'My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost.' As the teenage hero of Hanif Kureishi's debut novel, Karim is desperate to escape suburban South London and experience the forbidden fruits which the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in the theatre announces itself, he starts to win the sort of attention he has been craving, albeit with some rude and raucous results.