"Tara, one of five siblings from a poor farming family in the hinterlands of Pakistani Punjab. This is the kind of landscape where age-old codes of manhood, with brother or son as provider and adjudicator of women's lives, still rule. Tara, gazing at the stars from their courtyard at night, wants to get away from the squalor of Mazinagar (literally, past city), where most people live and die unnoticed, and build a life full of money and possessions in the city."
"Tara marries an unambitious accountant from the city and quickly absorbs the mores of urban life, but wants more and more every day, for her children and for herself, and finds she is willing to do anything for it. Tara and her belligerent brother Lateef are a compelling duo. Though both strive to rise above their circumstances, the latter receives the unearned privileges of patriarchy."
"Like Tara, he seeks money, sends his son to private school (although not his daughters), but would have preferred it if his sister didn't make a living outside the home. The sibling trajectories are sketched in parallel; the man allowed license, the woman forever judged and examined, a twin portrayal masterfully deployed to expose crushing divides of gender and class."
Tara grows up one of five siblings in a poor farming family in Pakistani Punjab, where age-old codes of manhood still rule. She longs to escape Mazinagar's squalor and build a life of money and possessions in the city. Tara marries an unambitious accountant, quickly absorbs urban mores, and relentlessly seeks more for herself and her children, becoming willing to do anything to obtain it. Her belligerent brother Lateef also strives to rise but benefits from unearned patriarchal privileges, sending only his son to private school. The narrative juxtaposes their trajectories to reveal crushing gender and class divides, culminating in Tara's tragic, steep price for freedom.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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