Mohammad Hanif is an author who's always taken me by surprise. I picked his first book anticipating that it was an in-depth investigation into the death of General Zia, only to discover that it was fiction, Catch-22 style. The book seamlessly integrated multiple plots to present a coherent story.
I picked his second book with similar expectations (despite many warnings not to pick the same). The turning point was Abhijit Banerjee, one of Foreign Policy magazines top 100 intellectuals for 2011, was reading the book. The book seemed to have been written in a hurry and lacks the 'slickness' of Hanif's first work. The underlying theme i.e. violence against women is subtle but the way the plot is structured is a let down. For instance, why does the protagonist Alice Bhatti fall in love with her complete opposite Teddy Butt? The timelines in the climax are also very confusing (was it morning, afternoon, evening?)
I would have probably enjoyed this book better if I had no expectations.
3 comments:
Times like these, can't help but say...
"Told ya!" :P
Where are my french lessons??
I was gracious enough to give you credit. Classes start on Monday.
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