"Provocatively undercuts received narratives about the 'American dream.'" (The Guardian)

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WINNER OF THE APALA AWARD FOR LITERATURE 2023

 

Named a best book of the summer by Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Vogue India, Bustle, and The Millions

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"A funny and affecting novel...a wonderful new spin on the coming-of-age story. A smart, charming debut." (Kirkus, starred review)

"A fascinating mix of immigrant tale, coming-of-age narrative, and cultural exposition...tackling some of the big migration questions of home and identity." (Booklist)

 

"Amna skillfully captures the unique struggles of finding a place in oneself and the world during a time of mass migration, the collapsing of social orthodoxies, and globalization." (Chicago Review of Books)

 

"An affecting, well-told tale." (Christian Science Monitor)

 

"The arrival of this newer version of Jhumpa Lahiri, Amna’s book is a major new entry in the star-studded tradition of the South Asian novel. And she will remain a writer to watch for in the years to come." (The Friday Times)

"Brave, tender-hearted, and painfully bittersweet, American Fever...announces Dur e Aziz Amna as a brilliant new voice." (Fatima Farheen Mirza)

“This is a fearless, exacting, essential work." (Peter Ho Davies)

For fans of Valeria Luiselli and Mohsin Hamid comes a fresh new perspective on coming-of-age as a Pakistani Muslim in rural America. 

On a year-long exchange program in rural Oregon, sixteen-year-old Hira must swap Kashmiri chai for volleyball practice and understand why everyone around her seems to dislike Obama.  A skeptically witty narrator, Hira finds herself stuck between worlds. The experience is memorable for reasons both good and bad; a first kiss, new friends, racism, Islamophobia, homesickness. Along the way Hira starts to feel increasingly unwell until she begins coughing up blood, and receives a diagnosis of tuberculosis, pushing her into quarantine and turning her newly established home away from home upside down. 
 

“American Fever—as propulsive as it is lyrical, as hilarious as it is sobering—is, above all, an irresistible read from an impressive new literary voice.” (Michigan Quarterly Review)

 

“Dur e Aziz Amna does what every great writer within this tradition does – indeed whatever immigrant to America has done – to retell that familiar story of exile and prejudice, discovery and glory once again, but to make it indelibly and completely her own.” (The Millions)

 

“Rarely does a book sharpen how you see the world around you, but American Fever does just that. It dazzled me on every page.” (Julie Buntin)

 

"A brilliant exploration of the sacred, scary moment when a girl comes into the wider world.” (Benjamin Moser)

 

“Hira’s...biting intelligence, her irreverence, and her wit blazes through this riveting, brilliant novel. A searing debut.”(Aamina Ahmad)

 

"An extraordinarily assured and gripping debut." (Ayşegül Savaş)

 

“Fierce, razor-sharp, poignant, and rendered with fiery wit and deep empathy for human foibles, American Fever is a powerful tale of exile, identity, and belonging in our complex world.” (Vikram Paralkar)

 

“Dure Aziz Amna’s American Fever is a fresh, fierce bildungsroman—a story of homesickness and adolescent ache, not to mention a biting meta-commentary on what we expect from immigrant narratives.” (Sanjena Sathian)

 

“Dur e Aziz Amna’s American Fever is a loving and unflinching exploration of home and homeland, the ways they make and unmake us, how they feed us and also eat away our insides. . . . Amna’s crystalline prose reflects and refracts, dazzles and captivates.” (Nawaaz Ahmed)

 

“Hira is a marvellous creation — American Fever marks the arrival of a hugely promising writer.” (Mirza Waheed)

“Charming, fearless, and politically aware, American Fever is a novel that will stay with you for a long time.” (Sarah Thankam Mathews)

 

“This book is a necessary next-leveling of diasporic consciousness, the unraveling of borders between homeland and newfound home that happens inside of us.” (Tanaïs)

 

“A gripping debut on a journey that so many young people embark on but very little is written about with such audacity, skill and compassion.” (Zeba Talkhani)