- Published: 22 September 2016
- ISBN: 9781783522965
- Imprint: Unbound Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 272
The Good Immigrant
- Published: 22 September 2016
- ISBN: 9781783522965
- Imprint: Unbound Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 272
An important, timely read.
J. K. Rowling
Here are a bunch of brave writers actually doing something about representation … an important book.
Sathnam Sanghera
Brilliant, unclichéd, unique. A book of our time, which everyone must read.
Shazia Mirza
Incisive, funny, searingly honest … it contains work that should be read by all.
DJ Nihal
I want everyone to read this book. I found myself nodding along, feeling the pain, hilarity and anger.
Anita Rani
Warm, funny and often moving. A delight.
Shappi Khorsandi
Highly recommended … It's precisely those who might at first think this book is not about us, who should read it
Spectator
We should recognise both the courage that has been shown in producing these essays and the contradictions that necessarily exist across them … The Good Immigrant helps to open up a much-needed space of unflinching dialogue about race and racism in the UK
Guardian
A fascinating read
BBC Breakfast
The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes brutal, always honest … if I could, I’d push a copy of this through the letter box of every front door in Britain.
Independent
Powerful… The Good Immigrant is a reminder of why Britain is at its best when it lifts the burden of the "bad immigrant" and why it loses so much when it lets it grow
New Statesman
Perceptive, touching and funny
Observer
Amazing voices … searingly honest
Grazia
The Good Immigrant's strength not only comes in its numbers, but through the uniqueness of each essay inside, ranging from Coco Khan’s look at sexuality and fetishisation, through to Riz MC’s retelling of his typical treatment in airport security.
Complex
To say the publication of The Good Immigrant has come at a good time would be an understatement … If 2016 has left you feeling helpless, desperately wondering what you can do to repair the damage of anti-immigration rhetoric, then reading it would be a good place to start: it leaves you feeling armed with empathy.
Vice
A stunning collection of original voices, challenging how we see race and difference.
Mishal Husain
What a phenomenal book: timely, poignant and insightful. It deserves to be read as widely as possible.
Malorie Blackman
Superlative.
Jessie Burton, 'Best Books of 2016', Observer
I was deeply affected by The Good Immigrant, a vital and often bitingly funny series of personal essays
James Graham, 'Best Books of 2016', Observer
Could not be more timely.
Louise Daughty, 'Best Books of 2016', Observer
The Good Immigrant is that rarest of beasts, a truly necessary book.
Jonathan Coe, 'Best Books of 2016', Observer
I was expecting something serious, even upsetting. The Good Immigrant is both at times, but the 21 essays are also engrossing, human and hilarious.
Best Books for Christmas
Quite simply a wonderful antidote to the tired cliches.
Fatima Manji, Channel 4 News
I am stupidly grateful for this book. It opened my eyes to my own experience and gave me words for feelings I had known but never acknowledged. I carry it with me whenever I travel, to remind me that the world is good. Buy this book, carry it with you everywhere, give it to everyone you know. We need it now more than ever.
Emmy the Great
The Good Immigrant is a lively and vital intervention into the British cultural conversation around race. Instead of statistics and dogma we find real human experience and impassioned argument – and it's funny and moving, too. A must read!
Zadie Smith
The essays, in turns witty, uncomfortable and inspiring, would make for great reading at any time, but were especially welcome this year.
Books of the Year, The Pool
Should become required reading for a new UK citizenship test – one to be taken by everyone who was born here, that is.
Books of the Year, Times Higher Education
Existentially challenging to the status quo. It could not be more timely.
Readers' Books of 2016, Guardian
An act of peaceful defiance; as a document of the now, and as an opportunity to educate ourselves about the lives and experiences of others.
Guardian
Sticks two fingers up at a discriminatory publishing industry.
New Statesman
A bold, beautiful and urgent book that should be read widely in these politically and racially charged times. It opened my eyes so much, and, in my opinion, is the most exciting publication of 2016.
Holly Muller, Big Issue
I knew I'd be interested in this book. I didn't realise I'd be so moved. At a time when British identity is being claimed as the exclusive preserve of people who wish immigration had stopped with Hengist and Horsa, it does the heart good to be reminded of how many of us there are, and how deeply woven we are into the fabric of our country. It's a book that will make a lot of young Britons feel more powerful and less alone. Each essay is like another new friend standing up and saying to the reader, 'I see you.'
Hari Kunzru