Shome Dasgupta

Pretend I Am Someone You Like Shome Dasgupta

Fiction. In backwater Louisiana, young Mutty takes care of his cousin Barn, who hasn't spoken since his father was arrested. Pepper, Mutty's lover, is also haunted by a violent past. Their relationship grows spiritually and physically as the three fight off Pepper's sexual predators invading their little world full of mud, hay, and crawfish. PRETEND I AM SOMEONE YOU LIKE lovingly juxtaposes child-like phrasing into a rural world of threatened innocence.

This is courageously strange writing that will intrigue and beguile the reader from the get-go, and it boasts a dénouement that would make Quentin Tarantino squirm... Unsettling, endearing, and brilliant.--Kirkus Reviews