Set in and around a small Italian restaurant owned by the enigmatic Tuli, 'You People' focuses primarily on the characters of Nia, a mixed-race welsh teen fleeing a toxic home environment and Shan, a Sri Lankan Tamil fleeing persecution and desperately trying to reconnect with his wife and son; living in fear of discovery and deportation.

Themes of illegal immigration, identity and the past are deftly woven throughout this book. It also asks us to think about the reasons that people have to help others; whether it is motivated by a sense of humanity or personal gain.

Beautifully written, the character backstories are heartbreaking and this book gives us a glimpse into the lives of the people running the behind the scenes London that allow us to enjoy the city.

This is a beautifully written book about a heartbreaking and difficult subject. The action centres on a Pizza Parlour where the kind hearted, generous owner employs several illegal immigrants and protects and helps waifs and strays. The point of view shifts between several of the workers including Nia, a young Welsh woman who has fled her alcoholic mother but feels torn about leaving her young sister. The fear, the lack of hope, the genuine goodness but also the hate and humiliation, is all well covered and the narrative is funny, is sad, is shocking but is never preachy.

Ms Lalwani manages brilliantly to somehow draw you in so you care about these individuals but at the same time making you question your views on “illegals”. The reasons are myriad and I think it is inappropriate to judge but having read this novel I am certainly more sympathetic to the individuals who may have fled horrendous situations and spend their time hiding, being taken advantage of and desperate for reconnection with loved ones.

This is an excellent novel introducing you to a world you may never have been aware of and it will leave you thinking and reading news stories slightly differently. How powerful is that?

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Hard and unkind world. Good and evil. Moral and ethical questions. Immigrations and people smuggling. Important issues in these times.

Very emotional.

A hard-hitting book about issues that are not always pleasant to read about.

Although I did expect there to be a bit more of a story to be behind Tuli and his reason for being the way that he was.

This book is an absolutely vital piece of literature, and it brings to the reader a series of moral and ethical quandaries that are sure to stick with them for a long time after the final page is turned. This book looks at the lives of those working in a pizzeria, at least half of whom have left their countries as illegal immigrants in the wake of horrific human rights violations and war. There's a lot of important moral messages to be found in these pages, and the characters by themselves, once the initial setup is complete, are interesting microcosms of humanity and the human condition.

With that being said, the fundamental difficulty that I had with this book was that it lacked in respect to the buildup and the payoff. I understand it is largely a character study, but once we reach the crux of the story there are so few pages left there's little room to develop once everything has been established. The implications of this book are immense, and there's a lot of questions to be asked and answered with respect to racism, ethics, human rights, caring for others, and war crimes.

To treat people with the love and respect that they deserve by mere virtue of their existence as living beings should not be radical, and yet it has become as such in a world marred by a political divide. This book reframes that, gives you little slices of personhood with the connection needed to characters to see that privilege warps perceptions of reality, but I just wish it had taken it a little bit further.

You People crept up on me. It takes a while for the narrative to emerge and for the plot lines to coalesce around the two narrators, Nia and Shan, and their connection to a South London pizzeria, which is the centre of its community in surprising ways. By the time it does emerge, however, you realise it has really got hold of you and it speeds towards its conclusion with two compelling descriptions of major incidents centring on immigration and people-smuggling. At one point Nia says she collects books so that "the was more chance that the contents could sometimes seep into her bloodstream over time". That's what You People does. For me it could have been longer, but I also appreciated the facts that the motivations of Tuli, the pizzeria owner, were not simplistically explained and Shan and Nia's stories were not neatly resolved. Excellent.

You People, Nikita Lalwani’s third novel, was one of the books I was most looking forward to in 2020, though I wish it hadn’t been burdened with such a hideous cover. It’s set in 2003 in an Italian restaurant in London that’s run by Tuli, who enjoys the reputation of being a benefactor to the undocumented migrants and other recent arrivals who work there, many of whom are Tamils from Sri Lanka fleeing civil war. It has two narrators: first, Nia, a nineteen-year-old Welsh waitress who passes for white and privileged and is happy to reap the advantages of that, but whose father was Bengali and who’s refusing to return home so she won’t have to deal with her alcoholic mother. Second, Shan, one of the Sri Lankan refugees, who is desperately seeking to reunite with his wife and child. Lalwani carefully draws the reader into the net that Tuli is weaving, causing us to continuously reassess what we think we know about the situation that Nia and Shan find themselves in. As ever, Lalwani writes so well about complicated moral choices and inhabits each of her characters with sharp empathy, although I didn’t find this novel to be quite as clever or memorable as her brilliant The Village. Nevertheless, she creates a complex community of word-of-mouth bargains and secrets, and she’s still streets ahead of many of her contemporaries. I’ll be interested to see how this compares to Aravind Adiga’s Amnesty, which – although it’s set in Sydney – also deals with an undocumented immigrant from Sri Lanka who has to make a difficult ethical decision!

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this title. My review can be found as part of my April Reading Wrap Up on my YouTube channel at 10:18

https://youtu.be/fWihy1BKEvc

There was some fine writing about some hard-hitting issues in this novel.
It built to a solid conclusion even if there was perhaps, some lack of cohesion and cause and effect for the story.

I did expect something a bit more sordid to come out about Tuli or for us to have more of a concrete idea of his motivations and means.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

You People is an important, necessary novel and at times reminded me of Girl, Woman, Other as it gives a voice to people are don't always have voices within novels or in real life. Following the lives of illegal immigrants as they battle to stay living and work at a restaurant in London. This pacy novel delves into what people do to find their place in society as they search for a sense of belonging. Raids from immigration officers, crowded accommodation, the loneliness of not being with family. Nikita pulls away the layers of British life to show what is really happening. At the centre of their lives is Tuli, the owner of the restaurant, fighting for his staff's rights. This character reminded me of a modern day Robin Hood who goes out of his way to protect the people in his life. This is a poignant novel which takes a stand against Brexit.

Really like this novel which sees a naive character, Nia, who has experienced poverty but passes as white despite her father being Indian, learning more about her new colleagues in London and what it means to be in the country illegally. The author does a great job saying enough without going into too much detail, and I liked the different characters' perspectives. You feel their pain and their hope as you read.and as they wait to know if their families made it, etc. It was moving - at times a bit slow - but I felt quite invested in the characters.

Set in a pizzeria in London this book is the raw face of personal struggle, with each of the characters having a secret, a past to run from and a future to hope for.
Staffed with its fair share of illegal immigrants and those waiting for news of their asylum applications the pizzeria is run by Tuli, a shady character with, at times, dubious motivations.
The book is an intense and emotional read that provokes more than one pause for thought about the plight of many that is never really known or understood by the masses.

Gosh, I loved this book and I can’t quite believe that I haven’t seen it plastered across my Bookstagram feed in the weeks before and weeks since its release on the 2nd of April.

Set in and around the Pizzeria Vesuvio, a small Italian restaurant owned by the enigmatic Tuli, You People focuses primarily on the characters of Nia, a mixed-race welsh teen fleeing a very unhealthy home environment and Shan, a Sri Lankan Tamil fleeing persecution and desperately trying to reconnect with his wife and son while living in constant fear of discovery and deportation.

Very much character driven and, in the end, posing far more questions that it ever answers, this isn’t a book you finish feeling content that all the threads of the story have been nicely and neatly wrapped up for your convenience. I think the, (in my opinion, unfairly) low Goodreads rating is a result of this not feeling like a ‘complete’ story, it’s more of a tableau, a very character-focused window into a London restaurant and the people who work there. It’s a fitting approach to a book that deals with themes such as immigration, morality and truth, issues that are ongoing, complex, shrouded in ‘fake news’ and rarely wrapped up with a comfortable ending.

I loved this book. Nikita Lalwani’s prose is beautiful, the characters are interesting, complex and vibrant and you really, truly feel the ‘buzz’ of the Pizzeria Vesuvio as you read. I particularly loved the huge question mark that hangs over the mysterious Tuli, the good samaritan who sometimes seems too good to be true.

A brief but beautiful split-narrative that shines a light on a version of London (and the UK) that many of us will never see. A must read for my fellow character-driven enthusiasts.

I liked that there was a wide variety of characters in this and each one was fleshed out enough but the plot was not detailed enough to keep me going and I did not feel like that they were all utilised enough in relation to the plot.

Tuli runs Restaurant Vesuvio in London. He has a large staff gathered from all over. Some officially live in a flat above the premises – the others get by. Two new staff members - Nia and Shan - are introduced and their testimonies form the skeleton of the book about both of them and the others they come in contact with. Nia has recently moved to London from South Wales – of mixed race, she and her sister lived with their mother who was a drug addict, bringing a range of undesirables (the daughters’ view) and financial chaos into the household. Nia made it away to a first year at Oxford University but was unable to continue. When she returned home she could not stay and travelled to London bringing a huge baggage of guilt as she left her 15 year old sister behind. Shan is one of a number of staff members of Sri Lankan, Tamil, descent. All are either asylum seekers or refugees awaiting decision or “illegals” - thus bringing the attention of the Immigration authorities down on the premises (and others nearby). His tale will unravel his back history of the Sri Lankan Civil War, its atrocities and the continuing impact on many not just his own family.
Tuli it seems is an extraordinary man intent on supporting a large number of people through their financial and other difficulties. As Nia stays longer she becomes aware of the sheer scale of the tentacles of this and more slowly the implications. Many of the refugees will have travelled down the very long routes from the Indian sub continent and more recently from the Middle East as wars have thrown so many countries into chaos. These routes are not pleasant – they are well established, generate a huge amount of income and have become the centre of organised crime, crime that can operate on an international level or more simply be callous local opportunism. Families are scattered, people disappear, are abused and left traumatised or damaged. Behind that only “genuine” refugees will be offered asylum and not always in their place of first choice. This system, too, is subject to arcane rules and resultant abuse. All this will be showcased throughout this novel.
Nia concentrating on her own difficulties and developing relationship with Tuli will in her early stages be unaware of these things and their consequences. She does not recognise the realities of life for many of the other workers around her – some who are honest with Tuli - and others who do not dare to tell. As she is drawn into the extent of his activities with this “trade” she is appalled, failing to see people as such, rather than as an issue. Then she has to face the same choices as Tuli – is it alright to intercede with the trade, allowing people to make their own choices as to where they want to be – albeit they will get involved with criminal and abusive networks – as they will take the consequences. But ultimately can your intentions to do good things for others be excused even if they do not achieve your aims and might have dangerous implications? Should you stop trying?
Nia’s concerns are thus used to explore wider moral issues for the reader too. It shows the current state of London, the most multicultural and diverse city in the world and the web of relationships that travel from it. But it also shows the tensions that might therefore exist and how they can be either mitigated or exploited. It firmly brings the reader back to their own response to the external “others”. Are you aware of them and their lives, do you tolerate them, ignore them or support them? When you mix with people who live in places of uncertainty will they reach out to you, or avoid too much contact? Do you have more responsibility to build social links and help these people?
Behind this is of course the issue of the restaurant and food industries that all thinking people will be aware can be substantially based on employment instability and poor conditions for the workers – large numbers of whom are apocryphally (or otherwise) working illegally. Does that stop people using these places, or do they use them precisely because this makes them cheaper? All these would have been toxic issues, even before Coronavirus restrictions added another layer of difficulties and concern for these workers.
So this is a novel that asks questions of the reader – where do YOU stand? Are you as generous and moral as you think you might be? But it addresses questions that really do not go away – and possibly are getting worse and worse as global warming (and its unsettling side effects) impacts on more nations. More people will be moving so how will our society respond? As Lalwani has to finish her novel somewhere, her intention to tie off loose ends is perhaps the weakest part of the book, but the reader might want to forgive that against the greater whole.

You people centres around Vesuvio, an Italian restaurant run by the mysterious Tuli, a seemingly Good Samaritan who helps those in need.

The story is told in alternate chapters by Nia, a 19 year old welsh waitress, weighed down by her childhood growing up with an addict mother and Shan an illegal immigrant hoping to be granted asylum but more so to be reunited with his wife and son.

While I enjoyed the character development and some of the moral questions asked I felt like I was left wanting a bit more from this story. Nonetheless it was a good read which made me think about the subject matter.

The Pizzeria Vesuvio looks like any other Italian restaurant in London - with a few small differences. The chefs who make the pizza fiorentinas are Sri Lankan, and half the kitchen staff are illegal immigrants.

At the centre is Tuli, the restaurant's charismatic proprietor and resident Robin Hood, who promises to help anyone in need. When his guidance leads the staff into dangerous territory, and the extent of his mysterious operation unravels, each is faced with an impossible moral choice:

In a world where the law is against you, how far would you be willing to lie for a chance to live?

You people is a timely novel about belonging - and the people who do not.

I had high expectations for this book, that were partially fulfilled - the writing is beautiful and the topic is incredibly relevant. And still I found myself turning pages without really paying attention and then had to force myself to read it again and concentrate.

Years ago when I lived in London most of the people in the neighbouring bedsits were Sri Lankan, trying to earn money and living in fear of the immigration police, so I was looking forward to reading this book as I feel it is a subject which needs highlighting as often as possible.
However, I was a bit disappointed by the novel as the plot was almost too simple but told in very purple prose which, for me, made it difficult to fully engage.
Thank you to netgalley and penguin books for an advance copy of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. set in a part of London I know so well, I could identify with the sights and sounds it evoked. However, having lived in London all of my life, I am sad to say it took this book for me to step back and think about the stress, the fear and the heartbreak, people considered illegal immigrants face on a daily basis. I found the depiction of a life lived on the margins of society tragic, but the strength to keep going impressive, I am not sure I would have that strength. The author created an impressive sense of place and developed characters that I was drawn to and cared about, and still do. I was genuinely sad when I finished the book, not because of the ending, but because it had ended. It did what the best books do, and left me wanting more, I am desperate to know what happened to Shan, Nina and the enigmatic Tuli.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, but particularly to people who buy into the belief that all of the problems in society are caused by immigration. At a time when immigrants are vilified and dehumanised, this book provides an insight into their lives, and reminds all of us, that we share a common humanity, and we should care for each other, regardless of where we may or may not have originated from. I would also read more from this author, the book was well written, engaging and thought provoking, excellent book.

This book was like reading through someone’s diary? At times it felt invasive but also I couldn’t really stop?

Considering the whole Brexit thing, this book might have brought up a whole lot of nostalgia for the people who actually do live in Britain. Even I felt nostalgic about the place for heaven’s sake!

It’s mostly focused on Nia, a Bengali nineteen years old who’s currently waitressing and Shan, a Tamil from Sri Lanka who’s working as a cook at the same pizzeria. It’s called Pizzeria Vesuvio and it’s sort of like a haven for people of colour who are trying to survive in London.

Nia, a Bengali girl who’s also half Welsh and passes as white, sometimes even being mistaken as Italian, is a wonderfully written character. Despite being white-passing, Nia’s life hasn’t been full of sunshine and flowers. Her mother’s mental health keeps deteriorating and the alcoholism doesn’t help her mother either, Nia finally leaves her behind and tries for Uni but that fails too. So she moves to London. She has never been connected to her father’s culture and values because he just wasn’t in the picture. In London, she meets Tuli, a Tamil guy who owns Pizzeria Vesuvio. Nia can see that almost everyone, including herself, has fallen for Tuli in some way or the other. Nia can’t quite digest this either, that Tuli is this all-good person who’s taking in strays like it’s going out of business. Her internal struggles really play well in this book.

Then comes Shan, a guy who left behind a family in Sri Lanka. A guy who realises that the company that arranged for him to come to London was very much a con and that, it is still a better life than the one he left behind in his home country. Initially, he was hopeful that he would be joined by his wife and child soon but as the realisation of the con comes, that hope is gone. It’s hard making it in London and the pay is barely enough to clear his debts and send anything home. He is clearly struggling a lot and in comes Tuli, who lends a helping hand and for Shan, this is a heavenly intervention. A saint come to save him. He misses his family like he would miss his arm but he’s also aware that they can’t really join him while he’s not stable yet. That guilt wrecks him regularly.

The book is set up in Nia’s and Shan’s povs and Nia’s POV reads like a look at the past and like her, Nia’s story is all about reflection about her past and how she tends to only look at the things that have happened and how she sometimes can’t get out of it where Shan’s story speaks of a struggle of a daily kind. The kind of grief and stress that builds up daily without let up. It was very well done but I do wish that it wasn’t in the third person? Yes, it is one of those rare times that I think first person might have worked better.

Apart from this one I really don’t have too many complaints. The way Nia comes to an understanding about the racism and how immigrants face such hardships in life on a daily basis if they are not legal and what Shan went through back in Sri Lanka and how it all really makes lives so very hard for the illegal immigrants. Then there’s Shan, who’s left behind essentially his whole life for a chance at a better life and then, to realise that his opportunity wasn’t such a great opportunity after all. The guilt of it and the stress of having to deal with it is shown so wonderfully.

The major takeaway from this one is Lalwani’s writing of Nia, Shan and Tuli. While everything is happening in the pizzeria and those scenes that happen on the roads and how it all ties into the community and creates such a great picture. Just a great look into the community that might not get a lot of light shed on. There’s this sense of fear that you start to have when the government department people come and try to find and take in ‘illegal immigrants’ and yes, it sounds just as horrifying as it was to read it. A story of loneliness and a whole new outlook into the immigrants of London, how white passing people can still be very much ignorant of what goes on in the world. It was just so much to experience and I very much enjoyed it.