I can't imagine living in a place where people hate me without even knowing who I am, When all I desire is a place where I can earn a living and make a life for me and my family, I am hated. Because I worship in a way that is different from my neighbors, I am attacked. Because I have an accent and am not able to speak the way the citizens of my town speak, I am hated. When I choose to eat the foods I like, food from my home country, I am ostracized. After giving everything I have to come to this country where I fought to find acceptance, I am told to go back to where I came from.

Is there no place for me here? Can you not accept people who are different in many ways?

A heartrending story of how American citizens turn there back on others who want nothing more than a chance to live and enjoy some of the freedoms America offers.

A funny and refreshing introspection into what it means to be American and how different we all may look on the outside while still maintaining the same love and values of citizenship.

There is a line in the acknowledgements that I think really sums up a lot of what this book was about: "I acknowledge all of it. The entire journey. The good, bad, ugly, sublime, ridiculous, hilarious, maddening, frustrating beauty of the entire ride- all the bumps, all the failures, all the glory." Even when Mr. Ali is referring to all the crazy stuff that has happened in his life (and wow, what a crazy up and down book this was), there is an understanding that readers have because there is a lot of good, bad, and ugly stuff going on at a personal level and in society.

"Go Back to Where You Came From" is a powerful story that is full of sarcasm and wit, making it very readable. I lost track of how many Marvel references there were- to me, those were the kinds of details that made parts of this book so memorable. There were parts that I had to pause and fall into the hole of internet articles to get a better background and understanding of the horrors that are discussed when Ali talks about Islamophobia and racism in America.

This was a wonderful memoir that is very relevant to our times. Thank you Netgalley and WW Norton and Co for an advanced e-copy of this book. The message that we shouldn't drown ourselves in cynicism, self-pity, or anger is one that is so important for many to hear and one that I hope to keep with me when I read about and see the social injustice that bombards the news everyday.

Not as funny as Ali’s Twitter feed, but still an enjoyable read, with his signature humor and sardonic wit in ready supply. Most of the book flows rapidly, pulling you along like on of the author’s eminently readable political essays. The middle bogs down, understandably, and while your first reaction is to wonder why he didn’t edit out some of his more bitter reactions, the book is richer for it. In reality, anyone going through the same would have felt exponentially more bitter sentiments than what are contained in the book - in that sense, we get to skip through what were for Ali fifteen painful years in about as many pages. The pain he went through with his parents and daughter put new light on the airy persona some might expect when picking this book up, but adds the same sort of depth of character you might expect from authors of relatively weightier memoirs like Eggers or McCourt. This could easily have been longer. I thought there would be more political analysis, but in that respect the book skims the surface of what Ali is capable of, and I’d give the edge in that category to the recent release by Eli Mystal. But Ali’s message is one of hope, and tet it doesn’t feel less realistic than Mystal’s altogether more cynical take on current events and the American political arena. The pace picks up about 3/4 through, so overall this is a pretty quick read. For anyone who’s a Wajahat Ali fan, clearly a must read. But Ali also practices what he preaches in the pages of the book, i.e., he serves as the teller of stories representing Americans of the browner persuasion. Those aren’t stories often told. Now it has been, at least once, and hopefully this is the tip of an iceberg and Ali’s work achieves a quickening in this subject matter, working to inspire other men and women from similar backgrounds or from similarly unrepresented identity groups to tell their own stories, unique to themselves but all still equally American.

Biting, funny, full of heart. My review at NPR is linked below.

"Memoirs, of course, focus on a writer's personal journey. But of late, a number of those by immigrant writers of color — or by children of immigrants — have, collectively, contained some similar themes.

One prominent thread is that of being "othered," being told in various ways that they don't fit in or belong — and should return to their place of origin. This never-ending push-and-pull of being both "native and foreign," "citizen and suspect," "neighbor and invader," shapes entire lives. [. . .]"

I always gravitate towards books written about other people’s experiences to assimilate and grow up as the first generation in the US and it’s amazing to find, despite different backgrounds, how similar our experiences are. It’s not easy to feel like you belong when you don’t look like everyone else. I was extremely lucky to attend an international school and was surrounded by many children going through the same thing I was. Wajahat Ali did not have the same luxury and it’s through his memories, often humorous, always honest and thought-provoking, that we see the experiences that shaped the man he is today. There are some difficult to hear passages but it’s definitely worth picking up for his take on the American dream.

An okay book, will be good for those who like such subject-matter.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Go Back to Where You Came From is a distinctly American story… populated with trolls and racism, but also with celebrations of family and the story of a young man discovering his voice. Ali is the son of Pakistani immigrants who grew up in Fremont, Ca, matriculated to Cal Berkeley, became a successful playwright, and is now a columnist at The Daily Beast and The NY Times. Among other things, this book is the story of his growth, from a young “hefty” Muslim boy to a middle-aged man still fighting his gut (me too😂). Ali is known for his humor and there are laughs on almost every page, yet there are times when that laughter is bitter… The ridiculousness of the online taunts or the strife he and his family endure after 9/11, yet there’s also just the absurdity of growing up in America in the 80s and 90s.

Wajahat and I are only a few years apart; I grew up right across the Bay in Marin County. I was a suburban white kid living my own awkward life, and in many ways ignorant to Ali’s experience. And while I was lucky to have parents who taught me lessons of understanding and acceptance, this book is proof that not everyone is exposed to other cultures and thus this ignorance can so easily breed hate, especially after 9/11.

A couple other things to add: Ali’s humor shines in his satirical “tests” of racism and patriotism. (How many points will you score?) This book continues the story to the current day, including Trump’s presidency and all the inflammatory rhetoric that came with it. He explains that the The Whiteness (micro-aggressions and explicit racism) has been pushed into the mainstream, and speaks to possible solutions to all this hate.

Go Back to Where You Came From should be on the shelf next to Undocumented by Dan-El Padilla Peralta and The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri. These are powerful books that can open minds and create a better and more empathetic nation.

5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, W.W. Norton, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Wajahat Ali’s Go Back to Where You Came From and Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American is an enormously readable punch in the gut. Ali is a gifted storyteller. He dissects his life and the world around him with a fine scalpel. He is funny, smarter than me, and can make me look at the ugly underbelly while I’m laughing until I’m not laughing anymore.

As I told an earlier fan, I would love to move back to my ancestral land of the Bay Area, California, but only if you can help subsidize my rent.

Go Back to Where You Came From is a memoir in which he expertly weaves the personal and the political. Ali grew up in the Bay Area. His parents immigrated from Pakistan. He talks about his own experience, contextualizing it with the larger cultural and political landscape. When talking about the pursuit of Whiteness, he includes some history of US immigration policies and the trauma of British colonial rule. He was often the token brown kid, or the token Muslim, while also surrounded by a community Pakistani Americans. And when he finally gets to revel in being one of many in college, 9/11 happens and suddenly he is a spokes person for a whole group.

Racism flattens and lumps, removing nuance. Ali adds the nuance back into the discourse. He shines a light on the texture and separates out the differences. It’s an emotional rollercoaster of a book. It starts with humor and ends with hope, and is full of wisdom and pop culture references. There is also rage, grief, and the exhaustion of fighting off the racism all around. I can’t possibly do justice to this book. It’s an experience you should go into with less information and an open heart.

Or as Wajahat Ali would say, “Invest in hope, but tie your camel first.”

Thank you to W.W. Norton and Company and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. My opinions are my own.

I expected a much different book due to blurbs. Was expecting more humor and less memoir, but writing was solid and well done. I just don''t thing I was the intended audience.

Impactful and such an important read for our current times. Definitely would recommend this book to many of my friends and family!

Wajahat Ali is the American born son of Pakastani immigrants, so when people tell him to "Go Back to Where You Came From"... um... that's *here*. Fittingly, this book is a commentary on living in America as a brown Muslim, as well as Ali's memoir. Ali is funny and self-deprecating, but his words are an invitation to "the people" (ie, White Amreekans) to see the US and its culture from a different viewpoint.

Wajahat Ali hits the nail on the head with his book on how to become American. Since he already is an American, who would be better to give advice to the uninitiated? I have to interject here though. I wish there were some Americans that weren’t Americans, but that’s for another story.

Ali is so funny at times (actually, all the time) that you forget for a minute (just a minute) the disrespectful, racist, loathsome, things that can be said to and perpetrated on a human being. I take that back. You can’t forget. Like Ali, all you can do is laugh about it. And boy, does Ali laugh at himself. You’ll find out that he was a bit overweight, with “big bones”. In second grade, he went to an elite private school in Saratoga where everyone wore uniforms. He claims he looked like a brown hobbit, in a green sweater, green pants, and a white-collared shirt. I should mention one unfunny incident Ali talks about in the book. His parents get arrested. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens. But I will tell you that Ali has a near-death experience. What a ride!

This is a humorous, hard hitting, and unvarnished account by Wajahat Ali of what it’s like to be born, raised, and live in America as a son of immigrants, who are South Asian and Muslim. I very much enjoyed his humor and writing - funny, self deprecating at times, and no holds barred as he describes his experiences with his family, at school, within his local community, and the community at large. His humor was laugh out loud and I found myself reading pieces out to my sister - we could definitely relate to some of his accounts, e.g. paraphrasing here - Asian parents have two levels of operations: blunt and very blunt. We hooted with laughter - it was so on point! I like that he didn’t shy away from sharing parts about his parents’ challenges - it was sad that after all the hardships they overcame as immigrants, were successful in getting a great education, and became entrepreneurs, that they ended up making questionable choices, and ended up in prison. Hats off to the author for his resilience and drive in overcoming so many life challenges, including that of his young child’s major health issue, to power through, hold his own, and be successful in his own right. His accidental activism and his voice on the national front is made even more effective through the deployment of humor to inform, get people to stop and think, and get his points across. Overall this was a great read and I hope he writes another book in the near future. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It's funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Ali has a great style of writing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from W. W. Norton & Company through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, W. W. Norton & Company.

This book perfectly encapsulates the many trials and tribulations faced by Pakistani-Americans. If you want to understand us, read this book.

Ali accurately paints the Pakistani community in this book. In the secondf half of the book, as his parents are going through myriad legal troubles, Ali and his family turn to the community to get help. The same people who ate their food, came to ther parties, and accepted their presents begin disavowing the Ali family almost immediately. They come to events Ali holds to help raise money for his parents’ bail to have new fodder for their gossip. Ali’s family is the butt of jokes and snickers while they go through the worst periods of their lives. It’s this type of small mindedness and duplicitousness that caused me to dissociate from the majority of Pakistanis in my city. I’d never seen anyone call out this behavior so accurately and succinctly before, and I thank Mr. Ali for putting words to what I’ve felt for the past 30 plus years.

At its core, this book is a hero story, showing how Wajahat Ali and his beautiful family made their fortune, lost it all, and are now trying to rise again. I sincerely hope that they’re able to get all the way back. I recommend this book for everyone.

I picked this up solely from the title. I had no idea who the author was. It was a humorous and tough memoir with a lot of commentary of how America treats Muslims and Arabs, while he offers some tongue in cheek helpful suggestions.

A top read of the year! Part memoir, part political commentary, Wajahat Ali's "Go Back to Where You Came From" is a stirring look at the American Dream, and the barriers around it, told with excellent humor and heart.

On its own, the book is a gripping memoir where Ali faces multiple near-death experiences, works through more than a decade of legal battles while his parents are incarcerated, and navigates life as the child of an immigrant family who walks the tightrope of cultural and societal expectations. His story alone would make a great book, but wait... there's more! With sincere and comical stylings, he also expertly speaks on the political landscape of "What it means to be an American (or Amreekan, as he playfully writes)?" and "WHO gets viewed as American?"

Following 9/11, Ali is thrown into the role of spokesperson and totem expert of Islam as the president of his college's Student Muslim Association. Hate mail from all over (thanks to his contact being listed on a school website) comes his way, while the school administration just wants to know if "they" (Muslim students) are planning any protesting. What happens instead is that the students are too busy providing safe walking services for Muslim female students and either cannot practice their prayers or do so in mosques who've been forced to hire armed guards because of increasing hate crime retaliations.

How have politics in our country changed in a post-9/11 world? Ali recounts the hopes and devastation of the Muslim vote as George W. Bush was at one point the most Islamic friendly president who spoke with numerous Muslim leaders, and then launched the war on terror. With Obama came hope, but due to the constant skepticism over his name and possible closeted faith (which was easily denied), his administration often over-reacted to situations that placed him near Muslim people or faith. And then, there was a Muslim ban.

For people of color in our country, there are very clear lines in the form of policy, opportunities, wealth, education, etc where we still have "us" vs "them" mentalities. Ali points these discrepancies out from the benign titles that introduce him as a "Muslim correspondent" even when he's not speaking on an inter-faith panel and we never introduce other anchors as "Christian correspondents" to the very real and devastating disparities of incarcerated populations which target people of color and often benefit white wealthy criminals who can pay their legal fees and bargain for lower sentencing.

The book is packed with critical examinations of our country, and yet it's often funny. He invites the reader to see the foolishness as well as the harm when we uphold racist systems. And by adding in his own story and the difficulties his family has faced, it makes it harder for reluctant readers to wave him off. He speaks a very real truth, and I'm so glad he shared it.

10 stars if I could give them. I could not put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. Ali's journey is a tough one, and hard to look at, but he uses humor masterfully to make the bitter pill easier to swallow. This is therefore both heartbreaking and hilarious. Very well done.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy.