SJ Sindu is the author of the novel Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which won the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and was an ALA Stonewall Honor Book; as well as the hybrid chapbooks I Once Met You But You Were Dead and Dominant Genes. Sindu holds an MA in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University. Sindu is an Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University.
A Winter 2023 Indie Next Reading Group Selection
A 2022 Great Group Reads Selection
Shortlisted for the 2022 Lammy Award in Bisexual Fiction
An Autostraddle Best Queer Book of the Year
An ABA Indie Next Pick for November 2021
An AudioFile Earphones Award Winner
Praise for Blue-Skinned Gods
“Kalki’s life as a blue-skinned child deity at first seems rather
romantic. Raised to believe he is the '10th incarnation of the
Hindu god Vishnu,' he heals the sick at his family’s ashram in
Tamil Nadu, India . . . It is impossible not to be hypnotized by
the tenderness of these opening scenes. But relatively early
in the novel Kalki, narrating in adulthood as a university lecturer
in Toronto, breaks the illusion of his own divinity — and any
illusion that his childhood had been blessed . . . In attending to
the fine aftershocks of this loss and many others to come, Sindu
masterfully renders how our environments bake into our skin.”
—The New York Times
“Sindu’s applied cultural knowledge and careful character-building
makes each surprise believable without being predictable. Every
oddity has an explanation, and societal issues left unaddressed in
childhood come back around for an older, wiser Kalki to consider .
. . On a linear timeline, Blue-Skinned Gods doesn’t end at the end;
the end is tucked somewhere near the beginning. Conflicts abound in
the novel, but Sindu reveals which one held the most weight in the
final sentence. Although the ending is climactic and jarring, it
provides both resolve and clarity.”
—Associated Press
“SJ Sindu has imagined a fascinating premise for her novel
exploring identity, family, community and the tensions that arise
among them . . . Here Sindu is at her inventive best, with wild
juxtapositions of people and situations, from a post-punk band that
takes in Kalki, to hipsters of various gender identities who try to
seduce him, to new-age worshipers who refuse to believe he is not a
healer, to gangsters who want to bring him back to the ashram.
These witty episodes allow Kalki to try to define himself as well
as to understand the world around him.”
—The Star Tribune
“SJ Sindu has written another brilliant novel in Blue-Skinned Gods.
This time, she tells the story of a boy with blue skin who is
trying to be the god everyone tells him he is . . . Here is a novel
about the bonds between brothers, a deceptive tyrant and son, a
mother who doesn’t know how to save herself or her child, a boy and
how he yearns for his young loves, and so much more. The richness
of this story will take hold of you and never let go.”
—Roxane Gay
“Sj Sindu has given us a true gift in Kalki Sami and his journey. A
coming-of-age story wielding philosophical, historical, and
emotional moments full of passion, vividly described, Blue-Skinned
Gods is one of the most original and beautiful novels I’ve read in
a long time.”
—Brandon Hobson, author of Where the Dead Sit Talking and The
Removed
“Blue-Skinned Gods is a marvel of a novel. S.J. Sindu has created a
cast of characters so compelling it was difficult to set the book
down. I was enraptured by the careful twining of these lives: a
manipulative father, a mother who loves her son to the point of
agony, the joy and despair of tender first love, the pressure of
knowing your destiny and the devastation of losing everything at
once. It is a true joy to encounter a book so beautifully written.
The prose is lush and stunning, the narrative wildly gripping.
Sindu is a phenomenal writer and Blue-Skinned Gods is a
treasure.”
—Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead
Things
“This marvelous novel offers up the most extraordinary circumstance
in which to live a life. It delivers everything I didn’t know I
desperately wanted: snake bites, ink baths, god-energy, gurus,
post-punk music, viral videos, redemption, and an unforgettable
character asking all the big questions. What am I and what am I
capable of? In the asking comes revelations on the nature of love,
power in friendship, weight of dogma, and the visceral seeping
together of diverse cultures. These pages left me with the best
case of culture shock, and in awe over Sindu’s storytelling
talent.”
—Devin Murphy, national bestselling author of The Boat Runner and
Tiny Americans
“Blue-Skinned Gods is a memorable and vivid coming-of-age story
that feels timely in its pursuit of exploring the meaning of truth
and how we know what to believe about ourselves and others. Kalki’s
journey from an isolated ashram in India to the kaleidoscope of New
York City's clubs and streets is captivating. This is a wonderful
book about family, friendship, and miracles.”
—Elise Hooper, author of Fast Girls, Learning to See, and The Other
Alcott
“With Blue-Skinned Gods, SJ Sindu has written an epic in every
sense of the word: the amazing life and times of Kalki Sami, the
boy born with blue skin and the power to heal, reads like an
instant classic. Sindu has proven herself, yet again, to be a
master storyteller—Blue-Skinned Gods is thrilling, remarkable, and
totally irresistible. You won’t be able to put it down.”
—Nick White, author of How to Survive a Summer and Sweet & Low
“Blue-Skinned Gods is a gorgeously atmospheric journey of faith and
doubt—and ultimately, of finding one's sense of self after a
lifetime of performing for others. With exquisite prose, SJ Sindu,
one of our finest storytellers, explores the entanglements of
Eastern spirituality and globalism, family and trauma, gender and
sexuality, in a compulsively readable and emotionally charged
tale.”
—Patrick Cottrell, Whiting Award winner and author of Sorry to
Disrupt the Peace
“Blue-Skinned Gods is beautifully rendered, a profound story about
faith - in others, and in oneself - and manipulation. Here, a boy
may or may not be the reincarnation of a God, and his quest to
understand himself, and his responsibility to those around him, is
utterly compelling. It is a story about miracles, both of the world
we inhabit and the ordinary, flawed, spectacular people we inhabit
it with, as we find that the greatest miracles might come from the
friendships that help us become who we really are.”
—Tessa Fontaine, author of The Electric Woman
“A rich, beautifully told and moving examination of the allure of
superstition and legend, the pains of growing up and the pitfalls
of lying to others and lying to yourself.”
—The Guardian
“A young boy, born with blue skin and believed to be an incarnation
of Vishnu, begins a soul-searching, decade-long journey to
determine whether or not he believes in his own cosmic birthright.
Fans of Sindu’s Stonewall and Lambda-nominated 2017 novel, Marriage
of a Thousand Lies, will find much to love here, as will newcomers
to her work.”
—Bustle
“A dramatic, intriguing story expertly told by a gifted narrator.
Listeners will be finding excuses to go on walks or errands just to
hear what happens next. Fans of international literature will fall
in love with this unique coming-of-age novel.”
—AudioFile
“You thought growing up was hard? Try it with blue skin, a
domineering dad, and the heavy weight of divinity. When we meet
Sindu’s Kalki Sami he’s in Tamil Nadu, just turning ten, and
struggling to make good on the godhood his father’s asserted; when
we part a decade later, after much loss and great sadness, he’s in
NYC exploring the many and varied ways to be simply human.
Beautifully told and perfectly paced, Blue-Skinned Gods is a wholly
compelling story of becoming who we are, and—critically—admitting
who we aren’t.”
—LitHub
“With a vast cast of intriguing characters as well as two powerful
climaxes at the end of the book—thematic and emotional—Blue-Skinned
Gods demonstrates Sindu’s narrative power.”
—The Margins, Asian American Writers' Workshop
“As Kalki is forced to reckon with the lies that form the
foundation of his life, SJ Sindu’s second novel, Blue-Skinned Gods,
pursues questions of sexuality, social hierarchy, family secrets,
toxic masculinity and religious abuse . . . an exciting journey
that lovingly explores the nature of chosen families.”
—BookPage
“A uniquely brilliant tale.”
—Ms. Magazine
“A wild book about a boy who is worshipped as a living god for
his entire life, and who, at a certain point, begins to doubt his
own divinity. It’s such a tangled and complex book, full of
binaries broken and relationships woven and everything I love and
value in queer work (including how the queerness of the book blooms
slowly, slowly).”
—Xtra Magazine
“Brilliantly written across continents and generations, this
unconventional coming-of-age story is an ambitious exploration of
faith, fame and family like nothing you have ever read before.”
—Tatler
“A thought-provoking book about faith and belief, the lengths that
we go to, and the reasons we use to justify our actions that
control someone who does not know any better.”
—The Nerd Daily
“A beautifully written story that begs to be discussed with
others.”
—Book Riot
“A thoughtful and fascinating story about identity.”
—Book Riot's All the Books
“An explosive, provoking examination of what we are forced to
or choose to believe to be true.”
—Booklist
“Sindu’s novel is the exploration of doubt by a deity, and also an
examination of what we owe to the families who raise us . . .
Blue-Skinned Gods is a great read for those who look for great
character development, enjoy familial conflict, and won’t mind
wrestling with some of humanity’s grittier issues.”
—American Library Association’s Rainbow Round Table
“Enthralling and heart wrenching, Blue-Skinned Gods takes hold of
you and doesn’t let go.”
—Apartment Therapy
“I was completely mesmerized by this novel from the very
beginning.”
—SheReads
“Sindu’s marvelous coming-of-age story features a young healer in
Tamil Nadu, believed to be an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu .
. . The imagery is vivid and the slow-burn narrative by the end
becomes incandescent. Sindu’s stunning effort more than delivers on
her initial promise.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Sindu’s excavations of Kalki’s internal struggles are detailed,
nuanced, and rich . . . Remarkably moving in its explorations of
faith, doubt, and what it might mean to be a charlatan.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A thoughtful exploration of contemporary religion and the
relations between modern culture and tradition.”
—Foreword Reviews
Praise for Marriage of a Thousand Lies
“A gorgeous, heartbreaking novel . . . An incredibly compelling
tale.”
—New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay
“A remarkable novel rich with interlocking issues both
timeless and timely. SJ Sindu’s debut is more than impressive; it’s
important.”
—Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Good Scent
from a Strange Mountain
“I love Lucky, the unforgettable narrator of Marriage of a Thousand
Lies . . . I’m especially captivated by the novel’s honesty and
tenderness—. . . SJ Sindu is an intuitive writer with great
insights into the complications of love and friendship.”
—Timothy Schaffert, author of The Swan Gondola
“SJ Sindu has written an important novel about Sri Lankan immigrant
culture. Here, the intersections of migration, sexuality and
culture are explored in loving and heartbreaking detail. A book
that reveals the secrets of a community caught between East and
West.”
—Nayomi Munaweera, author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors
“Entertaining.”
—The Toronto Star
“Enthralling . . . Sindu is a skilled writer, and this is a
remarkable first novel.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“Sindu’s heart-wrenching debut novel . . . incorporates love, loss,
family, rebirth and growth to tell a captivating story you
won’t be able to put down.”
—Ms. Magazine
Ask a Question About this Product More... |