The Laughter

Jha follows her memoir How to Raise a Feminist Son with a tense and propulsive tale of race and power on a Seattle college campus. Oliver, a divorced English professor, has been fantasizing about his much younger colleague Ruhaba, a Pakistani Muslim law professor. After Ruhaba’s 15-year-old nephew, Adil, arrives from France under murky circumstances to live with her, Oliver hires the reticent teen to walk his dog as a means to ingratiate himself with Ruhaba. From the outset it is clear something unsettling has taken place, with Adil revealed to be in the hospital and Oliver frequently visited by the FBI, though Jha doesn’t hint at what happened. Oliver narrates with an arch tone, believing he’s “getting warmer” in his quest to get close to Ruhaba, but as campus protests break out, he is dismayed to discover the two of them are on different sides of social justice issues, as Ruhaba joins students’ demands to “decentralize whiteness.” Jha mordantly portrays the bewilderment of Oliver and other liberal white professors at accusations of racism, and casts the self-congratulating sanctimony of younger faculty under a similarly withering light. With careers at stake, disturbing secrets emerge and Oliver’s earlier musings about Ruhaba suddenly assume a more sinister cast. Jha’s gripping passion play will shock readers. (Feb.)