October 4, 2022
Indo-Canadian novelist explores near-future dystopia
By
K.M. Breakey
The author T.K. Kanwar lives the Canadian Dream, and he lives it in peace. As a second-generation Indian Canadian, he’s never admonished for his race, nor excluded from opportunity. On the contrary, he’s free to love and advocate for his people.
So why rock the boat when he could quietly live a life of opportunity and splendor? If anything, Kanwar might bolster his status by preaching the evils of white racism, the oppression of
Black and Brown People.
Many do.
Not Kanwar.
For whatever reason, he dares to notice reality. Not only that, he’s dared to write a bold and based novel spotlighting the dangerous absurdities steamrolling what’s left of the western world. In
Identity Crisis, dual protagonists Sam and Jennifer navigate respective journeys through dystopian wokeness and civilizational decline in Canada and America.
Like Kanwar, Sam’s a successful Canadian man of Indian descent. He works for a large cable sports channel and relishes the fruits of life. However, (also like Kanwar) Sam’s a noticer. He notices hellish subway rides and skyrocketing crime. He recognizes his formerly idyllic way of life is rapidly vanishing.
It wasn’t always like this. Sam fondly recalls a charmed childhood. Memories of Christmas and hockey playoffs and the magical run of his beloved ’92 Blue Jays. More than that, he remembers a Toronto that was safe and clean and
high‑trust. It wasn’t long ago.
Meanwhile, Jennifer’s a white liberal New Yorker steeped in Critical Race Theory. She’s so hellbent on saving the world from whiteness, she’s devoted her life to the cause. However, as
Clown World intensifies, she encounters the inevitable contradictions of being simultaneously white
and anti-white. She begins to question her devotion to a cause that has no place for her.
Spanning a 30-year period culminating in 2031, we witness momentous upheavals in the duo’s personal lives against the larger backdrop of society’s downward spiral. For Sam, the final straw is the unjust firing of his best friend, a white guy. For Jennifer, it’s the savage beating of her white boyfriend -- you can guess by whom.
The novel cleverly intertwines truthful observations -- otherwise known as sanity -- via the Jordan-Petersonesque Dr. Nolan. Taboo issues like anti-whiteness and destructive immigration are fearlessly explored. We’re reminded that immigration without assimilation was once a known danger -- guarding against it was a mainstream position. Nowadays, the very
point of immigration seems to be not only
non-assimilation but utter destruction of community.
