Book Description
In this compassionate, poignant novel set in contemporary India, a young professor searches for connection and love during a time of political and cultural upheaval.
 
As political tensions rise precipitously across India, Rohit returns to Delhi University to teach and gets caught in a web of unrequited love with his friend Dhruv. To alleviate his inevitable heartbreak, Rohit seeks relationships with other men in the city, until he meets and embarks on a delicate new romance with the effervescent Sayan, a literature student he hopes will be the answer to getting over Dhruv.
 
Rohit’s life soon becomes more complicated as the country's political tensions erupt on campus, sparking a turbulent student-led movement that entangles Rohit when Dhruv joins the fray, a tipping point that changes Rohit’s life forever. Set against the vibrant, volatile tapestry of modern India, Rohit and his friends must learn to navigate the challenges and triumphs of queer life to survive in an unpredictable political landscape.
 
Propulsive, tense, and charged with humor and tenderness, How to Date a Fanatic is an exploration of identity, connection, and the enduring hopefor a better future in a rapidly changing world.
 
About the Author
Aruni Kashyap is an acclaimed author and translator of several novels and poetry collections and has received awards and fellowships from Harvard, NEA, and more. His work has appeared in CNN, ELLE, India Today, The New Indian Express, and other publications. He is an associate professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia.
 
Reviews
"Vivid, humane, wise, and very funny, Kashyap's book brings together the political novel and the romcom in a felicitous union. Read it, laugh, and feel very scared." - Neel Mukherjee, Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Lives of Others and Choice
 
"A propulsive story. How to Date a Fanatic is a dazzling novel that enchants, seduces, and devastates the reader. Kashyap writes with compassion, wit, and a deep understanding of our complex human nature—a literary magician casting an intoxicating spell!" - Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls
 
"Irreverent, witty, and moving, this novel pulsates with an electric urgency through the politics of an India turned treacherous for many. Queer friendships, romance, and passions are rendered with a much-needed complexity and a totally fresh, illuminating, uncompromising lens in this layered story. Personal betrayals and political chaos will not break the hopeful heart, Kashyap tells us, and the unforgettable characters here ask that we believe." - Sonora Jha, author of Intemperance
 
"A moving, intimate story about queer love, identity, and hope in uncertain times." - Queerty
 
"Searingly funny and discerning, this book—about risk, loyalty, fervor, and foolish hope—is habit-forming. Kashyap proves a novel can be both antidote to and catalyst of doom and dread: hooray for the steadfast, and to hell with the obdurate, and hurrah for your stupid heart." - Claire Luchette, Whiting Award winner and author of Agatha of Little Neon