"Mohammed Hanif's novels address the more troubling aspects of Pakistani history and politics with unhinged, near-treasonous irreverence. His 2008 Booker-longlisted debut, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, was a scabrously comic portrait of General Zia-ul-Haq in the days leading up to his death in a suspicious plane crash in 1988. Masquerading as a whodunnit, it was a satire of religiosity and military authoritarianism."
"Following the execution, disgraced intelligence officer Gul has been posted to OK Town, a sleepy backwater where he would need to create his own entertainment and come up with a mission to shine on this punishment posting. He's in luck, sort of. Bhutto's sympathisers, the so-called jiyalas, are heartbroken and angry; many believe he is still alive, that the military government is hiding him, and some, to Gul's horror, are setting themselves on fire."
Dark, irony-soaked comedy and farce expose religiosity, military authoritarianism, and violence in Pakistan's political history. The narrative depicts General Zia-ul-Haq in the days before his suspicious 1988 plane crash and examines the execution of PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the violent reverberations. Disgraced intelligence officer Gul is posted to OK Town, a sleepy backwater where he forges entertainment and a mission to redeem his reputation as Piston while a woman carries his child. Bhutto loyalists stage self-immolations and protests. Sir Baghi's Rebel English Academy becomes entangled when Imam Molly brings Sabiha, a bereaved woman with a pistol, detained in a landscape of political prisoners and mysterious deaths.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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