There Has to Be a Knife -

Adnan Khan

Arsenal Pulp Press

2019

224 páginas

7h 28m

ISBN-13: 9781551527857

A powerhouse debut novel about race, grief, and masculinity.

In this blistering debut novel, author Adnan Khan investigates themes of race, class, masculinity and contemporary relationships. Omar Ali, twenty-seven-year-old line cook and petty criminal, gets a phone call from his ex-girlfriend’s father at work, informing Omar that Anna has committed suicide. Unable to process or articulate his grief, and suffering from insomnia, Omar embarks on a quest to obtain her suicide note from her elusive parents. As he unravels, Omar finds himself getting involved in break-ins, online terrorism, dealing with the police, and losing his best friend as he becomes less recognizable.

There Has to Be a Knife examines expectations -- both intimate and political -- on brown men, exploring ideas of cultural identity and the tropes we use to represent them.