Members Only by Sameer Pandya
Raj is a person of Indian descent who teaches at a small college. He also belongs to a tennis club. This story is about the difficulties of being a nonwhite in America at the same time as it is about the common struggles most of us in the middle class share. This in itself is an important part of the story.
This is not an action novel, Raj goes through trials, but it is not a story of death and peril. He is simply a man trying to make his way through life with his own foliables tripping him up. He accidentally makes a racist joke. In order to be a challenging, inspiring professor, he makes some comments that students get upset about.
Yes it is about the state of colleges censorship of ideas. It is also about the current problem in America of the movement to keep America white. But at its core it's about a man coming to terms with the choices he makes and the choices are made for him.
It kept me turning the pages with ideas that make me mull things over even when I am not reading.
( )

When Justine Sacco tweeted, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding, I’m white!” she could not have imagined the Twitterstorm that would follow. By the time her plane landed in Africa, tens of thousands of strangers were calling for her head or, at the very least, her job. These days, it feels like anyone can be ‘#cancelled’ by the court of public opinion, whether it be a joke in poor taste or something genuinely insidious. However, performative outrage does little to help the victims of discrimination. While it’s easy to point out overt acts of racism, it’s really the cumulative micro-aggressions and systemic problems that can wear a person down.

Members Only explores this concept through the eyes of Professor Raj Bhatt, an Indian immigrant who suddenly finds himself in hot water when he makes a joke in poor taste. Compounding problems, Raj becomes labeled as a “racist/reverse racist” when a group of students report him for making some controversial remarks during class. It was very interesting to read the story from Raj’s perspective, especially as we see how Raj’s past helped shape his views of America today. The narrator’s voice feels so authentic that I wonder how much of Raj’s life was based on the author’s experiences living as a person of color in this country. Thank you to Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sending me an advance reading copy of this book. ( )

I thought this book was really interesting! Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to read too many books on race that aren't focused on African Americans (but those books are still really important to read as well!), so this was a really unique experience for me. Raj was painfully human. He made a lot of mistakes, particularly when talking to the African American couple at the tennis club, but his frustrations for his own discrimination were so clear that you had to feel for him despite his less desirable behaviors. In my opinion, this was a very character-driven novel, so your enjoyment really hinges on your ability to emphasize with Raj. Also, the cover is so pretty! It relates to the book so well, and the blue tones really make it stand out on a shelf.

MEMBERS ONLY works as an adult version of DARIUS THE GREAT.
It delivers plenty of incisive social commentary woven with witty dialogue.

"The rich truly don't give a f**k."

The plot moves carefully and swiftly along as main character, Raj, evolves
from the boredom of the Tennis Club membership interviews to making one of those
"How could he?!?" gangsta rap comments to the black couple being interviewed.

We learn that many of his previous joking (to him) remarks have landed him in trouble,
as will his dated anthropological generalizations on the "...emptiness of Christianity...."

Soon, he is on overload with a projected job loss, exclusion from the Tennis Club,
a cancerous mole, his son's behaviors at school, stalking by a delusional student,
and the fallout from still not apologizing to the couple.

A sequel could answer why he waited so long, as well as giving readers more insight into the other main characters in his family, as well to travel with Eva.

The plot of MEMBERS ONLY echoes another memorable tale, THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T STAND UP by Jacob Appel.

How great it would be to have links to his lectures, to Emily Baker's poems,
and to that unforgettably brilliant talk by Cynthia Wood on Tristam Shandy! ( )