"Imagine a shattering portrayal of Pakistani life through a chain of interlocking novellas, and you'll be somewhere close to understanding the breadth and impact of Daniyal Mueenuddin's first novel. Reminiscent of Neel Mukherjee's dazzling circular depiction of Indian inequalities, A State of Freedom, it's a keenly anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed short-story collection with which he made his debut in 2009, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders also portraying overlapping worlds of Pakistani class and culture."
"He proceeds to raise the boy as his own son, having only daughters, but Yazid is also adopted by the stall's garrulous regulars, who teach him both to read and to pay keen attention to the currents of class, wealth and power which flow past him every day."
"Mueenuddin brings the smells and tastes of Pakistan to vibrant life Mueenuddin then moves us to the deep countryside, where the colonel's nephew Rustom, who has returned from a long spell studying in America, must negotiate local webs of corruption and violence as he attempts to revive the fortunes of the estate neglected by his late playboy father. His time in the US has softened him, apparently, and the gentle,"
The narrative begins in a Rawalpindi bazaar in the 1950s, where an abandoned child clutching plastic shoes is taken in by a tea-stall owner and raised as his son. Yazid is also mentored by the stall's regulars, who teach him to read and observe the currents of class, wealth and power. Yazid becomes a resourceful teenager whose stall becomes a hangout for privileged schoolboys, including Zain. Yazid falls for Zain's sister, Yasmin, a passion that propels him into the service of an army colonel and politician in Lahore. The story then moves to the countryside, where the colonel's nephew Rustom returns from the United States and confronts local corruption while trying to revive a neglected estate.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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