Being a South Asian, I am naturally drawn to books depicting both the South Asian as well as African experience. They somehow speak more to me.
Daniyal Mueenuddin is an American-Pakistani writer and this was the first time I actually read his work. Initially, I had a few misgivings as I sometimes found the prose clunky, and the first part ( with my favourite character, Bayazid) ended without any resolution. The second part started with a whole new set of characters.
But as I went on reading, I was so totally immersed in the story and the setting that I just couldn’t put the book down. Mueenuddin describes contemporary Pakistan, with all its contrasts – the feudalism and characters living in grinding poverty, in contrast to the filthy rich, the corrupt politicians and the brutal police. ( Sounds familiar to South Asian readers, doesn’t it?). But the characters are not so black and white; they are flawed human beings; the rich are not totally degraded, while the poor totally shackled to old ideas of loyalty.
The novel has a unique structure. It is not a ‘hero’s journey’ with a three-act structure and a character arc, but more like a Russian doll, stories within stories which all cohere in the end. As for the prose, I grew to love it. It is spare, almost poetic in places, and recreates the sounds and smells of a remote village in the Punjab.
If there’s only one book you have to read this year, this should be it.
My rating- 5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Padmini Sankar Author 