Brother Alive Explained

Brother Alive
Author:Zain Khalid
Country:United States
Language:English
Publisher:Grove Atlantic
Pub Date:July 12, 2022
Isbn:9780802159762

Brother Alive is American writer Zain Khalid's debut novel. It received the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award[1] [2] and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize[3] for best first book in any genre. It was also awarded the CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction,[4] and was shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize.[5] Khalid was named the recipient of the 2024 Bard Fiction Prize,[6] [7] and was awarded the National Book Foundation's '5 under 35' prize.[8] [9] [10] [11]

Reception

Brother Alive received favorable reviews from critics[12] [13] [14] and went on to win multiple awards.[15] [16] The New York Times named Khalid a Writer to Watch.[17]

According to the review aggregator Book Marks, the book received four "Rave" reviews and one "Positive", "Mixed", and "Pan" review each.[18]

Pete Tosiello, writing for The New York Times Book Review, called the novel "beguiling", noting that the "epistolary structure lend[s] a confessional tone". He further praised the writing style, noting, "Khalid is such a gifted commentator that his methods bear close examination [...] Brother Alive is neither a press bulletin nor a position paper. Khalid’s sentences abound with florid, poetic metaphors while maintaining the clipped, declarative tempo of Scripture."[19]

Library Journals Luke Gorham said the book is " One the most exciting debuts in recent years.” and that it is "blisteringly intelligent, bursting with profound feeling, and host to some of the most complex, necessary characters in recent memory." He referred to the novel as "genre-defying", noting that "Khalid’s vision can be bleak, even cynical, but it’s also remarkably cogent and underscored with a profound tenderness".[20]

Publishers Weekly highlighted how "Khalid brilliantly reveals new shades of truth from each character’s point of view, and perfectly integrates the many ideas about capitalism and religious extremism into an enthralling narrative".[21]

The judges for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Firecracker Award for Fiction described the book as "...surreal, complex, puzzling, mind-expanding, imaginative, original, and presciently relevant to our times."[22]

On behalf of the Cleveland Review of Books, Jonah Howell referred to it as "a smooth interleaving of science-fiction with high-resolution realism and hallucinatory phantasmagoria" and noted " that it’s one of those books that appear only seldomly and bellow, from the first page, from the first line, that they require, beyond the valence-judgements expected of a review, earnest, laborious exploration."[23]

UK publication Buzz called the novel "An impressive feat of literary ambition".[24]

The Atlantics Jonah Bromwich said, "The cynicism of Brother Alive is countered by the incredible warmth with which Khalid writes about his city". He also noted that the novel "feels like the first since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic that captures the mood of New York right now, describing a wounded city where, rather than holding on to what’s gone, residents are eager to rid themselves of the recent past". Bromwich noted, however, that "when the book leaves the city, it tumbles off its axis [...] without the backdrop of New York, the abstractions pile up and the churning plot ceases to satisfy".[25]

On a similar note, Booklist's Terry Hong said the novel is "riotous with erudition" and that the "multilayered, nonlinear narrative turns unwieldy and ultimately disappointing as an exercise in sly cleverness rather than rewarding storytelling."[26]

Kirkus Reviews called the novel "bulky" and "ambitious", noting that "Khalid has plenty to say about art, relationships, religion, and family [...] But the novel creaks from its overabundance of ambition [...] Whatever power Brother might have as a symbol for hidden lives and alternate existences is sapped by the busy plotting. Khalid has an admirably encyclopedist instinct, but he’s set an almost impossibly high bar for storytelling".[27]

The novel has been translated to German.

Awards

Award!Result!Ref
2022National Book Critics Circle AwardJohn Leonard Prize
2023Firecracker Award for Fiction
2023Ursula K. Le Guin Prize—
2023Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction —
2023Young Lions Fiction Award—
2024Bard Fiction Prize—

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023-06-16 . Zain Khalid has won the 2023 Young Lions Award. . 2023-09-25 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  2. Web site: Zain Khalid Wins The New York Public Library's Twenty-Third Young Lions Fiction Award . 2023-09-25 . The New York Public Library . en.
  3. Web site: Valdez . Jonah . 2023-02-01 . Here are the finalists for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Awards . 2023-09-25 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
  4. Web site: 2023-06-23 . Here are the winners of the 2023 Firecracker Awards. . 2023-09-25 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  5. Web site: Schnelbach . Leah . 2023-07-11 . Announcing the 2023 Shortlist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction . 2023-09-25 . Electric Literature . en-US.
  6. Web site: College . Bard . The Bard Fiction Prize at Bard College . 2023-09-25 . www.bard.edu . en.
  7. Web site: Zain Khalid Wins the Bard Fiction Prize . 2023-09-26 . Kirkus Reviews . en.
  8. Web site: Guy . Zoe . 2024-03-19 . It’s the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 . 2024-03-20 . Vulture . en.
  9. Web site: Andrews . Meredith . 2024-03-15 . The National Book Foundation Announces its 2024 5 Under 35 Honorees . 2024-03-20 . National Book Foundation . en-US.
  10. Web site: 2024-03-19 . The National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Honorees for 2024 . 2024-03-20 . BOOK RIOT . en-US.
  11. Web site: 2024-03-19 . The National Book Foundation announces its 2024 5 Under 35 honorees. . 2024-03-20 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  12. News: Tosiello . Pete . 2022-07-12 . A Debut Novel Explores Power in Many Forms, From Capital to Dogma . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-09-25 . 0362-4331.
  13. Web site: Bromwich . Jonah . 2022-07-22 . The Novel That Captures New York City Right Now . 2023-09-25 . The Atlantic . en.
  14. Web site: Haldane's Demand: On Zain Khalid's "Brother Alive" . 2023-09-25 . Cleveland Review of Books . en-US.
  15. Web site: 2023-06-16 . Zain Khalid has won the 2023 Young Lions Award. . 2023-09-25 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  16. Web site: 2023-06-23 . Here are the winners of the 2023 Firecracker Awards. . 2023-09-25 . Literary Hub . en-US.
  17. News: Harris . Elizabeth A. . Williams . John . Khatib . Joumana . 2022-05-21 . Writers to Watch This Summer . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-11-03 . 0362-4331.
  18. Web site: Book Marks reviews of Brother Alive by Zain Khalid . 2023-11-01 . . en-US . 2023-06-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606115921/https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/brother-alive/ . live .
  19. News: Tosiello . Pete . 2022-07-12 . A Debut Novel Explores Power in Many Forms, From Capital to Dogma . en-US . . 2023-11-01 . 0362-4331 . 2023-03-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230319052430/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/books/review/zain-khalid-brother-alive.html . live .
  20. Web site: Gorham . Luke . 2022-07-01 . Brother Alive . 2023-11-01 . . 2022-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221127085222/https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/brother-alive-1790659 . live .
  21. Web site: 2022-05-13 . Brother Alive by . 2023-11-01 . . 2023-06-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230623201722/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780802159779 . live .
  22. Web site: 2023-06-22 . Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Firecracker Awards . 2023-09-25 . Community of Literary Magazines and Presses . en-US.
  23. Web site: Howell . Jonah . 2022-07-08 . Haldane’s Demand: On Zain Khalid's "Brother Alive" . 2023-11-01 . Cleveland Review of Books . en-US . 2023-09-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230926145734/https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/writing/zain-khalid-brother-alive-review-essay . live .
  24. Web site: Buzz . 2022-08-24 . BROTHER ALIVE: family ties, secrets & shapeshifters in Zain Khalid's impressive debut . 2023-11-03 . Buzz Magazine . en-GB.
  25. Web site: Bromwich . Jonah . 2022-07-22 . The Novel That Captures New York City Right Now . 2023-11-01 . . en . 2023-06-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230607192003/https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/07/zain-khalid-brother-alive-book-review/670619/ . live .
  26. Web site: Hong . Terry . 2022-05-20 . Brothers Alive . 2023-11-01 . . 2023-11-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231101234512/https://www.booklistonline.com/Brother-Alive/pid=9759356 . live .
  27. Web site: 2022-04-26 . Brother Alive . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230202080730/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/zain-khalid/brother-alive/ . 2023-02-02 . 2023-11-01 . Kirkus Reviews.

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