Unbelonging, by Gayatri Sethi (Mango & Marigold Press, $16.95, paperback, 2021)
Is this a book of poetry, an autobiography or a text book?
The answer depends on who the reader is.
Unbelonging grows on you as you learn more about the author in every word poem, in every chapter - even as she repeats parts of her story, they do not bore you because each time it is creatively unique. As a matter of fact, I have never read or even seen a book like this. Words run not only left to right but in a circle, at times - or they make waves.
Does author Gayatri Sethi belong in South Asia? Does she belong in Africa? The United States? Like immigrants or expatriates or refugees or even first generation Americans, Dr. Sethi has a hard time finding where she belongs. Part of her lies in Pakistan; another part, in Botswana. And yet she quotes James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and W. E. B. DeBois. Does this strike you odd?
Unbelonging is also part workbook and challenges the reader to add his own words and thoughts - and to grow by doing so. For only by walking a mile in his moccasins, can you truly approximate understanding.
Perhaps the author is a citizen of the world. She lives, however, in America because her children live here and this is their home (and she has taught Comparative Literature here for 20 years). By reading Unbelonging, you will come away with a glimpse of a better you, a more understanding you.
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