Amnesty: A Novel

Danny is a Sri Lankan immigrant who has been living illegally in Sydney, Australia ever since his student visa to attend what turned out to be a fraudulent university expired. He works as a housecleaner throughout the city, and he completes menial tasks in a grocery store in exchange for a place to stay in the storeroom upstairs. But his life under the radar is threatened when one of his clients is murdered. Danny believes he knows who committed the crime: a doctor with whom his client was having an affair with who also happens to know Danny’s secret. Danny is torn between coming forward with incriminating information while risking deportation or turning a blind eye to justice in order to continue his quiet and simple life in Australia.

Taking place in a single day, Aravind Adiga’s latest novel Amnesty exposes the struggles of undocumented immigrants while also spinning an irresistible mystery. The emotional wrestling Danny does in the pages of this book is expertly conveyed, and readers will feel just as conflicted and will understand the fears that haunt many undocumented immigrants around the world today. Danny’s inner thoughts are tediously repetitious at times, which may turn some readers away, but ultimately this adds to the unbearable nature of the moral dilemma. Exquisitely written with incredible insight and compassion, Amnesty is a relevant novel that shouldn’t be overlooked.