Our Beautiful Boys is a novel with many layers, tackling timely and complex issues through the lens of three high school football players from vastly different backgrounds. When a fight at a party threatens their friendship and futures, the school principal works to uncover the truth, while each boy’s family is forced to confront deeper issues—ranging from immigrant identity and class struggles to parental expectations and fractured marriages. Pandya seamlessly weaves together themes of race, privilege, bullying, and academia, creating a thought-provoking and engrossing read.

With its rich storytelling and socially relevant themes, the novel feels destined to become a prestige mini-series, balancing personal stakes with broader societal commentary. However, while the adult characters and family dynamics feel deeply authentic, the teenage boys’ dialogue and inner monologues don’t always ring true. Despite this, Our Beautiful Boys is an engaging and timely exploration of identity, ambition, and the pressures that shape young lives.

Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya appears, on the surface, to be a novel about high school football players who commit a violent act. In reality, this deeply emotional novel is about the many different variations on privilege people experience throughout their lives. I thought I was going to read a 'look at what these spoiled athletes did and tried to get away with' story, and was very pleasantly surprised that the book had so much more depth.

The story is about three star football players: MJ whose parents are wealthy and white; Diego is being raised by a single mother who is a successful academic; and Vikram whose Indian parents have very high academic expectations that do not include football. At a party, they are involved in a violent attack that ends badly, threatening each of their futures. As the parents try to find out how and whether their boys are involved, secrets threaten to be spilled along with truth.

As a former school principal, this book struck a chord with me, as none of the parents could accept that their darling boys could be involved and the boys held a hard line of not telling what they knew. As the student body became divided and the pressure to help the football team make playoffs mounted, I could relate to the administrator's frustration. I am not sure that I completely agree with her final resolution, though I do understand the reasoning.

This book is as much about the adult dramas as it is the incident at the party, which makes it a much more interesting and layered novel than I expected. Some of the issues presented by the parents, about the racial biases that would be involved in each boy's college prospects, were unfortunately all too realistic even in today's world.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for the digital ARC of Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya. The opinions in this review are my own.

Author of Members Only, named by NPR as one of the “Books we Love,” Sameer Pandya has now written an attention-grabbing page turner about race, ethnicity, mistakes, and family relations in contemporary American culture.

On the night of an important football victory, three high school athletes destined for prestigious university scholarships not just for their sports skills but also for their high academic performance are ready to celebrate. When MJ. Diego, and Vikram order dinner at an Indian restaurant, they are unexpectedly joined by another boy from their school, and trouble ensues. Making racist remarks as usual during the meal, Stanley nonetheless persuades the others to attend a party in an abandoned house overlooking the city. After a couple of beers, MJ, Diego, and Vikram decide to explore the caves near the house. In the third cave, they encounter a very drunk Stanley, and a confrontation occurs that lands Stanley in the hospital with life-threatening injuries and the boys in the principal’s office along with parents ready to defend their sons at any cost.

Pandya divides the book into three parts. The first focuses largely on the boys and the second on the parents and the school as Stanley’s mother ponders pressing criminal charges, the other boys’ parents grapple with their sons and each other while also dealing with personal issues, students take sides, and the principal struggles to learn the truth and make the right decisions. Part III brings the story to satisfying but not simplistic close.

All in all, Our Beautiful Boys takes a close look at the many racial/ethnic, academic, and socio-economic pressures impacting students, school administrators, and families today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for an advance reader egalley of this highly recommended new novel.

Boys will be boys.......Ever hear that saying? Our Beautiful Boys touches on many subjects through the telling of what happened one evening after a football game. One fateful evening, the team's star players, Vikram, Diego and MJ are accused of seriously injuring another teammate, Stanley.

While looking at what occurred that evening, the three teens are suspended from school while their parents scramble to protect and defend their sons. The teens come from good yet differing family situations. They had not planned for what happened that and that night while partying all hope for the best possible outcome.

This book touches on how well we know those in our lives. How well do we know our children, our spouses, or parents? What happens when those in our lives disappoint us, make bad choices, use bad judgement? This book also touches on class, expectations, marriage, secrets, fitting in, lies, sports, expectations, privilege, and friendship.

This is a timely and thought-provoking book which has both the reader and the characters questioning what happened and how things would be resolved. I enjoyed the tension and the underlying feeling of unease that resulted from the events of the night and actions in question.

There was not a single likeable character in this book. While I’m sympathetic to the reasoning behind some of their horrendous actions, others were pretty unsettling. I did like how well we got to know the cast. They just never really had a big redeeming moment. I was invested enough to keep reading, but in the end I was a little dissatisfied. This novel explores big topics like violence, bullying, cultural appropriation, racism, and so on yet it didn’t really dive into these topics far enough for it to feel productive. I liked how we got to see our characters navigate different emotional and moral turmoils, regardless of if I agree with the outcomes. It’s always intriguing to be in a characters mind when going through situations like this.

I was interested enough in this book to keep reading, but I really did feel like I had to drag myself through some parts. Overall, I found it hard to really care about any of the characters. There are no heroes here and I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be rooting for anyone? But honestly, I wasn’t.

I felt like the book was written well and so from that standpoint I don’t feel comfortable dropping it below a 3, but I also can’t say I found the reading experience all that enjoyable. The only issue I had with the writing is that from paragraph to paragraph the perspective would suddenly change. We’d be in Veronica’s head and then all of the sudden it’s MJ.

I did think this book was an interesting viewpoint on race relations and there are a lot of topics that I think can and should be discussed. I’m not sure about the depiction of an American public high school experience though. Granted, I didn’t spend a ton of time at my high school and I’m not a boy, but I’m not sure how fraught the bathrooms at my high school were? And the proximity to all of that violence had an effect on the boys, but especially Vikram. For me, that felt inauthentic, but I’ve just had my own lived experience so I can’t say for sure.

Overall, the writing was good, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel tackles complex themes of class, race, and privilege as three high school football players become entangled in the aftermath of a violent incident at a party. The story explores how their parents react—some fiercely protective, others desperate to cover for themselves—offering a compelling look at family dynamics and moral dilemmas.

The writing is elegant and understated, and the character development is strong, making the families feel real and flawed. However, the slow unraveling of the truth and the heavy focus on the parents’ perspectives sometimes pulled attention away from the boys at the heart of the story. I wanted a sharper focus on the actual event and what drove the boys’ actions. The pacing, along with the occasional narrative detours, made it a bit frustrating at times.

Still, the thought-provoking themes and well-crafted storytelling kept me engaged. While it didn’t fully meet my high expectations, I appreciated the depth and nuance the author brought to this timely, layered story.

A student is badly injured after a party, by three of his classmates who were constantly annoyed by him. The three, all good students, were suspended. This was about so much more than the party. The parents had to get involved and of course parents want to protect their kids. But the truth had to come out. Very thought provoking.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Three high school football players are seen at a party where a boy was violently injured. The three, as are their parents, are now accused and put under scrutiny.

I had very high expectations going into this book, and this story has so much potential as it explores topics of class, race, and privilege. Usually, I would have devoured a book like this, watching the families of these boys react in such different ways, trying to protect their children and cover for themselves.

However, I often found myself distracted. The sparse writing and the prolonged revelation of the event's truth left me wanting more. The narrative seemed to get lost in the myriad of societal issues it brought up, which, while important, detracted from the central story. I wanted to return to the night of the event, to understand the boys and what drove them.

Again, I love this kind of drama - parents believing their children could never do anything wrong while the parents are a hot mess. I just would have liked a sharper focus to make it a more enjoyable read for me.

3.5⭐️


Thank you, @randomhouse, for the gifted ebook via Netgalley. #randomhouse #netgalley
Thank you @PRHaudio for the gifted audiobook. #Prhaudio #PRHAinfluencer

4 high school boys get in a fight. 3 against 1. This story delves into the family lives of the 3 aggressors. Each family is guilty of thinking “not my son” in some form or another. The boys deal with their anger and guilt in different ways. Although the adults in the story never learn the real truth, it is disclosed between two of the boys

I love a strong debut novel, but a strong second novel—well, that’s when an author’s name stays on my radar. When an advance copy of "Our Beautiful Boys" landed on my desk, I tucked it into my tote and had finished it by noon the next day. As in his first novel, "Members Only" (one of my favorite lockdown reads), Sameer Pandya, PhD ’02, builds worlds through exploring his characters’ inner conflicts and social/societal collisions. In this case, he gives us three troubled SoCal football players and their shell-shocked parents, who find themselves at the mercy of a culture that revels in takedowns.

A well written story about 3 high school football players and their secret about what happened at a Friday night party. The story laid out the boys’ family dynamics and history to explain how their parents react to the events from the party. That said, the story seemed to heavily skew toward the parents’ histories and expectations and less about the boys. That was a miss for me, and why I ended up with giving it 3 stars. But I do like the author’s writing style in its understated elegance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to @RandomHouse and #NetGalley for the DRC of #OurBeautifulBoys. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

The book has so many layers to it and it feels so timely. On the surface, it's about 3 high school boys from very different backgrounds on the same football team. After they get into a fight with another student at a party, their friendship and futures hang in the balance. While the school principal tries to find out what really happened at the party, each family has to face their internal issues from their "origin" story, to parental expectations and marriage. Pandya weaves in many of the complex issues of the day - from the immigrant experience, class, race and privilege to bullying and academics.

This book really surprised me in the best way.

It took me a while to finish as it evoked memories of high school drama, but it was poignant and eye-opening. The story is heartbreaking as it reveals all the bias, bigotry, and racism that we have made tiny steps in breaking. The ongoing trauma that our young adults go through when they are most vulnerable and still learning to make life decisions dictates our adult insecurities. The references to our current state made it relatable and made me worry about what our kids have to deal with at 16 and younger. I used to drink from a garden hose !! Highly recommend this read

Three young men, high school star football players, have a violent encounter with a fellow student that is an outcast. Vikram is a smart Indian junior new to the team, Diego is an athletic and smart Latino junior, and MJ is a wealthy old family White senior. Stanley, the outcast friendless kid, snarky and full of false bravado, that they all have a history with.

The boys meet at a large after game party at an abandoned house, get into a fight instigated by Stanley, but finished by the three players. They leave a drunk and slightly knocked around Stanley behind but then Stanley reenters the party beat up and very seriously injured. Who did the real beating?

The back stories of the football players families are interesting and insightful, dealing with race, privilege, and class. Lacking is the backstory of Stanley, we don’t really know why he is a snarky bully that no one likes. It reduces him to a cliche. The only clue that there is a background story is that his mother does not go to the police despite her son being hospitalized due to a beating, we have to assume that she knows/feels he is at fault in some way.

Excellent writing and storyline. The character development is deep and the characters empathetic while each is flawed.

This was a really heavy book to read. I think that Sameer Pandya does a great job at discussing class and race issues. For me, this had a slow start but once I was more familiar with the characters, I was eager to finish. I think that some of the characters may be a divisive and I look forward to seeing what other people think. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to others.

Sameer Pandya is an author who perfectly captures conversation and place in his latest novel ‘Our Beautiful Boys.’ 3 high school football players are accused of violently beating up another student. The boys have secrets and so do their parents. Pandya impressed the heck out of me in this story about youth, race, bullying, class and people trying to hold on. This is not a story that relies on twists - it has a slow build-up, unforgettable characters and simply tells the story of imperfect people and pressures we put on ourselves and others.

Engaging story about high school football players - a bit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I enjoyed learning the backgrounds of each character (as well as their parents).

There is a lot to unpack here! Vikram is a high school junior who is a late minute add to the High School football team. Vikram is an Indian-American teenage teen and has always been a good, studious kid, but after befriending a few of his other teammates, his whole trajectory changes.

The story follows Vikram and his teammates Diego Cruz, son of a single mom college professor and author and MJ Berringer, white, committed to Yale and part of a very traditional family. The three attend a party after a football victory and during the party, they have a physical altercation with a sometime friend/sometime bully classmate, Stanley. What seems to be a small incident into much more as the parents try to protect the boys and their futures.

As the story unfolds, we also get a lot more insight into the lives and backgrounds of each of the boys parents and their cultural and familial baggage that they bring to the table. I was totally engaged in this insightful story - part coming of age, part sports drama, part family expose, a small element of mystery, and part cultural analysis.

I did feel like the narrative lost a tiny bit of focus in the back half - there are so many characters - the three boys (plus the bully) and each of their parents, that no one character takes the forefront. However, I still strongly enjoyed this read- it was beautifully written and has so much to say.

Thanks to Ballantine books and netgalley for access to this eARC.

“Our Beautiful Boys” is by Sameer Panda. This book tells the story of three boys (and their parents) in the aftermath of the boys making a rather bad decision. I can see this book being an excellent one for book clubs as there’s a lot packed into this story. I found the idea of this book to be appealing. Ms. Pandya delves into the background of the boys and their parents. This book isn’t just about boys getting into a fight that went a bit too far and accusations flying about who did what. It’s about class, privilege, protecting children from situations, and race. Some characters I liked over others, but there were a number of characters in this book to keep track of. What I found interesting was the build-up - while the reader knows what happened and why it happened, there are questions about the four boys involved. There’s a bit too much blame game for my taste, but I think that some of it was necessary. This wasn’t an easy read emotionally for me, but I found the idea and most of the execution well done.