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4 out of 5
by
Tatiana
from
Greensboro, NC | May 29, 2010
I know next to nothing about Pakistan, aside from the fact that this country seems to be overrun by terrorists, so reading this Pulitzer prize nominated collection of short stories gave me a new perspective on the country and people who live in it.
The eight loosely interconnected stories revolve around K.K. Harouni - a rich Pakistani landowner - and a network of his servants, employees, relatives and opportunists. In "Saleema" a young maid seeks patronage in Harouni's household in the beds of older, more influential servants, until she falls in love and is later discarded by the man who must honor his first family. "Nawabdin Electrician" is a story of Harouni's electrician, Nawab, who confronts a violent assailant in order to protect his most valuable asset - a motorbike - the only thing which helps him support his huge family. "Lily" is the chronicle of a party girl's attempt to cleanse her life by becoming a wife of a decent wealthy man, which fails as she realizes he is too good for her and she is incapable of change.
As a whole the collection provides a vivid picture of Pakistan, with its sharp rift between classes, complex relationships between servants and masters, government corruption, and dependent position of women who are always vulnerable without the protection of family and marriage ties.
3 people found this review helpful
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4 out of 5
by
Jennifer (JC-S)
from
Australia | Feb 12, 2010
‘Three things for which we kill – land,women and gold.’
This is a collection of eight linked short stories which describe the overlapping worlds of an extended Pakistani family of landowners. These are stories of the servants and dependants in the worlds of Mr K.K Harouni’s overflowing household in Lahore and the peasants on his estates, as well as the parallel worlds of his industrialist relations who have distanced themselves from their feudal past.
The characters in these stories confront the advantages and constraints of their situations, the dissolution of old ways and the associated shock of change. Meet Lily, the socialite who, tired of endless parties, marries a young landlord in an attempt to reinvent herself. There is Nawabdin, the electrician whose light-fingered ingenuity enables him to support his 12 daughters until he loses almost everything. Meet, too, the aged labourer who earns enough money to marry but when his wife disappears shortly afterwards is suspected of murder.
There are no happy stories here: the rich are selfish and shallow, the poor trying hard to survive. And yet the tragedy is leavened, at times, with humour. These stories with their diverse characters, their attempts at love, occasional triumphs, and misunderstandings illustrate the complexities of a class and culture which is in transition.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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5 out of 5
by
Will
from
Brooklyn, NY | Jan 29, 2010
Mueenuddin has put together a collection of stories that offers a less than flattering portrait of Pakistan. But while the social structures that come under his gaze are less than ideal, his writing is top notch, his ability to create memorable and accessible characters is superb. The organizing methodology here is that each of the stories connects with K.K. Harouni, patriarch of a family in a declining landed class. He is almost an innocent, not noticing that his servants are taking extreme, and criminal advantage of him. Were he to say he was “shocked, shocked” to learn that his servants were stealing from him he would be saying it honestly. Yet corruption is ubiquitous in this world.
Who in Mueenuddin’s Pakistan is able to get beyond their gender roles and sclerotic class structure? In Our Lady of Paris, the young, American-educated Sohail tries to do so, in a way, by marrying an American, but her conservative mother puts the kibosh on that. He later marries another American, but once married, she pretty much goes native, so represents an infusion of DNA rather than actual change. In Lily, the character of the title was and remains a spoiled urban child. In A Spoiled Man, the elderly Rezak, who is ultimately content with his place, is abused when, at least in his own mind, he aspires to something more. Women have to sleep with higher-level servants in households in order to get by. But even when they corral a member of a higher class, it ultimately ends badly for them. Corruption is rampant. In Provide, Provide a trusted servant is really a serpent. In A Spoiled Man we learn of a business that the police engage in outside their legal duties. Mueenuddin’s Pakistan is firmly rooted in its feudal past and those who would attempt to become bridges to the future fare poorly.
While the stories here would certainly go a long way to influencing one to cancel any relocation plans, they are tales beautifully told, with engaging, rounded characters. Through their eyes we get to know a bit of what the country is all about. The American, Helen, commenting on her fiancée, Sohail, notes that he is nicer in America, “It is easier to be gentle in a place where there’s order.” As chaos spread like a malignancy in today’s Pakistan, one might expect a dearth of gentility for quite some time to come. But at least one writer is attempting to create some order and beauty from the mess.
2 people found this review helpful
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4 out of 5
by
Jon
from
Maplewood, NJ | Dec 8, 2009
These stories of men and women in Pakistan are interesting in several dimensions. Starting off with the dimension of socio-economic grandeur, the stories range from village life with a jamindar or landowner (familiar territory to me) to the other extreme of jet set wealth and sophistication (not so familiar to me), all in a Pakistani context. The scenes of a decadent wealthy elite, doing drugs and hobnobbing in Paris, are as surprising to me as they would be to any villager. I have seen the educated elite, and I have seen the musty post-colonial elite, but the glamorous elite that resembles The Great Gatsby makes me feel small and rustic.
So Mueenuddin has broadened my horizons. When the Taliban is in the news, or the mullahs in the villages, and when they are contrasted with the educated urban interests, I have in mind the cricket-playing private school boys of old, when I should be thinking of the Harvard MBA’s or international financiers. They have as little likelihood of turning their country over to Al Qaeda as would the privileged of the Hamptons or of Hollywood, unless it were through complacency.
In another dimension, the stories all pertain to the relationships of men and women, with the women definitely having the uphill struggle. The stories all follow a narrative arc in which a woman struggles to achieve a stable social position, usually with a receptive and supportive man, but then by the end of the story, often when the man has died, the woman comes to a sad conclusion, usually due to family and societal pressures. The stories remind me of The Group, by Mary McCarthy, in which women were similarly frustrated, although in Pakistan the possible roles for women, even very wealthy women, seem primarily limited to influencing the men.
Despite the economic and gender dimensions, the stories are beautiful and nuanced, portraying genuine love and affection with marvelously subtle detail and dialogue. There is a richness in the quality of life, which again surprised me, making me wonder about Daniyal Mueenuddin, who could have such broad experience and such sensitive descriptive powers. I listened to an NPR On Point interview with him, which made me realize that he was easily one or several of the characters in the book, and a very skilled and worldly observer. I am delighted to have my perceptions of Pakistan blown open by him.
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3 out of 5
by
Nancy
from
San Francisco, CA | Oct 23, 2009
This collection of linked short stories is both very well-written, and an eye-opener for readers not familiar with social life in Pakistan. So much depends on social status and wealth, and likewise gender. Women married to wealthy men may or may not have any freedoms: they can be divorced, put aside while the husband brings in another wife, or other women; they may or may not be allowed an education, and if they have an occupation prior to marriage, they do not continue it.
Men who have wealth are likely to have connections in government, or elsewhere, and they can use their money, if so inclined, to bribe for the release of a servant accused of murder, or to look into the disappearance of the wife of a servant. However, the police have their own system of justice, and the arrest for murder can come out little to no evidence, and the investigation into the disappearing wife can involve arresting the husband on no grounds and beating and torturing him.
All but the poorest families have at least a couple of servants, and the servants have their own hierarchy: who has served the longest, who is more closely related to the family they serve. Family connections are important: a poor person having a familial connection to a wealthy family is more likely to be taken in as a servant, though not treated any better. Other servants may be suggested by current servants as a way to help members of their families.
Meanwhile, the servants jockey among themselves for position, and for favors from the higher-ranked servants. A serving woman may sleep with the cook in exchange for better food, despite the lowering of her reputation. If she can sleep with the master, she is both scorned and feared. And when the master dies, she is back on the bottom of the ladder, or lower, having given up her virginity and threatening her possibility of marriage.
The servants, and the farm hands, and other employees also have complicated systems of keeping the books, so unless the master is very attentive, money and supplies leak out unnoticed.
Altogether a fascinating read.