East meets West in this romp of a novel by the author of The Snake Charmer about an Indian immigrant community in New York City whose quirky challenges are played out at a local hospital. Funny, riveting, and profound, Transplanted Man combines the hilarity of Catch-22 with the urgency of ER and the poignancy of The World According to Garp.Sonny Seth is a brilliant but rebellious medical resident at a New York City hospital that services a community of eccentric expatriates from India. His most demanding patient and trusted confidant -- known only as the Transplanted Man -- is a deathly ill but amusingly wise high-level Indian government official whose major organs have been transplanted at least once. Trying to solve his patient's ballooning afflictions, Sonny faces demons of his own in a soul-searching journey that delves into questions about East and West, the meaning of expatriation, and life itself. Along the way, Sonny becomes involved with Gwen, a bibliophilic English nurse who seeks stability from a life driven by impulse; Dr. Ranjan, an insomniac scientist who is desperately searching for the cause of insomnia; a Bollywood superstar seeking the spotlight in politics; a psychotherapist incessantly mistaken for a New Age guru; a chef trying to invent the perfect fusion cuisine; an orderly who wants to sing in Hindi films; and an endearing homeless man who sits on a corner and becomes the neighborhood's main tourist attraction.Transplanted Man is a novel about love, medicine, sleep, and homeland that deftly manages to examine deeply human questions that are without geographic boundaries. With a cast of wonderfully drawn characters, this delightful drama offers a new kind of passage to India and pays tribute to the rich, bustling subculture in which India and America intersect.
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