WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE

by Emmanuel Upputuru ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2023

A Christian memoir about searching for identity.

Upputuru opens his nonfiction debut with a series of questions about his own identity as he tries to differentiate himself from the other 8 million people on the planet. “I see myself playing out different identities at different settings in society,” he reflects. “I am a father, a son, a husband, a brother, a citizen, a copywriter, an employee, a neighbour, a sports fan, a cricket fan, a test cricket fan—all at the same time.” The author is a chief creative officer for an ad agency in Gurgaon, India’s “Millennium City,” and he notes how central this role is to his quest: “I belong to the marketing, advertising and branding world,” he writes. “We get paid to create identities and images for products. Our job is to convert a product into a brand.” Upputuru’s discussion of created identities leads him to the main subject of his book—his own status as a Christian and the various challenges of his personal faith. He writes generously about his family and his work, but the main focus here is the personal rejuvenation he gained from embracing Christianity, a path not without perils: “We can lose that restored identity if, after believing the truth, we fall for the devil’s word again,” he cautions, “if we don’t follow Jesus’ footsteps all the way to the cross.” Ultimately, the author’s religious insights come to dominate the narrative, leading him to the figure of Jesus. “This is the wisdom that comes from above,” he asserts. “This is love.”

At the heart of Upputuru’s account of finding personal identity through faith is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which he arguably misreads. God tells Adam and Eve in the Garden that if they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on that day they will surely die; Adam goes on to live for 930 years. Thus, when Upputuru writes that, “When man chose to disobey God by eating the fruit, he did die—the same day, hour, minute, second, the moment he disobeyed,” he’s in error. The author asserts that when God subsequently spoke with Adam, He was “speaking with a spiritually dead being.” The Bible makes no such distinction, but readers who are comfortable with Upputuru simply adding it will likely also take comfort from the broader narrative about transgression and redemption he spins out of that addition. The tone the author adopts for his narrative is very human and unaffected, and Upputuru does a skillful job of grounding most of his anecdotes in his own experiences as a husband, a father, and a creative professional. He is the main character of all his stories, and he consistently portrays himself as an everyman figure, constantly dealing with the “devil” of desiring approbation from others. (“These patches of pride have the potential to clog the spiritual cords that connect me to God and slowly suffocate me to death.”) While Upputuru doesn’t always manage smoothly to blend his faith narrative with his personal story, he’s always pleasant company on the page, and readers will identify with his feet of clay.

A readable and appealingly personal story of a man shoring up his life with Christian faith.

Pub Date: July 10, 2023

ISBN: 9781664293311

Page Count: 330

Publisher: WestBowPress

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2025

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION | GENERAL NONFICTION