Review | Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam: three young men and a night to remember

The narrator’s voice is playful and that of an insider. | Photo Credit: Getty Images In his debut novel Wimmy Road Boyz, Sufiyaan Salam takes the oft-repeated (and frankly, Anglocentric) dictum “show, don’t tell” to its most creative conclusion: crafting prose that not only narrates a story but is also self-reflexive about the very act of narration itself.The Manchester-based author writes in a multilingual, conversational mode that mirrors the internal and external linguistic landscape inhabited by his British Pakistani characters. The story opens with the introduction of 22-year-old Immy, described as “something of a bad-boy muslim slut who don’t never text back”. He is meeting up with 23-year-old Khan, a “cambridge-educated paki… the type to recite Warren Buffet epigrams like they’re hadiths” and Haris, also 23, an ever-anxious, soon-to-be-wed artist who is perpetually grappling with the ways in which his faith can come into conflict with his art and who is prone to philosophical asides about the larger meaning of life.The story begins with the trio on a night out along Manchester’s Wilmslow (Wimmy) Road — or the Curry Mile as it is also known. Each friend is battling his own inner demons while trying to make the most of the precious time they have together. The novel unfolds as a retelling of this adventurous night, one that changes the lives of all three friends forever.Political commentaryThe narrative is jumpy, resembling the act of doomscrolling, yet ironically, this very quality keeps the reader’s attention from drifting away from the text for even a second. In an era of ambient content consumption, Wimmy Road Boyz is a rare exception. While its sentences may initially appear syntactically careless, the novel’s overall design is a masterclass in literary manoeuvring. The omniscient narrator’s voice is playful and unmistakably that of an insider to the world of these twentysomething friends.The stream-of-consciousness writing takes the reader on a journey through a shared British South Asian male experience. Interestingly, while referring to the women characters in the novel, whose perspectives are sometimes focalised, the narrator shifts into the second person, addressing them with an intimate “you”.While the main action centres on this one unforgettable boys’ night, it is the women who drive the narrative forward. Though one might have wished for a more detailed portrait of their lives, they never come across as underwritten characters or mere plot conveniences.To say more would be to reveal too much and thus, do a disservice to a novel that is written to be experienced. Despite its light tone, the novel is far from a comforting read. Divided into time-stamped sections, the narrative is rife with political commentary on the state of affairs in the contemporary neo-colonial geopolitical landscape. Author Sufiyaan Salam This ranges from the everyday experience of racism, embodied in a ‘No Parking’ sign that the novel depicts with the letters r, n and g etched off, to discussions of the U.K.’s Prevent programme and the Nationality and Borders Act, which place citizens of colour, like the protagonists, at an unequal risk of losing their British citizenship. These heavier moments sit alongside observations such as Immy’s darkly comic declaration that, while a “brown holocaust” would “suck”, he might at least get to meet Riz Ahmed in the concentration camps.A fresh literary voiceSalam’s literary universe is reminiscent of that of British Punjabi writer Gurnaik Johal, whose collection of interlinked short stories, We Move (2022), offered a wide-ranging portrait of the lives of South Asian residents in West London’s Southall. Both authors, themselves in their 20s, are reshaping the contours of British literary fiction.Wimmy Road Boyz speaks to the present generation without infantilising them or catering to a facile exoticisation of the South Asian experience in the U.K. Its references range from Gayatri Spivak (‘Can the Subaltern Chill?’ is the title of one chapter) to Jazzy B, while its plot encompasses everything from crushing heartbreaks and bar fights to drug cartels and a women’s march, where the male DJ mixes Sara Ahmed lectures with Sabrina Carpenter songs.The result is a nuanced artistic exposition of the late-stage capitalist nightmare, told from the perspective of British Pakistani youth living through one of the most polarising periods in contemporary history. Wimmy Road Boyz Sufiyaan SalamMerky Books₹655 (ebook)The reviewer is a Delhi-based literary critic and research scholar. Published - September 05, 2026 02:41 pm IST