2024 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction (finalist)
“[A] masterful debut . . . a novel of survival and longing and love, and in many ways a modern portrait of an artist as a young man . . . a book written for us, we Iranian Americans whom you don’t often hear about.”—Porochista Khakpour, The Washington Post
“A triumph . . . a book of astonishing accomplishment and bravery.” —Dina Nayeri, The Guardian
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley with his two brothers, all K wants is to be “a boy from L.A.,” all American. But K—the youngest, named after a Persian king—knows there’s something different about himself. Like the way he feels about his closest friend, Johnny, a longing that he can’t share with anyone.
At home, K must navigate another confusing identity: that of the dutiful son of Iranian immigrants struggling to make a life for themselves in the United States. He tries to make his mother proud, live up to her ideal of a son. On Friday nights, K attends prayers at the local mosque with Baba, whose violent affections distort K’s understanding of what it means to be a man and how to love.
When Baba takes the three brothers from their mother back to Iran, K finds himself in an ancestral home he barely knows. Returning to the Valley months later, K must piece together who he is, in a world that now feels as foreign to him as the one he left behind.
A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family—and the stories that make us who we are.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“A triumph . . . a book of astonishing accomplishment and bravery.” —Dina Nayeri, The Guardian
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley with his two brothers, all K wants is to be “a boy from L.A.,” all American. But K—the youngest, named after a Persian king—knows there’s something different about himself. Like the way he feels about his closest friend, Johnny, a longing that he can’t share with anyone.
At home, K must navigate another confusing identity: that of the dutiful son of Iranian immigrants struggling to make a life for themselves in the United States. He tries to make his mother proud, live up to her ideal of a son. On Friday nights, K attends prayers at the local mosque with Baba, whose violent affections distort K’s understanding of what it means to be a man and how to love.
When Baba takes the three brothers from their mother back to Iran, K finds himself in an ancestral home he barely knows. Returning to the Valley months later, K must piece together who he is, in a world that now feels as foreign to him as the one he left behind.
A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family—and the stories that make us who we are.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Deeply moving and courageous . . . an intimate and unflinching story about the ways in which we hurt each other and how we all need love and acceptance to survive." - Sahar Delijani
"A work of meticulous care and genuine candor . . . Khabushani is a poetic visionary, as generous as he is brave." - Heidi Julavits
"Khashayar J. Khabushani has taken a coming-of-age story and flooded it with light. . . . This is a gorgeous and wrenching debut from a writer I'll be following for many years to come." - Catherine Lacey
"A marvel . . . Reading it, I felt the thrill and joy of encountering a major writer at the beginning of his career." - Megha Majumdar
"Tender, heartbreaking . . . Khabushani is an incredibly talented writer." - Imbolo Mbue
"Exquisite, heartbreaking, incredibly beautiful . . . , this is a novel to return to again and again." - Caleb Azumah Nelson
"A moving debut, teeming with desire and light, and quietly devastating. Khashayar J. Khabushani's voice keens and surprises, and at the center of the book we find K, tenderhearted, spirit glowing like a beacon." - Justin Torres
"A work of meticulous care and genuine candor . . . Khabushani is a poetic visionary, as generous as he is brave." - Heidi Julavits
"Khashayar J. Khabushani has taken a coming-of-age story and flooded it with light. . . . This is a gorgeous and wrenching debut from a writer I'll be following for many years to come." - Catherine Lacey
"A marvel . . . Reading it, I felt the thrill and joy of encountering a major writer at the beginning of his career." - Megha Majumdar
"Tender, heartbreaking . . . Khabushani is an incredibly talented writer." - Imbolo Mbue
"Exquisite, heartbreaking, incredibly beautiful . . . , this is a novel to return to again and again." - Caleb Azumah Nelson
"A moving debut, teeming with desire and light, and quietly devastating. Khashayar J. Khabushani's voice keens and surprises, and at the center of the book we find K, tenderhearted, spirit glowing like a beacon." - Justin Torres
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Used availability for Khashayar J Khabushani's I Will Greet the Sun Again