A wry comic novel with an acerbic wit, A Hero of Our Time is a
vicious takedown of superficial diversity initiatives and tech culture,
with a beating heart of broken sincerity.
Osman Shah is a pitstop on his white colleague Olivia Robinson's quest
for corporate domination at AAP, an edutech startup determined to
automate higher education.
Osman, obsessed by Olivia's ability to successfully disguise ambition
and self-interest as collectivist diversity politics, is bent on
exposing her. Aided by his colleague turned comrade-in-arms Nena, who
loathes and tolerates him in equal measure, Osman delves into Olivia's
twisted past. But at every turn, he's stymied by his unfailing gift for
cruel observation, which he turns with most ferocity on himself, without
ever noticing what it is that stops him from connecting to anyone in his
past or present. As Osman loses his grip on his family, Nena, and
everything he thought was essential to his identity, he confronts an
enemy who may simply be too good at her job to be defeated.
A Hero of Our Time cracks the veneer of well-intentioned race
conversations in the West, dismantles cheery narratives of progress
through tech and "streamlined" education, and exposes the venomous
self-congratulation and devouring lust for wealth, power, and property
that lurks beneath.
