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A Conversation with Shilpi Somaya Gowda about A Great Country
What made you want to write this book? How much of A Great Country is drawn from your own experiences?
In the summer of 1989, I worked as an intern with the Minneapolis Police Department as part of my college scholarship. I developed appreciation for the dangers police officers face every day, and respect for those who put their lives on the line to improve their communities.
Thirty years later, when the Minneapolis Police Department was in the news, I watched in shock and sorrow, as did many others, as the life of George Floyd was extinguished by an officer of the law. I thought more about what I'd seen that summer as a nineteen-year-old, trying to reconcile the many brave and decent officers I'd met with what I now saw in a horrific 8:46 minute video clip. It was not, of course, the first nor the last time such a tragedy would occur. Incidents of police brutality have always been part of our society, but the rise of smartphones and social media have made it more visible, and made us all more aware. In the following months, the discussions I witnessed were fraught and often extreme, with people starkly defending one side or the other, and most eager for a decisive solution. It struck me that these conversations were lacking.
At the same time, in those early months of the pandemic, violence against Asian-Americans saw a disturbing rise in frequency and boldness. A new conversation was starting to emerge in South Asian American circles. The minority group often deemed to be "model" in the U.S. was being forced to reconsider its role and comfort level in this country. "Should we be seeking common cause with other communities of color? Or protecting ourselves in dangerous times? What did it mean to be an American in this new context, hyphenated or otherwise?" These were the ideas — the social, cultural, political forces in America today — I wanted to explore in this novel.
The novel opens with a pivotal event that involves police violence. How do you hope readers interpret that scene?
I didn't want the story to be overwhelmed by an act of extreme violence, or preoccupied by the internal investigations that ensue after an officer-involved shooting. I wanted the incident to be more ambiguous, in terms of fault and cause. These subtler incidents occur far more often, and form much of the fabric between the police and the community. While they may not be caught on camera or capture public attention, collectively, they do great damage to our societal trust. It's harder to have a productive discussion at the extremes, so I wanted this story to stay in the area of complexity and nuance.
What do you think is the role of fiction when it comes to contentious social or political issues?
Much of our perspective is naturally informed by our own life experience. But in the pages of a great story, the reader can also dare to stretch a little — to step into another person's shoes and mindset for a moment, to see how decisions that seem irrational to us might make perfect sense for someone else. Contentious social or political issues have the tendency to drive people to extremes. It's much easier to dislike someone in the abstract. When that person is your colleague, your classmate, or your neighbor, it can become easier to see their goodness, to extend the benefit of the doubt, or even some grace. Fiction is, after all, a product of imagination. I'd like to believe it can carry us to a place of empathy, understanding, and per- haps even forgiveness that's harder to reach in our daily lives. If we are to face some of our society's greatest challenges, we must be willing to explore these issues and perspectives in an earnest and open way, and try to find common ground.
Priya, the matriarch of the family, has a profound evolution throughout the course of the novel. How do you think about her character development?
Priya is challenged to rethink her world view twice during this story. The first time occurs when she leaves India to immigrate to America. Although it's a move driven by much optimism, it's also destabilizing. A new country, a new marriage, and new parenthood force her to recast her life and future. After Priya adapts to life in the U.S., she finds some comfort until the incident with her son shatters her world view again. After a rapid crumbling of her beliefs, Priya reconsiders her assumptions around success, striving, and safety. She wonders where she went wrong as a parent. She finds empathy for others in new ways. Priya's evolution is in response to a sudden shock, but it's also a compression of how new understanding can come to all of us when we're willing to have an attitude of humility and openness.
You craft a central portrait of friendship between the Shah parents, Priya and Ashok, and their longtime friends Archie and Ricky. How does the bond between these two couples help shape the events in the novel?
These two couples are vital to each other in a way that I hope will resonate with many readers. Strangers in a strange land together, they are adopted family without the baggage of family. The Dhillons are familiar enough to provide comfort, but coming from a different region of India, they also provide an expansion of perspective for the Shahs. These friends have known each other at their most hopeful and most vulnerable, and before the responsibilities of careers, homes, and children weigh on them. In the period of crisis in the story, the Dhillons are both a steady source of strength to the Shahs, and a reminder of what they left behind. In my experience, these friendships are one of the greatest gifts of growing older: drawing on the wisdom, support, and love of those I've been lucky to find along the way, and I wanted to portray that in the novel.
What informed the perspectives of the Shah parents, who immigrated from India two decades ago, compared to their children who have been born and raised in America?
Ashok is shaped by his upbringing in a lower-caste, working-class family in Mumbai. There's not much upward mobility for him in India, and his best path out is through education. He idealizes America as a pure meritocracy where he can prove himself, "a great country" as his father calls it. Growing up in a country riddled with inefficiency and corruption, he takes a dim view of political protests that never seem to improve conditions. Priya also invests great faith in playing by the rules and working hard. She believes their struggles to build a life in America will pay off in the lives of their children. Those children, however, are largely impervious to their parents' perspective. The Shah kids are influenced by their peers, media, and American culture. While some of their values align with their parents, on other issues, they seem oceans apart. I think every generation naturally has its conflicts, and cultural differences can complicate these. As the bridge generation (whose parents immigrated, and whose children are fully Westernized) to which I and many of my friends belong, it can sometimes feel like a yawning gap to cross. But it also presents an opportunity to take the best of two worlds and shape a unique set of family values. "Ashok idealizes America as a pure meritocracy where he can prove himself, 'a great country' as his father calls it."
Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
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