Thank you to Pallavi Sharma Dixit, Netgalley, and Third State Books for the Advance Reader's Copy of Edison. I read this book because I am acquainted with the author from school and I also grew up in Edison. I loved the setting and it bought back memories of growing up in New Jersey. It was interesting to read about the history of how Oak Tree Road became Little India and about coming to America from an immigrant perspective. I liked the main characters and their story. I thought it could have been a little shorter as there was a part of the book where Prem's wallowing got a little repetitive. I was sad when the book ended because I wanted more of Prem Kumar and Edison!


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I was so excited to read this when I saw I got approved. The whole concept and story of this book was so much fun. You can see the love for the community and the story in this. It felt like a Bollywood movie, but in a book.

I did in some parts get a tiny bit lost, I thought I was long as fuck. Enjoyed this and can't wait for other people to read it too.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really liked this book. I loved the tone of it and the asides about "in later years, ..." It was fun.

This was a beautifully done novel, I enjoyed the idea of a Bollywood element in this book. It had a great romance element and enjoyed the way the characters were written in this book. Pallavi Sharma Dixit does a fantastic job in writing this and left me wanting to read more from them. It was a beautifully done look into the Indian American community and I enjoyed the overall feel of the characters.

I loved this book, both as a novel reader and a cultural anthropologist who researches migration and ethnic identity. It is a terrific read but you also learn a tremendous amount about the Indian immigrant experience in the USA, Indian cultural expectations and how communities in the USA have been transformed by immigrants. It is also a tremendoulsy engaging, funny and moving story. If you are a fan of Indian cinema, historic and contemporary, you will also adore this book. The hero is a likeable, awkward young Indian cinephile trying to figure out how to deal with his father's high expectations for him in life when the only thing that inspires him is his love for Indian films.The story moves from India to Edison, New Jersey, home to an ever-growing Indian community and, eventually, to our hero. I'd definitely recommend this for students in both cultural anthropology and sociology classes as well as in literature classes. And, I'd also recommend it as a fun summer read where you learn a lot along the way. All around terrific! Can't wait for his next book!

summary: this book features prem kumar, the son of a rich businessmen. he can't stand to take on his fathers legacy, so he runs away to america, ending up in edison, new jersey. there, he meets leena, the love of his life . . . and her father hemant, that is insistent he won't let prem marry her. coupled with his career, his love life, and his internal problems, prem must find a way to survive in this mini-india.

footnotes: this book is one of the longest i've read, and is almost 500 pages. (i enjoyed every page, but it definitely took longer then expected). the book also shifts pov's. the book is in third person, but the narrator skips around and tells the same event from multiple perspectives, which adds to the richness and overall texture of the book.

thoughts: I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. this is honestly the first five star read i've had in a while, and i loved it. prem is such a fun character to follow and read about, he's sensible, romantic, and still a son all at once. even if i didn't agree with the decision he made, there was still a logical explanation as to why he chose it. i loved his arc, and how he changes and evolves over the course of the book. leena, hemant, and the other characters were also developed throughout the book. as the pov changes, you learn about the event from a different view, which is a really clever way to add some layers to the characters. the plot was really believable and real, yet the book moved super fast. i could never quite guess what was going to happen next. the writing was perfect. there were hidden plot twists, red herrings, and tons of comedic moments sprinkled throughout. you never feel tense when you read, because everything is so well balanced. there's plenty of times when i wanted to yell at prem for being so stupid, and others when i wanted to scream with happiness for him. there are little moments of humor baked in to every part of this book, and there are little gems of scenes that were so emotionally raw, they made me cry. this book also has so much indian culture and love infused into it. from the constant mention of movies to keep you grounded in time, to the comparisons to filmy scenes, this book was culturally sound. the plot even includes famous actors, and movies, all in the correct year.

overall, this book is a perfect comedy, feel good, emotional rollercoaster for anyone that loves india, and wants to escape there for some time.