{"product_id":"9781467823616","title":"Oyster Bay \u0026 Other Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his stunning debut of stories, Jules S. Damji explores the social ethos of an immigrant Asian community set in the early 1960s through to the 1970s, a decade of immense political changes that marked many people’s lives in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStarting with \u003ci\u003eMango Tree, \u003c\/i\u003ea metaphor of stability which embodies a center around which a community revolves, only to be seen destroyed and a way of life lost; \u003ci\u003eCaretaker\u003c\/i\u003e tenderly reveals the hidden and wretched historical past of a man dedicated to service his community; the nefarious characters in \u003ci\u003eMiddlemen\u003c\/i\u003e are a poignant reminder of human flaws: graft, greed, manipulation, lust, and power; family relationships in \u003ci\u003eMarxist and His Sister\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Household Divided\u003c\/i\u003e wickedly and woefully capture the predicament universally endured by so many when an ideology is embraced to the point of fault; \u003ci\u003eOyster Bay\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFreedom Fighter \u003c\/i\u003eis a cry for breaking away and a genesis of a writer; and ending with \u003ci\u003eFamily Reunion\u003c\/i\u003e, a glimpse into the narrator’s desire to illuminate his fading past.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSometimes with strokes of simple and lucid prose that tugs your heart, other times with cool detachment and assured maturity that bucks your sensibility, Mr. Damji masterfully chronicles a slice of history through the tragically comic fictional characters set in Dar es Salaam’s residential district of Upanga, a setting intimately familiar to him.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AuthorHouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182761165040,"sku":"9781467823616","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781467823616_p0.jpg?v=1763693788","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781467823616","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}