Optional practical training : a novel / Shubha Sunder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sunder, Shubha, 1982- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women, East Indian--Fiction.

Women, East Indian.

Foreign workers--United States--Fiction.

Foreign workers.

High school teachers--Fiction.

High school teachers.

Authors--Fiction.

Authors.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Bildungsromans.

Novels.

Physical Description:

211 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, [2025]

Summary:

In 2006, Pavitra, a young Indian woman, is in the United States doing her extra 12 months of work experience--Optional Practical Training--following her graduation. She takes a position as a math and physics teacher at a private high school, but what she really wants is to break from her family's expectations and finish writing a novel. Through her encounters with her landlord, colleagues, students, parents of her students, and others, Pavitra finds each has their own expectations of her, too, and they shape her understanding of race, immigration, privilege, and herself.

"Told as a series of conversations, Optional Practical Training follows Pavitra, a young Indian woman who came to the US for college from Bangalore, India, and graduates in 2006 with a degree in physics. Her student visa grants her an extra twelve months in the country for work experience-a period known as Optional Practical Training-so she takes a position as a math and physics teacher at a private high school near Cambridge, Massachusetts. What Pavitra really wants, though, is the time and space to finish a novel-to diverge from what's expected of her within her family of white-collar professionals and to build a life as a writer. Navigating her year of OPT-looking for a room to rent, starting her job-she finds that each person she encounters expects something from her too. As her landlord, colleagues, students, parents of her students, friends of her family, and neighbors talk to and at her, they shape her understanding of race, immigration, privilege, and herself. Throughout the book, Pavitra seems to speak very rarely; and yet, as she responds to the assumptions, insights, projections, and observations of those around her, a subtle and sophisticated portrait emerges of a young woman and aspiring artist defining a place for herself in the world"-- Provided by publisher.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Beardwood Fund bookplate.

Other Format:

Online version: Sunder, Shubha, 1982- Optional practical training

ISBN:

9781644453247

164445324X

OCLC:

1431881860