Critical Reception

Although Kureishi remains a consistently provocative and controversial writer, Susie Thomas’s recent book Hanif Kureishi: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism (Palgrave Macmillan 2005), which offers a comprehensive account of the criticism of Kureishi’s plays, films and fiction, makes it plain that academic criticism of Kureishi’s fiction has concentrated primarily on his first two novels. Thomas’s book also shows clearly that reactions to Kureishi’s work have grown increasingly evaluative (and largely hostile) as he has moved decisively away from the racially specific, international issues that are a central feature in postcolonial writing.