Costa Book Awards 2010 Judges' comment: "A laugh-out-loud, toe-curlingly funny, coming-of-age book from a brilliant young British talent. By the end, you'll feel 'down with the kids'."
A Piece of Passion from the Editor of Coconut Unlimited: Coconut Unlimited is one of the most exciting debut novels we’ve published. We’re so proud of Nikesh and thrilled he’s shortlisted for a prize with a proven track-record of picking only the very best first novels.
The Lovereading view: This is a funny, rip-roaring adventure in the style of The Rotters’ Club and The Inbetweeners and a candid portrayal of what it means to be British, Asian and male.
Coconut Unlimited follows the adventures of three hapless, hip-hop obsessed Asian boys in an all-white private school.It’s Harrow in the 1990s, and Amit, Anand and Nishant are stuck. Their peers think they’re a bunch of try-hard darkies, acting street and pretending to be cool, while their community thinks they’re rich toffs, a long way from the ‘real’ Asians in Southall. So, to keep it real, they form legendary hip-hop band ‘Coconut Unlimited’. Pity they can’t rap...From struggling to find records in the suburbs and rehearsing on rubbish equipment, to evading the clutches of disapproving parents and real life drug-dealing gangsters, Coconut Unlimited documents every teenage boy’s dream and the motivations behind it: being in a band to look pretty cool – oh, and to get girls...
'Nikesh Shukla has a terrifying eye for the awkwardness of adolescence but, fortunately, spares his reader too much fist-eating embarrassment through the charm of his characters and the heart of his prose.’ Patrick Neate, author of Jerusalem
‘Charming, funny and connects to the wannabe gangster in all of us.’ Joe Dunthorne, award-winning author of Submarine
‘A Brit-Asian Rotters’ Club that is both a loving homage to hip-hop and a fresh take on the English comic novel. Carry On Rapping...’ Niven Govinden, author of Graffiti My Soul
Author
About Nikesh Shukla
Nikesh Shukla is a London-based author, filmmaker and poet. His writing has featured on BBC2, BBC Radio 1 and 4, BBC Asian Network and Resonance FM. He has performed at Royal Festival Hall, Book Club Boutique, Soho Theatre, The Big Chill, Rise Festival and Glastonbury. He is currently working on a sitcom for Channel 4.