Middle-class,
clever and white, Nick is a child of privilege while his best friend Andie is
the daughter of Indo-Chinese refugees. Despite their very different
backgrounds, they share a conviction they can change the world for the better.
At
the outset, Nick is pushing papers in a dead-end job while Andie is embarking
on a secular crusade against world poverty. This generates conflict with her
white husband Benjamin, who feels that Australians should come first.
Meanwhile, Andie's cousin, the teenage Tony is burdened by his parents’
traumatic past and impossible expectations. To their dismay, he finds solace in radical faith.
S. L. Lim acutely captures the dreams
and disaffections of a millennial generation.
Real
Differences is an emotionally resonant novel
about idealism, ethical ambition, and love,
filled with unforgettable characters. It ultimately asks us the most important question
of all: What is our life for?
'The quiet writers are the most disturbing, the
way they look at the world without flinching and report without surprise or
judgement. A witty and devastating debut.' — Peter Bishop
'Heartbreaking and unflinching, the novel
exposes the growing, everyday fissures within contemporary life, the trauma of
wounds widened by insurmountable cultural divisions, and the relationships of
ordinary people that mend or break under the pressures of private upheaval and
familial histories.' — Cyril Wong, author of Let Me Tell You Something About That Night
‘Real Differences is that rare and vital thing, a novel
that asks what it takes to live by an ambitious moral code. In portraying the
struggles, the self-doubt, the resentments of others, the disillusion and the
ecstatic certainty that such commitment can bring, it grapples with some of the
most profound questions faced by anyone who wonders, What should I do with my
life?’ — Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, author of Strangers
Drowning: Impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the
urge to help
