000			03005cam a22004218i 4500
001			on1371014841
003			OCoLC
005			20231128103820.0
008			230530s2023 nyua e 000 1 eng
010			_a 2023016040
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dOCLCF _dRNL _dJBO _dCHY _dVP@ _dOCLCO _dNFG
019			_a1407216148
020			_a9781662602306 _q(hardback)
020			_a1662602308 _q(hardback)
035			_a(OCoLC)1371014841 _z(OCoLC)1407216148
042			_apcc
043			_aa-ii---
092			_aBALJEET _bCELINA
049			_aNFGA
100	1		_aBaljeet Basra, Celina, _d1986- _eauthor.
245	1	0	_aHappy : _ba novel / _cby Celina Baljeet Basra.
250			_aFirst edition.
263			_a2311
264		1	_aNew York : _bAstra House, _c[2023]
300			_a262 pages : _billustrations ; _c22 cm.
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
520			_a"For fans of Vikas Swarup and Charles Yu, the story of a starry-eyed cinephile who leaves his rural village in Punjab to pursue his dreams-a formally daring debut novel set against the global migration crisis"-- _cProvided by publisher.
520			_aIn a rural village of Punjab, India, a moony young man crouches over his phone in a rapeseed field near his family's cabbage farm. His name is Happy Singh Soni, and he's watching YouTube clips of his favorite film, Bande à Part by Jean-Luc Godard. In fact, Happy is often compared to a young Sami Frey by the imaginary journalists that keep him company while he uses the outhouse. Pooing, as he says, "en plein air." When he's not sleeping among the cabbages and eating his mother's sugary rotis, Happy dreams of becoming an actor, one who plays the melancholy roles--sad, pretty boys, rare in Indian cinema. There are macho leads and funny boys en masse, but if you're looking for depth and vulnerability, you must make your own heroes. Then comes Wonderland, an eccentric facsimile of Disneyland that steadily buys up the local farms, rebranding the community's traditional way of life. Happy works a dead-end job at the amusement park, biding his time and saving money for a clandestine journey to Europe, where he'll finally land a breakout role. Little does he know that his immigration is being coordinated by a transnational crime syndicate. After a nightmarish passage to Italy, Happy still manages to find relief in food and fantasy, even as he is forced into ever-worsening work conditions over a debt he allegedly accrued in transit. But his daydreams grow increasingly at odds with his bleak reality, one shared by so many migrant workers disenfranchised by the systems that depend on their labor.
650		0	_aMigrant labor _vFiction. _960897
650		0	_aImmigrants _zIndia _vFiction.
650		0	_aEast Indians _vFiction. _9143673
655		7	_aBildungsromans. _2lcgft _921488
655		7	_aPsychological fiction. _2lcgft _9833
655		7	_aNovels. _2lcgft _92408
994			_aC0 _bNFG
999			_c376451 _d376451