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9781786893529 623eb4145bbf77168332a456 The Go Between A Portrait Of Growing Up Between Different Worlds https://www.midlandbookshop.com/s/607fe93d7eafcac1f2c73ea4/623eb4155bbf77168332a461/51oz5h2mfnl-_sx312_bo1-204-203-200_.jpg

'A beautifully observed and funny book' Guardian 'Compelling and humane' Sathnam Sanghera

A coming-of-age story set in Birmingham in the 1980s and 1990s, The Go-Between opens a window into a closed migrant community living in a red-light district on the wrong side of the tracks.

The adult world is seen through Osman's eyes as a child: his own devout Pashtun patriarchal community, with its divide between the world of men and women, living cheek-by-jowl with parallel migrant communities. The orthodox attend a mosque down the road from the prostitutes and pimps. Children balance Western school teachings with cultural traditions.

Alternative masculinities compete with strict gender roles, and female erasure and honour-based violence are committed, even as empowering female friendships prevail. The stories Osman tells, some fantastical and humorous, others melancholy and even harrowing, take us from the Birmingham of Osman's childhood to the banks of the river Kabul and the river Indus, and, eventually, to the London of his teenage years.

Osman weaves in and out of these worlds, struggling with the dual burdens of racism and community expectations, as he is forced to realise it is no longer possible to exist in the spaces in between.

 
 

Review

A beautifully observed and funny book - Guardian

Osman's compelling and humane memoir shines light into a hidden world I didn't realise existed down the road from me. It's an essential book that will help you understand multiculturalism in all its complexities -- SATHNAM SANGHERA

I don't think I properly understood the true nature of multiculturalism before reading Osman Yousefzada's The Go-Between. Only really good writing can bring alive the truth, the colour, the reality and the meaning of an experience like Osman's. And he really is a good writer . . . I read with such pleasure, terror, amusement, admiration and fascination - it is surely one of the great childhood memoirs of our times -- STEPHEN FRY

Yousefzada's funny and fascinating story of moving between two cultures . . . this memoir is a welcome exploration of time and place - Stylist

The Go-Between is a portrait of the artist as a young man in a strictly religious immigrant community. Its colourful, compulsively readable evocation of childhood clashes between faith and self, family and freedom, is profoundly moving and beautifully wrought. Yousefzada's journey from the home of an illiterate seamstress, shadowed by domestic violence, is extraordinary to witness. This debut is both an essential meditation on identity, and a transcendently great story -- KATIE ROIPHE

Arresting . . . skilled . . . moving . . . What really lingers are the vividnesses of [Yousefzada's] childhood world, the struggles and griefs of his parents, and especially of his mother, to whose life he bears loving witness - Guardian, Book of the Day

What Elena Ferrante does for Italy, Yousefzada's The Go-Between does for Immigrant Britain - Dazed

Yousefzada is a gifted storyteller who writes with such tender care -- MONA ARSHI

Profound and universal . . . a remarkable insight into multicultural Britain and the pain inherent in following your own path - Guardian

Book Description

An enlightening memoir of living between worlds and learning how to find one's own - from the artist and fashion designer

About the Author

Osman Yousefzada was born in Birmingham to migrant parents who are illiterate in English and their mother tongue. He is an interdisciplinary artist and designer who studied at SOAS and Central Saint Martins, and went on to obtain an MPhil at Cambridge University. He has exhibited at international institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery, Lahore Biennale, Dhaka Art Summit, V&A, IKON, the Cincinnati Art Museum and more. As well as being nominated for various fashion awards, he has been awarded the prestigious BFC New Generation award for three seasons. The Osman Yousefzada clothing line is sold internationally and is worn by celebrities including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lupita Nyong'o, Thandiwe Newton, Gwen Stefani, Emma Watson, Freida Pinto and many more. He edits The Collective, a cross-disciplinary journal featuring artists, writers and other creatives, and has written for Vogue, the Guardian and the Observer.
 
 9781786893529
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The Go Between A Portrait Of Growing Up Between Different Worlds

The Go Between A Portrait Of Growing Up Between Different Worlds

ISBN: 9781786893529
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  • ISBN: 9781786893529
  • Author: Osman Yousefzada
  • Publisher: Canongate Books
  • Pages: 368
  • Format: Hardback
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Book Description

'A beautifully observed and funny book' Guardian 'Compelling and humane' Sathnam Sanghera

A coming-of-age story set in Birmingham in the 1980s and 1990s, The Go-Between opens a window into a closed migrant community living in a red-light district on the wrong side of the tracks.

The adult world is seen through Osman's eyes as a child: his own devout Pashtun patriarchal community, with its divide between the world of men and women, living cheek-by-jowl with parallel migrant communities. The orthodox attend a mosque down the road from the prostitutes and pimps. Children balance Western school teachings with cultural traditions.

Alternative masculinities compete with strict gender roles, and female erasure and honour-based violence are committed, even as empowering female friendships prevail. The stories Osman tells, some fantastical and humorous, others melancholy and even harrowing, take us from the Birmingham of Osman's childhood to the banks of the river Kabul and the river Indus, and, eventually, to the London of his teenage years.

Osman weaves in and out of these worlds, struggling with the dual burdens of racism and community expectations, as he is forced to realise it is no longer possible to exist in the spaces in between.

 
 

Review

A beautifully observed and funny book - Guardian

Osman's compelling and humane memoir shines light into a hidden world I didn't realise existed down the road from me. It's an essential book that will help you understand multiculturalism in all its complexities -- SATHNAM SANGHERA

I don't think I properly understood the true nature of multiculturalism before reading Osman Yousefzada's The Go-Between. Only really good writing can bring alive the truth, the colour, the reality and the meaning of an experience like Osman's. And he really is a good writer . . . I read with such pleasure, terror, amusement, admiration and fascination - it is surely one of the great childhood memoirs of our times -- STEPHEN FRY

Yousefzada's funny and fascinating story of moving between two cultures . . . this memoir is a welcome exploration of time and place - Stylist

The Go-Between is a portrait of the artist as a young man in a strictly religious immigrant community. Its colourful, compulsively readable evocation of childhood clashes between faith and self, family and freedom, is profoundly moving and beautifully wrought. Yousefzada's journey from the home of an illiterate seamstress, shadowed by domestic violence, is extraordinary to witness. This debut is both an essential meditation on identity, and a transcendently great story -- KATIE ROIPHE

Arresting . . . skilled . . . moving . . . What really lingers are the vividnesses of [Yousefzada's] childhood world, the struggles and griefs of his parents, and especially of his mother, to whose life he bears loving witness - Guardian, Book of the Day

What Elena Ferrante does for Italy, Yousefzada's The Go-Between does for Immigrant Britain - Dazed

Yousefzada is a gifted storyteller who writes with such tender care -- MONA ARSHI

Profound and universal . . . a remarkable insight into multicultural Britain and the pain inherent in following your own path - Guardian

Book Description

An enlightening memoir of living between worlds and learning how to find one's own - from the artist and fashion designer

About the Author

Osman Yousefzada was born in Birmingham to migrant parents who are illiterate in English and their mother tongue. He is an interdisciplinary artist and designer who studied at SOAS and Central Saint Martins, and went on to obtain an MPhil at Cambridge University. He has exhibited at international institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery, Lahore Biennale, Dhaka Art Summit, V&A, IKON, the Cincinnati Art Museum and more. As well as being nominated for various fashion awards, he has been awarded the prestigious BFC New Generation award for three seasons. The Osman Yousefzada clothing line is sold internationally and is worn by celebrities including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lupita Nyong'o, Thandiwe Newton, Gwen Stefani, Emma Watson, Freida Pinto and many more. He edits The Collective, a cross-disciplinary journal featuring artists, writers and other creatives, and has written for Vogue, the Guardian and the Observer.
 

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