If You See Me, Don't Say Hi: Stories

"Of all the words written in Neel Patel’s 11 surprising, funny short stories, these three, from the dedication page, struck me as particularly brave: “For my parents.” In his debut collection, Patel introduces readers to brown Americans – mostly first-generation Indian Americans – whose stories of love and yearning are defined by the secrets they keep. As an Indian American, when I was growing up, the two people I kept secrets from the most were my mom and dad. If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi is a reminder that messiness makes the human experience beautiful."