"In Cherian’s gorgeously embroidered tale, nothing turns out remotely like you’d expect." —
Entertainment Weekly
It’s been twenty-five years since Vic, Jay, Frances, and Lali arrived at UCLA from India. Now Vic is a successful computer entrepreneur whose son who is graduating from MIT, and he invites his long-lost friends to the celebration. As the day of the party approaches, the friends must confront where life in America has taken them. Frances and Jay were once the golden couple, but now their careers are flagging and their daughter is flunking out of high school. Lali’s American husband is rediscovering his Jewish roots, and as she prepares to greet her old Indian friends she wonders whether she made the wrong decision so long ago.
Deeply felt and sharply drawn,
The Invitation
melds the comedy of manners with the sting of disillusionment among a generation of Indian immigrants and their children.