Immigrant, Montana

Kailash comes to post-Reagan America from India with one suitcase to study in graduate school, in Amitava Kumar's novel. As he settles in, a charismatic professor leaves a lasting mark on him, and a string of very different women, with whom he falls recklessly in and out of love, reshape his life. Kailash looks back on these formative years of his youth, telling the story through a mix of anecdote and annotation, pictures and text. He argues for himself as a good man despite his flaws and as an American despite his birthplace. At its core the novel is about love across dividing lines.

Barack Obama chose it for the best of 2018 list he posted on Facebook.