Nikesh Shukla is a writer poet and film-maker ,coconut unlimited is his debut novel ,Nikesh is well-known in London LIT circles due to his involvement in numerous events .coconut unlimited is the story of three school friends

I ve decide to review this intertwine my own life ,this coming of age tale and its humour made me smile and remember my own teen years in a similar way to black swan green by David Mitchell and rotters club by Jonathan Coe ,this story c=starts at the start of a new school term and Amit ,Ananad and Nishant  they discover hip hop and get dragged into the culture and finding records ,in my life it was Billy Bragg and the smiths ,listening too John Peel buying the NME ,the lads have a collection of oddball and helpful teachers a bit like my own school ,at home parents struggle to grasp this new love ,memories of my own mother saying what is this music ,why you got your hair like that echoed in my head as I read the book .They decided to form a crew and become budding hip hop stars ,dearly needed at the time uk hip hop being mc tunes and Derek b ,I briefly try to rap myself for 5 minutes at the back of a local school with a lad called Mike Hurst this last all of twenty Minutes as I realised I am on of the most tone-deaf out of tune rappers that has ever been lol .but the guys in the group coconut unlimited  and title of the book give it a real go  ,starting with small gigs and a visit to a studio ,one of my favourite passages is the first trip to a real record shop ,and its Knowledgeable owner this remind me of the shop in Congleton where I grew up Beat route run by a man also called Stu like me this guy seemed to know everything and like the guys in the book really shocked me at times .

I did Eddy .They moaned ,though .They couldn’t believe you’d sell stuff like Tupac and Snoop just cos you have all that metal stuff in your window .

Well he said looking over his pince-nez glasses at Anand and me ,you boys how much stuff sells to the disenfranchised white youths with a middle class amount of pocket-money in his wallet .I ‘m a Beatles man myself but I’ve got to make money somehow and ,face it suburban school children love goth and heavy metal – it’s like a club tuneless ,I’d say not like Lennon .He was the last of the greats ,so you guys in a band ,eh ?

meeting the shop owner .

A fresh talent for sure ,this is my book of the year so far and shows yet again Quartet’s great taste .a wonderful insight into growing up in the london suburbs and being asian at same time ,this book will touch you if you read it  .I was left wanting to hear John Peel’s dulced tones saying here are a new group whose debut EP  I m playing coconut unlimited ,then it’s but on at wrong speed to start with .there is also a mix done by Nikesh to accompany the book here is a link .

disclosure I got this from Quartet for review .