The year is 2002 and Hector Singh, an aspiring screenwriter in his late 20s, has moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams. He is mixed Indian and Puerto Rican, though he considers himself post-race – after all, it’s a meritocracy, isn’t it? Hector has written his own scripts but gets put to work as a writers’ assistant on a bland TV drama, Coming Holm, about a white woman trying to get her life back together by running for mayor in her washed-up home town. He is also dealing with his mother’s sudden death but he pushes the grief aside to not only survive but thrive in Hollywood.
Sydney-based US expat Nick Bhasin’s ambitious debut novel, I Look Forward to Hearing from You, is a madcap satire of the screen industry and the very act of writing, from inflated egos to the messy politics of the workplace. It’s a distinctive and daring piece of work but, while it has moments of pathos and brilliance, the novel more often is swallowed by its own snark.
