Greetings from Bury Park

By: Sarfraz Manzoor

Narrated by: Sarfraz Manzoor

The inspiration for Blinded by the Light, the smash Sundance hit and major motion picture. The acclaimed memoir about the power of Bruce Springsteen's music on a young Pakistani boy growing up in Britain in the 1970s.

Sarfraz Manzoor was two years old when, in 1974, he emigrated from Pakistan to Britain with his mother, brother, and sister. Sarfraz spent his teenage years in a constant battle, trying to reconcile being both British and Muslim, trying to fit in at school and at home. But it was when his best friend introduced him to the music of Bruce Springsteen that his life changed completely. From the age of 16 on, after the moment he heard the harmonica and opening lines to "The River", Springsteen became his personal muse, a lens through which he was able to view the rest of his life. Both a tribute to Springsteen and a story of personal discovery, Greetings from Bury Park is a warm, irreverent, and exceptionally perceptive memoir about how music transcends religion and race.

©2018 Sarfraz Manzoor (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Compelling memoirs, not all Springsteen

I enjoyed listening to the author tell his story. There wasn't quite as much about Bruce Springsteen as I had initially expected, though.

Charming, stunning, and heart-warming story about family and legacy

This book absolutely floored me, I wasn’t prepared for how moving and heart-breaking it is. But there’s still a lot of fun and beauty in it too. All intertwined with the words and music of Bruce Springsteen, showing how much music can transcend everything else in life. Hearing Sarfraz tell it with his own voice is truly special. A fantastic story that I want to listen to and revisit in the near future.

You don’t have to be a Springsteen fan...

To enjoy this coming of age memoir and a Pakistani boy growing up in England during the late ’80s. Javed is introduced to the music of Bruce Springsteen and it becomes the soundtrack to his life helping him cope with an overbearing father, prejudice and the effort to find his voice and his way in the world. It also helps that Manzoor is a journalist sd it makes his narrative come alive.

More Thank Just The Boss

Enjoyable, interesting, honest, and fun book that is about more than a love affair with Bruce Springsteen. While Bruce is seminal to the story, his music is more of a vehicle through which the author tells his story.

Kindred Spirit

Learned about this book from the movie blinded by the light. Manzoor is something of a kindred spirit to me. Comes from an immigrant family, journalist, dreamer. I can relate to this guy a lot.