion based on students wanting a new curriculum that is diverse and meaningful. Oliver teaches Chesterton, not exactly a contemporary topic of interest. As Oliver gets more and more sucked in to the rebellion and torn about what side he plans to take, he risks losing any connection he has with Adil and Ruhaba,

The novel held my interest throughout but I couldn't help despising Oliver for his meanness, superficiality and underhanded nature. Everyone in this book wants something and their only difference, on the macro level, is how far they will go to get what they want.

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of this fine novel.

This is a story you won't soon forget. Sonora Jha has seamlessly incorporated the majority of our cultural woes into one sharp story set on a campus in the midwest.

It's hard to root for Dr. Oliver Harding. In some ways, it's even harder under Jha's deft hand as you completely (and unwillingly) hear all of his thoughts. Harding is the type of man who is truly just a juvenile boy. He uncanningly says the worst possible phrases in an argument. He's the man who never learns from his mistakes and recreates them over and over again.

Jha juxtaposes him with an up and coming law professor from Pakistan who seeks tenure and change on campus. Oliver is obsessed with Ruhaba and never considers why or if it will be reciprocated. Jha takes time to create a beautiful portrait of the young visiting nephew Adil and then bring all three of them into and epic crash. If you love campus novels or just want an unforgettable story, The Laughter is for you!
#HarperVia #SonoraJha #TheLaughter

Wow. I almost just want to stop there. What a novel. Oliver Harding is a loathsome, entitled, white middle-aged English professor who becomes sexually fixated on a Pakistani law professor. He uses her nephew to get close to her by offering himself up as a mentor to the boy. Luckily the novel is not singularly focused on Oliver, and we get to know the object of his obsession, Ruhaba, and her background and beliefs. It ends with a shocking act that I didn't see coming but yet felt inevitable. Well-written, unique and fascinating.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for the eARC of this masterful novel.

The Laughter brings something completely new to the "campus novel" subgenre. Set just before the 2016 presidential election in Seattle, the novel follows our narrator, the puffed-up English professor Oliver Harding, through his increasing sexual obsession with a colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a law professor originally from Pakistan. When Professor Khan's troubled teenage nephew Adil comes to town, Ollie takes the opportunity to ingratiate himself into their world as a pseudo-father figure for Adil, ultimately leading to an act of shocking violence that's foreshadowed from the beginning.

Almost every character in this book is difficult and/or unlikeable to some degree, not the least of which is Oliver, whose narration is replete with micro- and macro-aggressions against anyone he has deemed an "other." This book is a fascinating, well-written study of some deeply flawed people who think very highly of themselves and a college campus turning into a powder keg at a very specific moment in history. I'll definitely purchase a hard copy of this for myself when it's released.

An engaging novel surrounding a tenured English professor and his female Pakistani colleague.

While hyper-focused and disappointed with the ever-changing world, Dr. Oliver Harding finds himself becoming more intrigued with Ruhabah Khan and her nephew. His intrigue quickly turns into an obsession as the political and racial climate on campus and across the nation unsettle him. And what Oliver ultimately does in trying to win them over and prove his allegiance to the woman he is enraptured with is nothing short of disturbing.

I enjoyed this novel and was surprised at the turn of events. I enjoyed the build-up throughout but felt something was lacking.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

absolutely loved this! one of the best books with unlikable narrators i have read, the MC is so horrible it is nauseating to read. i did not see the ending coming and really loved it. check TWs before reading!!

From the first page, Sonora Jha had me fixed with the power of her story of 21st-century academia. Dr. Oliver Harding is the ultimate unlikable narrator in the skin of a white, middle-aged professor at Seattle University. Ollie is holding on to his career and sits on a perch, looking down at everyone who is not in his sphere of grandiosity. The sword that will knock him off his mighty throne is Dr. Ruhaba Khan, a professor of Law. The man loves her from afar as he can't get close. Ruhaba is a vibrant, popular professor whose nephew, Adil Alam, arrives from France. The narrative immediately fires up with connections made and the three thrown together amid political upheaval from the students.

This novel is powerful and surprising and a real thrill to read. The book lights up the shadows of academic life for professors who claim their place as the harbingers of knowledge for the ages, especially this one. I loved it and recommended it to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC

Loved this book! The writing style was so beautiful and lush. Going to recommend it to everyone I know.

Oh my goodness... I'm quite literally speechless. This is quite possibly one of the best books I have ever read and I never say that lightly. There is just something about the way Sonora Jha tells this story that makes it truly remarkable and one to remember. This story features so many characters with different ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds, who all have a unique point of view that contributes to the story. I absolutely loved how Sonora Jha covered all of the different character backgrounds and navigated through all of their point of views, highlighting their differences while uncovering their similarities. This book covered so many important social issues and I loved how Sonora Jha incorporated so many different point of views, as it made the story so interesting to reader from an outsider's perspective. It was just so well done. That was so unique to read and I've never read something like this before, as it was so eye-opening and educating. I also love how this book was culture-driven, as Sonora Jha highlighted Ruhaba's background and the hardships she faced from her own family and culture, as well as American society. Again, this was very eye opening and interesting to read. I definitely learned a lot more about societal issues that as a country, we simply brush under the rug as no big deal. I just loved everything about this book and will recommend it to absolutely everyone!!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for this free copy in exchange for my honest review.