Description

Now a major motion picture titled Blinded by the Light, directed by Gurinder Chadha, a charming memoir of growing up during the eighties as both a Pakistani Muslim and Bruce Springsteen fan

‘Every detail rings so true … Manzoor’s warm, humane, unsensational voice … makes you want to extend the hand of friendship to him’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A richly humane, smile-inducing memoir’ Observer

Sarfraz Manzoor was two years old when his family emigrated from Pakistan to join his father in Bury Park, Luton. His teenage years were a constant battle to reconcile being both British and Muslim.

But when his best friend introduced him to Bruce Springsteen, his life changed for ever. In this affectionate and timely memoir, Manzoor retraces his journey from the frustrations of his childhood to his reaction to the tragedies of 9/11 and 7/7.

Original, darkly tender and wryly amusing, this is an inspiring tribute to the power of music to transcend race and religion and a moving account of a relationship between father and son.

Publisher Review

Every detail rings so true ... Manzoor's warm, humane, unsensational voice ... makes you want to extend the hand of friendship to him * Sunday Telegraph * A beautiful and absorbing love letter to his family, his culture and his hero Bruce Springsteen * Rob Brydon * A small wonder - like some melancholy refit of Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia, where boredom replaces bohemia and real life is something only glimpsed in a Bruce Springsteen lyric * Mojo * Like Blake Morrison's And When Did You Last See Your Father? ... it's about trying to make sense of the rubble left behind by a father's death... A richly humane, smile-inducing memoir * Observer * While the book is many things - the impact of multi-culturalism, a coming-of-age story and a Nick Hornby-style documentation of musical obsession - it is Manzoor's relationship with his father that lies at its heart * Independent * Beautiful and moving ... A book to make you believe that we are all more alike than we know -- Tony Parsons