Malavika Kannan’s ‘Unprecedented Times’ Captures Gen Z’s Pandemic College Experience

Malavika Kannan’s latest novel, *Unprecedented Times*, offers a sharp and immersive portrayal of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on a generation of young Americans. Through the lens of Rishi, a burnt-out Indian American youth climate activist, the book captures the disorientation and upheaval of campus life during the early days of the pandemic. Kannan, a 25-year-old writer, draws from her own experiences as an activist and Stanford student to craft a coming-of-age story that resonates with the complexities of Gen Z’s pandemic experience.

## A Coming-of-Age Story in the Age of Covid

*Unprecedented Times* begins with Rishi’s anticipation of her first year at Stanford, eager to escape her strict upbringing in Florida and explore her identity, including her sexuality. However, the pandemic swiftly disrupts her plans, forcing her and her classmates to adapt to a new reality. Kannan’s first-person narration immerses readers in Rishi’s perspective, making her struggles and triumphs feel deeply personal.

Kannan, who left Florida for Stanford in 2019, shares similarities with her protagonist. Both are activists-Kannan advocated for gun violence prevention in the wake of the Pulse nightclub and Parkland shootings. Despite these parallels, Kannan emphasizes that Rishi is a fully fleshed-out character with flaws and complexities. "Rishi has a really distinctive voice and is definitely someone that I relate to deeply," she says. "My goal was to write a protagonist [where] you feel immersed in her point of view, but you can also disagree with her."

## Exploring Identity and Systemic Collapse

The novel delves into the radicalizing effects of the pandemic on young Americans, particularly those who had not yet seen the "American dream" materialize. Kannan weaves in contemporary issues such as the #MeToo movement and the impact of social media on coming-of-age experiences. She also challenges the traditional immigrant narrative, where non-protagonist characters are often portrayed as villains. "I came up from a slightly earlier moral code of characters where anything done by a person who’s marginalised is inherently moral and worthy," she says. "But that’s not true in this book - Rishi has a confidence very similar to that of white men."

Kannan’s portrayal of Rishi’s relationships, particularly with her mother, reflects the complexities of self-awareness in the digital age. "In making her voice so self-aware, I was trying to say something about what selfhood is like in the age of the internet," she explains. "A lot of us have so much information available at our disposal. We can identify dynamics and patterns, but that doesn’t necessarily empower us to do anything."

## A Period Piece Beyond the Pandemic

While *Unprecedented Times* is rooted in the pandemic, it transcends the label of a "Covid novel." Kannan describes it as a 2020 period piece that explores the modern political and cultural landscape. The novel’s setting on a college campus allows readers to learn the rules of this new world alongside the characters. "As a metaphor, it just felt so unmistakably true," Kannan says. "The sense of systems collapse was just what I wanted to describe."

Kannan acknowledges the challenges of writing about the pandemic, given the mixed reception of previous attempts. However, she believes that *Unprecedented Times* offers a unique perspective as one of the first pieces of pandemic literature written by and for Gen Z. "For a generation who feel robbed of a beginning, it may feel poignant to finally see a pandemic coming-of-age story on the page," she says. The novel’s exploration of identity, activism, and systemic collapse makes it a compelling read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of coming-of-age in unprecedented times.