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The Year of the Runaways

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The Year of the Runaways

By: Sunjeev Sahota
Narrated by: Sartaj Garewal
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About this listen

The Year of the Runaways tells of the bold dreams and daily struggles of an unlikely family thrown together by circumstance. Thirteen young men live in a house in Sheffield, each in flight from India and in search of a new life.

Avtar has a secret that binds him to protect the choatic Randeep. Randeep has a visa wife in a flat on the other side of town. And Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his past in Bihar.

©2015 Sunjeev Sahota (P)2015 W F Howes Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban City Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"All you can do is surrender, happily, to its power." (Salman Rushdie)
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Enlightening story. Difficult to follow at times as constantly changing characters stories and going backward and forward in time.

Enlightening

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This book has affected me deeply. It should be compulsory reading for all those who judge immigrants legal or otherwise.
So well written and beautifully narrated. Thank you.

Gosh

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This is a great insight into Indian culture, although I am still baffled by a lot of the words.and terminology.
It's s little confusing at the start and took s while to draw me in, but none the less a good story.

I loved listening to mr Garewall narrating he really immersed the listener in the smells, sounds and life of these unfortunate people. After long listens I even found myself wanting to talk in a singsong Indian accent!

The story of the illegal immigrants is both harrowing as it is important to tell and I am very thankful that I am born into my comfortable life.

Lives of the illegal immigrants.

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informative read that makes you think about the hardship of others and the harsh realities of immigration. being honest and hard working seems to only cause disadvantage rather than respect and each characters story is very real. Also great incite to the Siekh religion.

really interesting read

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I loved the description, rich context of scenes and characters. The story is depressing and, the tenacity required to survive in the UK as a illegal immigrants is not the one often portrayed by the media. The tenuous balance of their survival and the responsibility of dependents is a constant intense battle that this book articulates to perfection.

Great narrative, depressing story

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The Year of the Runaways - mixed feelings about this book
I enjoyed the beginning of book going through the characters stories, but then it got s bit jumbled up & seemed to have lost what was going on with the characters themselves, it became a bit unbelievable .
Good narration by Sartaj Garewal

The Year of the Runaways - mixed feelings about this book

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This book shines a light on areas of life I'd guess the average person won't have encountered. The writing is beautiful and tight, the characters empathetic and the subplots were breathtaking. The Booker Shortlist nomination is unsurprising. An absorbing book, which has caused me to reflect on many aspects of life.

Brilliant

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I found the story a little hard to follow at first, but I was soon invested in all the characters and their lives. I'd recommend this to anyone that enjoyed Hosseini’s books.

Loved it

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Would you listen to The Year of the Runaways again? Why?

Yes. Epic stories are always worth a few more listens/reads. Plus, I listen while I travel, cook, garden or do housework and sometimes might miss the key aspect of a particular scene.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything. It is a believable story. I grew up in the Midlands in a city with a diverse Indian community. I had Indian friends at school and have worked with Indians of different castes and the Indian culture has always fascinated me. So much so that as a child I enjoyed watching Indian films and series (if subtitled).

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I am interested in the plight of Untouchables and so was interested in the experiences of Tochi.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

This novel is full of moving moments. It was educative and immersive. As one who listens to talk radio and is saturated with anti-immigrant talk, I was reminded that illegal immigrants are human and do not risk life and limb and dehumanisation to access benefits.

Any additional comments?

Since listening to the book, I read Sunjeev Sahota's interview in The Guardian (12th December 2015). What a wonderful and empathic human being. A son any mother would be proud of.

Deserving of its Booker nomination

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This book was quite hard to get into and as some other reviewers have said, I did get lost at times as there were so many characters and story lines. I almost gave up for this reason but persevered and am glad I did see the book through to its conclusion.

I did feel some of the crude words were unnecessary, one in particular that was used far too much and is a very offensive word to hear, especially for women!. A bit of swearing is acceptable in a hard hitting and emotional just book like this, but a lot of it just wasn’t necessary in my opinion,

I did warm to many of the characters and really feel for that they went through as a result of the caste system in India and in the U.K. where they were treated so badly by their Indian bosses.

An eye opening account of hard lives for Indians

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