Published in 1995 by Faber and Faber, the novel was adapted for the stage in 2009 and explores Muslim fundamentalism, youth culture, sex, drugs, and alienation in a young British-Pakistani man's world that is being pulled in different directions by a modern lifestyle of London and traditional Muslim culture.
Kureishi, a British-Pakistani novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker, premiered the adaptation at the Royal National Theatre in July 2009 and was awarded the second Asia House Literature Award on the closing night of Asia House Festival of Asian Literature.
"But the stage version does scant justice to the book's panoramic portrait of late-1980s London with its pubs, clubs and ecstasy-filled raves.
-The Guardian[full citation needed] The reception to the timing of the adaptation of the novel was positive as it came in the post-9/11 era of the world view.
In an interview with the production team, it was asked: "Was it easy ... transforming the tale from page to stage?