PRAISE for The Wedding
“Basran, an award-winning author, skillfully weaves together themes of abuse which must never be acknowledged, the plight of international students, of women escaping bad marriages to work below minimum wage as they “hide in plain sight”, of disenfranchised youth being inducted into a life of crime. And neighbours, some of whom embrace the celebrations and get togged up in South Asian finery to enjoy sweet and spicy treats and others, who resent the loud, colourful community in their midst….Basran delivers a wide-ranging but intimate portrait of a vibrant, complex community, and a family drama steeped in tradition.”
“Basran’s novel serves up a social commentary that wouldn’t be out of place in a Jane Austen novel. There’s family, there’s tradition, and there’s the inexorable force of them; and then there’s the price paid — compromises, sacrifices, postponed dreams, exclusion, conformity, resignation.”
“With humour and honesty, The Wedding pulls back the curtain on a milestone event that comes with enough drama to make any Bollywood director happy.”
“...this artfully constructed novel is a love story of sorts, but one with a heart big enough to embrace an entire community—and them some…author Gurjinder Basran doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. Plenty of tea is spilled on the way to the alter and it’s a surprisingly spicy blend.”
“Gurjinder Basan (Help! I’m Alive!) has written an intricate story about fractured family relationships and how aspirations differ with each generation in Sikh-Canadian culture. Devinder and Nanak are surrounded by well-meaning, doting parents and match-making aunties. The result is a chaotic, soul-baring, multi-generational family drama.”
“Free of the clichés and cultural voyeurism that often plague South Asian diaspora tales, Gurjinder Basran’s fiction serves up the many flavours of the Indo-Canadian experience without dilution.”
“Basran’s storytelling is imbued with humor, nuance and honesty, making the novel both entertaining and deeply reflective…Basran doesn’t shy away from exploring complex themes such as desire and expectation, suffering and judgment, and class and race. Through these undercurrents, Basran provides a candid look at the immigrant experience, the clash of traditional values with modern aspirations, and the ways in which a community can both uplift and ensnare its members.”
“A richly textured, wonderfully imagined novel, The Wedding evokes an entire Vancouver community as its protagonist, a cast of characters so real they leap off the page, and whose lives, loves, and heartbreaks are entwined with one another for better or worse. Gurjinder Basran offers an astute insight into the human psyche and an intimate look at the intricacies of love and family. This, and her beautiful, whip-smart prose make this a highly engrossing and un-put-down-able read. I loved every minute of it.”
— Ayelet Tsabari, award winning author of Songs for the Broken Hearted, The Art of Leaving and The Best Place on Earth
PRAISE for Help! I’m Alive
“Moving beyond cliches about resilience or stages of grief, Help! I’m Alive takes a thoughtful look at both literal and figurative journeys of “getting better.” The book offers moments of loneliness, isolation, regret, and anxiety, authentically explored in ways both affirming and reassuring. Perhaps most vitally, Basran doesn’t rely on tidy resolution or even explanation to make larger points. There is no “getting over it” here—instead the narrative assures us that coping comes in varied forms, and that it certainly doesn’t need to look a certain way to be valid.”
“Basran’s bravery in looking directly on the most anxious, personal, and unanswerable questions that simmer under the surface of both community and individual pays off in a book that feels deeply truthful. Her elegant storytelling exposes the raw edge of grief and loss while uplifting the resilience of the human heart in even the most destabilizing moments.”
—Open Book, We Make Our Own Meaning
“The undoubted success of Help! originates with writing elementals. Basran’s artful management of them — distinctive characters (witty, loving, conflicted, capable-but-stymied) on expertly-paced quests (peculiar, quirky, lovingly rendered, intriguingly resolved) in a contemporary Canadian setting (whose issues, conflicts, frailties, strengths, and knotted complications are immediately recognizable) — is clear from start to finish. It’s fiction to enjoy as storytelling, sure, but as impressive, it’s an elegant story to consider as a bracing, deep, and useful meditation on the (pre-pandemic) here and now.”
“Help! I'm Alive, Gurjinder Basran's insightful, compelling third novel, captures the guilt, confusion and longing for connection that follow the death of a suburban teen...Four people narrate the story, each of whom was close to Jay, a boy who live-streamed footage of his death...Rather than exploiting suicide for character development, Basran opts to probe fractures in the oldest, closest relationships and the beautiful fragility of new ones...Help! I'm Alive is a masterful examination of what it means to be human, to hope and to connect.”
“ Gurjinder Basran brings a laser-focused intensity to the interactions and concerns of alienated teens, the cruelties and generosities of friendship, intimacy and family, the ‘small interventions’ that make life bearable. ‘When we’re the luckiest we don’t even know it’s happening,’ she writes. By the end of Help! I’m Alive, though, that is no longer true; having come through a terrible ordeal, these flawed but compelling characters have found the grace notes to guide them onward in their journey.”
— Rachel Rose, author of The Octopus Has Three Hearts
“Basran sensitively examines four characters with their own sets of psychological struggles, all of whom gradually and to a believable degree begin to move past them and open up, offering a hint of hope to the reader.”
— Booklist
PRAISE for Someone You Love is Gone
"A beautiful, haunting story of one family, spanning generations and continents, as they face life's inevitable losses, struggle with grief, and reach for redemption."
—Shilpi Somaya Gowda, New York Times Bestselling author of the Secret Daughter and Golden Son
“In this brave and beautifully written novel, Gurjinder Basran shines a light into the darkest corners of one family’s emotional inheritance. Grief has the power to remake us, and for Simran and her mother, Amrita, it proves truly transformative, blurring the lines between self and other, home and history—even life and death.”
—Alissa York, author of Fauna and The Naturalist
"Someone You Love is Gone is a touching, interesting look at a family’s ups-and-downs and generational connections."
"Although epic in scope, Someone You Love is Gone is economically and poetically written."
"Someone You Love Is Gone proves Basran knows deeply the ways personal history is etched by time and events."
"The ability alone to weave this moral complexity into her stories makes Gurjinder Basran a novelist worth reading."
"A realistic and emotional portrayal of grief."
PRAISE for Everything Was Good-bye
a fascinating story, skillfully written, of a rebellious young woman's remarkable courage."
—Jack Hodgins, author of The Master of Happy Endings, Broken Ground, The Invention of The World
"...a brave book, and also a pleasure to read: emotionally engaging, sensuous, vibrant and beautifully observed."
Kathy Page, author of The Find, Alphabet, The Story of My Face, The Two of Us
"A tender novel about identity and the search for belonging that is both humorous and heartbreaking. In Meena, Basran has created a feisty, complicated and irrepressible heroine."
—Thrity Umrigar, author of the bestselling "The Space Between Us" and "The World We Found."
"Basran's writing is by turns elegant and poetic..."
"Thought provoking and compelling...a timely and engaging read..."
"A sad story, ending in a misery born from that clash of cultures, but the writing is vivid, full of crackling dialogue and the plot is completely absorbing...Basran's book reminds me of the Pulitzer-prize winning novelist, Bengali American writer Jhumpa Lahiri, who also draw the outsider into the world of Indian immigrants to North America, vividly expressing their difficult adaptation...She is clearly on the same path as Lahiri, a write on the first step to greatness."
"Exceptional"
—The Vancouver Sun
"(This) complex drama of knowing someone by heart is universal...Fans of Jhumpa Lahiri will want to read this first novel.
—Booklist
"Everything Was Good-bye is an achievement to be proud of and has garnered the recognition and positive attention it deserves."