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Members Only

About the Book

Members Only

First, the white members of Raj Bhatt’s posh tennis club call him racist. Then, his life falls apart. Along the way, he wonders: Where does he, a brown man, belong in America?

Raj Bhatt is often unsure of where he belongs. Having moved to America from Bombay as a child, he knew few Indian kids. Now middle-aged, he lives mostly happily in California, with a job at a university. Still, his white wife seems to fit in better than he does at times, especially at their tennis club, a place he’s cautiously come to love.

But it’s there that, in one week, his life unravels. It begins at a meeting for potential new members: Raj is thrilled to find an African American couple on the list, as he dreams of a more diverse club. But in an effort to connect, he makes a racist joke. The committee turns on him, no matter the years of prejudice he’s put up with. And worse still, he soon finds his job is in jeopardy after a group of students report him as a reverse racist, thanks to his alleged “anti-Western bias.”

Heartfelt, humorous and hard-hitting, MEMBERS ONLY explores what membership and belonging mean, as Raj navigates the complicated space between black and white America.

Members Only
by Sameer Pandya

  • Publication Date: July 7, 2020
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books
  • ISBN-10: 035837992X
  • ISBN-13: 9780358379928