I'm always on the lookout for new South Asian authors/books, being South Asian myself so I was ecstatic when I heard about this series of short stories.

In his debut book, Patel attempts to shatter stereotypes and weave an intricate image of the new generation of Indian-Americans. "Attempts" is the key word here. The stories themselves on their own are fine, but in a book where they are supposed to be read back to back, they become repetitive and boring. Although this is a quick read, I found myself struggling to get through it given the "sameness" of all the narratives. There was no differentiation from one character to the next, neither in tone or in personality. I don't mind overall bleak books but this was just downright repetitive in every sense.

Although this book is advertised as shattering stereotypes, the repetition of the same character with just a different name makes it forgettable. There is no "clashing of cultures" as described in the summary. And having read many books by other South-Asians, the short stories employ the most basic tropes over and over again without the depth that makes them worth reading.

In short, although these stories are well written, they are very similar and reading them back to back creates a very shallow glimpse into the complex lives of Indian-Americans.

(This review originally appeared on my book blog: https://willreadanything.wordpress.com/2019/04/26/review-if-you-see-me-dont-say-hi-by-neel-patel/ )