A Review of Sameer Pandya's "Our Beautiful Boys"

It’s no coincidence that the two main subjects of Sameer Pandya’s second novel Our Beautiful Boys are family and violence. Set in a vaguely Santa Barbara-ish fictional Chilesworth, CA (Pandya is an associate professor of Asian American Studies at UCSB), the book focuses on three high school football players and a vicious attack of a fourth student at a post-game party in a spot called the Cave House. This sly and captivating book fronts as a whodunit—crucial plot elements keep dropping until the very final pages—but even more so it’s a whoarewe, if I may create a sub-genre, as all its well-limned characters must confront the chaos of their inner selves. And then try to find where their true selves allow them to be in the shifting and complex milieus of family, work, teams, friendships.

Pandya masterfully builds three distinct family units—the Shastris, Gita and Gautum, and their golf-playing son Vikram, suddenly turning his attention to football; the Cruzes, high-powered academic Veronica, her running back son Diego, and her brother, Alex; the generationally privileged Berringers, Shirley, Michael, and their star quarterback son Michael Jr., who goes by MJ. Issues of race and class are clearly obvious from the first pigheaded teenboy taunt, but they go lots deeper than mere name-calling. Indeed, issues of race will grow quite twisted as Veronica’s backstory unspools, and we get to discover why she might be so hesitant to visit her parents. In this way Pandya gets to examine what the limits of self-invention are.

Care to read the rest then do so at the California Review of Books.

Review also posted at the Santa Barbara Independent on March 27, 2025.

The Grapes of Super Bowl Wrath

While both football and wine have punts (the wine one is the dimple on your bottle's bottom), they might not seem to have a whole lot else in common. Wine just doesn't seem enough smashmouth for our national game of violence, let alone as burp-worthy as beer. That said, many former NFL players and coaches have gone the winemaker route once they retired. Mike Ditka had his Kick Ass Red (what else would he call it?), Dick Vermeil makes a Jean-Louis Vermeil Napa Cabernet that sells for over $250 a bottle (now that's one clever coach), and Terry Hoage followed up his 13-year career as a defensive back by starting a vineyard in Paso Robles (in 2008 he was named one of the Top New California Wine Producers by Wine Spectator).

Want to read the rest then do so at the KCET Food Blog.