
Tell Me How to Be
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Vikas Adam
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By:
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Neel Patel
“Narrator Vikas Adam does an excellent job of balancing the angst- ridden Akash with the mourning Renu in this mother-and-son story of love and loss” – AudioFile Magazine
“Tell Me How to Be is daring, hilarious, poignant, and impossible to put down. Neel Patel is a fabulous storyteller!” —Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
From rising star Neel Patel (“refreshing…defiant…consistently surprising” —New York Times), a darkly funny and heartbreaking debut novel about an Indian-American family confronting the secrets between them.
Renu Amin always seemed perfect: doting husband, beautiful house, healthy sons. But as the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death approaches, Renu is binge-watching soap operas and simmering with old resentments. She can’t stop wondering if, thirty-five years ago, she chose the wrong life. In Los Angeles, her son, Akash, has everything he ever wanted, but as he tries to kickstart his songwriting career and commit to his boyfriend, he is haunted by the painful memories he fled a decade ago. When his mother tells him she is selling the family home, Akash returns to Illinois, hoping to finally say goodbye and move on.
Together, Renu and Akash pack up the house, retreating further into the secrets that stand between them. Renu sends an innocent Facebook message to the man she almost married, sparking an emotional affair that calls into question everything she thought she knew about herself. Akash slips back into bad habits as he confronts his darkest secrets—including what really happened between him and the first boy who broke his heart. When their pasts catch up to them, Renu and Akash must decide between the lives they left behind and the ones they’ve since created, between making each other happy and setting themselves free.
By turns irreverent and tender, filled with the beats of ’90s R&B, Tell Me How to Be is about our earliest betrayals and the cost of reconciliation. But most of all, it is the love story of a mother and son each trying to figure out how to be in the world.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
©2021 Neel Patel (P)2021 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
“I loved Tell Me How to Be’s story of family, first love, and figuring out your place in the world. Neel's writing is vulnerable, authentic and entertaining. This book gives a fresh perspective to complicated family relationships…something everyone can relate to." (Lilly Singh, number one New York Times best-selling author of How to Be a Bawse)
Good Read!
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I’m thankful that I’ve encountered this book.
I’m so thankful for this book
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Superb read!
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Amazing!
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Riveting & Heart wrenching!
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Touching story
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“Sometimes the things you desire are not what you need”
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A beautiful and unique story
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Wonderful
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Fantastic voice work by the narrators doing multiple accents and characters.
I also recommend “If You See Me Don’t Say Hi” by the same author.
Loved this! Great on Audible!!
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