Multicultural Fiction

This coming-of-age story is set in Chicano culture in New Mexico in the 1940s. Antonio's family traditions are filled with contradictions, leading him to confront emptiness and ugly circumstances while finding beauty and strength.

Vishnu lies dying on the stairs of an apartment building in Bombay. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he wonders if he really might be Vishnu the God, protector of the world. Meanwhile, the residents of the building go on about their lives. Give it a few chapters to get used to the story structure-it ends up both funny and sad.

This is an uncomfortable but fascinating story about life in India among the very poor and lower middle class. Gives the reader an excellent understanding of the dynamics of Indian culture and exposes the rampant mistreatment of the very poor.

A con artist posing as a feng shui master infiltrates New York high society in an acclaimed playwright's hilariously satirical first novel.

An autobiographical novel of a 30 year old Indian woman who wants a traditional husband to please her family back in India. However, Anju lives in New York, where life, as she says, is "just like Sex and the City without the sex."

Welch was a member of the Blackfeet Nation of northern Montana. This historical novel, based on some existing records, is the story of a young Sioux man who joins a Wild West Show in the 1890s shortly after Wounded Knee. While touring France, he falls ill and, unable to speak either French or English, is left behind when the show moves on. Welch writes movingly of cultural dislocation and the ultimate triumph of love.

Ellisons' 1952 novel describes the bigotry in American life as a young African-American tries to make his way through college and life in Harlem, feeling that he is really "invisible."

Israeli author Liebrecht examines an adulterous love affair from inside the mind of Hamutal, a family woman and psychology magazine editor whose mother is dying in a nursing home. It is deeply psychological as the sad memories of an aloof mother are juxtaposed with her mother's emerging memories of her Holocaust past. A fascinating, psychological love story that crosses international and cultural boundaries.

Allende uses the techniques of Latin American magic realism in these short stories narrated at the request of Eva's lover. Like the tales of Scheherazade, the richly-imagined characters have struggles and surprises.

Van der Post was born in Africa of British parents. In this novel, teen-age Francois Joubert experiences the wonder of the Kalahari desert wilderness and his secret friendship with Xhabbo, a Bushman.

Noted Latin American author Vargas is known for his imaginative, multilayered novels. The narrator of this novel is a Peruvian visiting Italy, where he sees a photographic exhibit of Amazonian tribes and thinks he recognizes an old college friend in one of the photos. Their two stories form alternating chapters.

Achebe is one of Nigeria's leading novelists. This story of the culture of the Igbo tribe portrays the impact of European beliefs when missionaries move into the area. Okonkwo, a respected man of the tribe, suffers downfalls from external forces as well as his own character.

Nobel prize winner Grass tells the story of Oscar Matzerath who at three years and three feet stops growing. Rather than speaking, he has a red and white tin drum to tap out the rhythms of what he sees and hears. At age 30 and in a mental institution, he begins writing his autobiography. His startling and bizarre reflection of Germany from the 1930s to the 1950s includes peasants, entrepreneurs. Nazis and priests.