A California Story

The year is 2003. Ved, a 36-year-old Indian in Silicon Valley, works for Omnicon, the world's largest computer networking company whose culture he finds both sad and comical. Its quietly brewing troubles soon engulf him, even as he must deal with the turmoil in his relationships with Sasha, a Russian escort, and Liz, a spiritual-liberal American. Amid all this, his parents visit him from India. On a weekend outing with them, a man assaults him in a hate crime. Spiraling events force Ved into a hard reckoning with his life. A California Story is a keenly perceptive portrait of Silicon Valley and the quest for love and belonging.

Advance Praise:

"Namit Arora does for Silicon Valley what Tom Wolfe did for Wall Street in The Bonfire of the Vanities: with keen eye and sharp wit, he captures the culture and mores of the place. But Arora is funnier. And sweeter. Rare for a work of fiction, it reveals what has gone so horrifically awry in America and what is still worth preserving. Above all, read it for the sheer pleasure of the story, told in assured and sparkling prose." -- S. Abbas Raza , Founding Editor, 3 Quarks Daily.

"Namit Arora writes with an enviable briskness and ease, and produces an engaging, incisive portrait of the Indian techie in Silicon Valley. A California Story describes immigrant life with empathy but without pulling any punches. Arora's California is a space of innovation and discovery, but also challenge and alienation. Readers will be amused, saddened, angered and educated as they read this rigorously unsanitized version of the desi dream." -- Suvir Kaul , AM Rosenthal Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania

"A moving and insightful portrayal of the immigrant's exile from authenticity. Written in the language of human relationships, Arora's novel will speak to anyone who's been a stranger in a strange land." -- Anil Menon , novelist and editor

"Namit Arora takes the lid off life in the Great Indian Dream of Silicon Valley." -- Jerry Pinto , novelist and journalist

"A fiercely honest and insightful story, with richly painted characters I could empathize with readily. The female characters are strong and the author gets into their minds in a way that is refreshing and illuminating." -- Cherry Mosteshar , author and journalist

"Arora's narrative is structurally sound and capably written with a protagonist who is endearing. Ved [is] someone to cheer for as he navigates the precarious world of online dating, job dissatisfaction, and, perhaps most socially significant and politically relevant, the rampant discrimination and violent racism coursing through the streets of America. Indian culture is knowledgeably and effectively personified through Ved's character as the story explores the nature of the immigrant journey in the United States ... A cleverly written tale with a social conscience featuring themes of family, inclusiveness, racial divides, and the theatrics of love." -- Kirkus Reviews

"[A] page-turner ... about one person's honest examination of his experience at a particular time in his life. A simple premise but it takes a lot of skill to execute simplicity: to be sparing and uncomplicated with words, yet keep it engrossing. Namit Arora is well known at 3 Quarks Daily and elsewhere for his beautifully composed and well researched essays; his debut novel suggests he is equally adept at fiction." -- Hari Balasubramanian , 3 Quarks Daily , 23 September 2019.