The breathtakingly real start to this novel continues through streams of consciousness and virtual reality before it spirals precipitously into a state of narcissistic mentality. Or is it the reverse? As Farishta and Saladin, along with the rest of the Indian diaspora, struggle with the bland, beautiful integration into colonialist culture, paradoxes abound. Good and evil, Islam and Bollywood, reality and insanity, past and present, all push the reader into a state of confused, contented, substance.