The Immortal King Rao

The Immortal King Rao
Vauhini Vara
RRP:
NZ$ 45.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 36.00
Hardback
h234 x 156mm - 384pg
2 Jun 2022 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781611856491
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
' A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love' - Alex Preston, Observer, ' Fiction to look out for in 2022' Will you, dear Shareholder, set Athena free? Athena Rao must reckon with the memory of her father, King Rao - literally. Through biotechnological innovation, he has given her his memories. His Dalit childhood on an Indian coconut plantation in the 1950s is as alive to her as her own existence in a prison cell, accused of her father' s murder. Egocentric, brilliant, a little damaged, King Rao had a visionary idea: the personal computer known as the Coconut. His wife, Margie, was an artist with a marketing genius. Together they created a new world order, led by a corporate-run government. Athena' s future is now in the hands of its Shareholders - unless she can rejoin the Exes, a resistance group sustaining tech-free lifestyles on low-lying islands. Lyrical, satirical and profound, The Immortal King Rao obliterates genre to confront the digital age. This gripping, brilliant debut poses an urgent question: can anyone - peasant laborers, convention-destroying entrepreneurs, radical anarchists, social-media followers - ever get free?
A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love. -- Alex Preston * Observer, ' Fiction to look out for in 2022' * In this richly imagined saga spanning past, present, and future, Vara brings us a visionary who makes the world in his image, and the strong-willed daughter whose life could be his final legacy. Vara' s brilliance is matched only by her heart, and this unforgettable debut will challenge what you think you know about genius, capitalism, consciousness, and what it means to be human. -- Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of OUTLAWED A fully imagined world: propulsive, prophetic, dizzying. -- Jeet Thayil, author of NARCOPOLIS Utterly, thrillingly brilliant. From the first unforgettable page to the last, The Immortal King Rao is a form-inventing, genre-exploding triumph. Vauhini Vara' s bravura debut has reshaped my brain and expanded my heart. -- R. O. Kwon, author of THE INCENDIARIES Vauhini Vara comes out the gate with a masterwork: a book that is three great novels in one: the tale of a thriving and chaotic Dalit clan in the first decades of independent India; an immigrant success story in ' 80s America; and a dystopian nightmare of the post-Trump future. -- Karan Mahajan, author of THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS An astonishing debut. An amazing imagination. Vara' s voice is thrilling, original, dynamic and ever-surprising as her characters move from world to world, from the real to the fantastic, examining the myriad contradictory shapes in which love can appear. -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of THE LAST QUEEN The Immortal King Rao is an odyssey of the grandest scale, spanning over half a century and charting a Dalit immigrant' s rise to world power. Vauhini Vara fuses intricate family lore with the history of tech solutionism and capitalist demagoguery, pointing forward to a dangerously likely future of corporate dominion; she writes with the meticulous clarity of a longform journalist, the explosive force of a Trident missile, and the ambition of her own brilliant protagonists. -- Tony Tulathimutte, author of PRIVATE CITIZENS Vara' s potent debut revolves around a global society run by a corporate board. . . This is not to be missed. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
Vauhini Vara has worked as a Wall Street Journal technology reporter and as the business editor for The New Yorker. Her fiction has been honoured by the O. Henry Prize and the Rona Jaffe Foundation. From a Dalit background, she lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781611856491
Published: 2 Jun 2022
Published In: United States
Imprint: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 234mm
Width: 156mm
Pages: 384

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information