Frozen Between Worlds

Indian Winter
Kazim Ali
Coach House
May 14, 2024
$23.95

During the cold winter months, the narrator of Indian Winter, a novel by Kazim Ali, feels the need to get away from a small Midwest town and his lover, Ethan. A spontaneous decision sends him to India. After he arrives, we get a glimpse of the struggles a queer person may face, as his family who live there do not accept him because of his sexual orientation. The novel’s central themes are love, sexual orientation, and self-discovery. Indian Winter is a short read with little down time. It can be finished in an afternoon, and  Ali’s poetic style of writing, mixed with raw, unfiltered emotion, will leave you in awe.

Indian Winter covers the many challenges the narrator faces, such as finding out about the death of his past lover, Michael.  The narrator mentions Michael throughout the novel, suggesting he can never fully get over his first love.

The other issue the narrator faces is finding balance between his Muslim religion and his sexual orientation. He experiences hateful words and actions from his family, which makes him question who he is.

Born in the United Kingdom, Ali currently lives in San Diego. He has been a passionate writer for over twenty years, and this is his fifth published novel. He has also published non-fiction and is an award-winning poetry writer for his poetry series Sky Ward.

Throughout Indian Winter, Ali uses his poetry skills to paint a picture with words. Here, he vividly describes a trip on a ferry with his past lover Michael, while in New York City:  “It was a foggy night, we couldn’t see anything. I imagined the statue was emerald in the distance, a light against grey, the fortress in the waves. Water below slackening to glass and fog.”

Indian Winter is fiction, but the narrator shares many similarities with Ali, such as ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, appearance, and experiences. Ali has travelled to India, visited the places the narrator visited, ate the food the narrator ate, and stayed in a hotel that looks like one described in the novel.

In episode 91 of the Across the Pond podcast on Apple Podcasts, Ali says there is some element of biographical truth, but this book is fiction. “The best part of fiction for me is that one can push things to their limits,” said Ali. Ali pushes the limits when describing many of the intimate moments with his partners. His portrayal of queer love –– which is still largely underrepresented in literature –– may give some readers a feeling of belonging and being seen, while opening up new understanding for others.

The novel puts the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions: The pain the narrator feels when we learn his family in India hates the fact that he is queer; his deep love for his partners; his passion in intimate moments with those partners.

To this day, there are still many countries where 2SLGBTQIA+ people are fighting for equal rights when it comes to health care discrimination, or marriage and family rights.

The book may resonate most with 2SLGBTQIA+ people, but its relatability makes it universal — it will speak to anyone that feels like they lack acceptance from their loved ones, or that they are undeserving of love.

Overall, Indian Winter offers a very specific perspective, but that does not mean there aren’t others who face the challenges the narrator faces. The novel will open your mind and help make you aware of the many issues that certain individuals struggle with in modern society.