Kamila Shamsie - Broken Verses

When it comes to writing a story set in Karachi, the challenge is always how to keep it real, because of the fact that the dialogue can be in English, translated from Urdu, or a mixture of both Urdu and English, which is how we normally speak. The challenge part is for me, the reader, not for the writer. For the first time, I felt as if Kamila broke that barrier for me, this book felt natural. The language her characters spoke was how I hear people talk.

The book is an excellent read, part thriller/detective story, part social commentary, political history, and most of all a love story. But there is no one love story, its about the love of a daughter for a mother, a man for a woman, etc. etc. I can find lots of metaphors, but I am sure they are mostly the creation of my mind and not necessarily that of Kamila.

This is the story of Aasmani Inqilab, daughter of a leading woman rights activist, with the father figure of a poet, who is simply called that. The Poet is killed, and the mother disappears and it has been fourteen years since the latter. Aasmani hasn't accepted the loss of her mother and the story begins with her starting work at a tv station after giving up her job at an oil company.

The setting in Karachi is very real, the dialogue is very real, and the story moves at a pace which keeps one glued to the book. It generally takes me longer to finish books, with work and other commitments, but this one I finished quickly.

And yes, I will read it again, my litmus test of books that I like.

PS. The reason why my reviews are cryptic is that I don't want to give anything away about the story for anyone who might want to read the book.