Dante’s Indiana

Reviews

“[Dante's Indiana] mixes the outrageous social satire of George Saunders or Salman Rushdie with Prin’s more solemn and inward religious searching. The unique result juxtaposes the ridiculous and the sublime—fitting as both an homage to Dante and a portrayal of America.” — Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“Boyagoda set himself a challenge, and it’s one that he’s up to ... Boyagoda makes it seem easy with a series of apt similes ... This is the sort of imaginative verbal panache that in our own vernacular pays tribute to Dante as literary guide ... The classics, however, are always reimagined in ways that respond to the personal anxieties and public crises of our own time. In the shattered funhouse of the twenty-first century we may be expected to redefine the content of a faith that sustains.” — Toronto Star

“Witty and wrenching.” — Globe & Mail

“Dante’s Indiana succeeds as a funny, unpredictable and occasionally moving tale.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“Boyagoda’s novel might be one of the best ways to “remember Dante forward”—to remember him in the present tense. By channeling Dante in a satirical vein, Boyagoda helps us see the impulses shaping the American and global economic order as spiritual forces—and the decisions made by individuals, communities, and even nations as products of disordered desire.” — Image Journal