British Asian writers can sometimes feel as though they are operating inside a gilded cage. While they remain within the confines  writing about multiculturalism, reviewing books by other Asian writers  there will be writing opportunities, but daring to leave the cage can be as difficult as trying to persuade invariably white editors to see beyond skin colour. This frustration is coupled with the fact that second-generation British Asian authors are sometimes fortunate to have a rich seam of inter-generational conflict, cultural confusion and religious tensions to mine for literary purposes. The novels of Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali and Nikita Lalwani and memoirs by Sathnam Sanghera, Zaiba Malik and myself share these themes: one generation failing fully to understand the next; the struggle to follow one's path while not betraying one's family.

It is these themes that Too Asian, Not Asian Enough seeks to challenge. The anthology of 21 stories begins in thrilling fashion with an introduction by the editor, Kavita Bhanot, that is impassioned and provocative. Bhanot cheerily dismisses the current generation of British Asian writers as trope addicts, fixated on stories featuring despot dads, culture clashes and doomed arranged marriages. Like a bored teenager who has grown tired of hearing her parents telling her how bad they had it, Bhanot announces that today's new generation are so over all that culture-clash nonsense. "Each time another British Asian novel, film or memoir appears we can't help feeling a sense of déjà vu," she declares. "Some of us feel that these stories have nothing to do with our lives, some of us don't want to write about our lives at all."

Suitably chastened, the reader turns to the first story, ready to be dazzled by the literary fireworks of this new generation only to be disappointed. This "new generation" turns out to include such established writers as Gautam Malkani, the author of Londonstani, as well as Suhayl Saadi, who turned 50 last month, and the broadcaster and critic Bidisha, who has been a novelist for almost 15 years. These well-known writers sit alongside new voices in stories that show impressive geographic range  the locations stretch from ancient Rome to modern Jerusalem via New York, Manchester and Mombasa  but a dispiriting lack of depth.

Malkani's bitter, satirical "Asian of the Month" is one of the better stories. It confronts the question of authenticity head on, imagining a game show in which contestants compete to flaunt their credentials as "proper" Asians. Elsewhere there are flashes of promise  Rajeev Balasubramanyam's "Tablet of Bliss" is an amusing fantasy in which David Beckham becomes a rabid anti-war radical, and Bidisha's "Dust" is an involving tale showing how violence can hide behind apparent normality. But many of the other contributions read like literary throat-clearing, creative writing assignments that have found their way into a book. The writers deserve praise for ignoring the predictable subjects, but reading this anthology leaves one with the impression that freedom from the familiar anchors has left the authors flailing. Amid the tales of dull sex parties, jilted lovers and mental illness, there is little that truly engages and nothing that depicts contemporary British Asian life with the brio and wit of a writer such as Kureishi.

It is the prerogative of the writer to choose their subject, to be judged not only by their race or religion. The authors in this anthology may proclaim their individuality, but by being published in a collection they will inevitably be read together. Indeed one could argue that publishing an anthology of self-styled next-generation British Asian writing is as commercially opportunistic and stifling as what it is intending to challenge. The question of how to persuade editors and readers to expect more than the predictable is an important; however, I worry that the writers in Too Asian, Not Asian Enough have moved from one gilded cage to another, forgetting that the best way to leave familiar tropes and tired clichés behind is the old way  through thinking deeper, looking closer and writing better.

Sarfraz Manzoor is the author of Greetings from Bury Park (Bloomsbury).