The Exiled Times of a Tibetan Jew: A Tragicomedy (Lewis Grassic Gibbon S.) Book

The Exiled Times Of A Tibetan Jew is a literary dark comedy set in London. It can be said to fall into the ethno-fiction tradition of Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Monica Ali, yet at the same time it challenges the genre, exploring multicultural Britain through the prism of a fictional ethnic group. The novel centers on a colorful group of refugee Tibetans. One of the group's members, the charismatic (and slightly dubious) Rabbi Chod, recognizes himself as the reincarnation of Moses, and various friends as reincarnations of key Biblical figures. Despite condemnation from both the mainstream Jewish and Tibetan communities, he declares his followers the true "lost tribe of Israel," and defiantly opens up a synagogue in a pet shop. The action is seen through the eyes of the narrator, Monlam, who is born into a family where suppression and dysfunction are common currency. Both of his parents are Tibetan Jews, followers of Rabbi Chod. His father owns a cafÇ called "Hush Hush," so called because within the cafÇ, all forms of noise are forbidden. Any customer who speaks is instantly banned and a Polaroid photo of them is pinned to a cork board in case they should dare to return. Monlam himself lives an extraordinary life; as each day goes by, he makes his way not into the future, but the past. He falls asleep each night only to wake up the day before. In this way, as he grows up his parents get younger. By the end of the book his parents are children - too young to manage by themselves - and the adult Monlam has to look after them. In this way he witnesses his own family history, quite literally living backwards into their lives.Read More