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Amazon.co.uk Review
As the title suggests, mapping--geographical, political and emotional-- is central to the book. The "comic" spelling is a wry allusion to its setting: the troubled Pakistani city of Karachi, a place that, as Karim observes, worships "at the altar of K". Karim, Raheen and their friends Sonia and Zia all belong to the privileged Karachi elite. Born on the right "side of the Clifton Bridge" they seem immune from Karachi's endemic corruption, violence and religious and ethnic intolerance but they and their families, like the rest of the city's inhabitants, have all been horrifically scarred by events of the 1971 civil war.
Like Austen, or perhaps more accurately Forster, Shamsie is wonderfully adept at capturing the petty rivalries and social games of Pakistan's highly stratified bourgeoisie society--Zia's house is sagely described as "always full of people worth cultivating, rather than people worth having in your home." There are a few (well-acknowledged) nods to Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities and even Homer's Odyssey gets a look in but Shamsie wears her learning lightly. She manages to make Karim and Raheen's journey to toward engagement, both with the realities of Karachi and with each other, into a profound meditation on the nature of love, storytelling and politics. --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Herald (Glasgow), July 20th 2002
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You must read this book, and you must share it with others.
The main characters were all very realistically portrayed and interesting and the only qualm I would have is that no major character represented Pakistan's poor masses and burdened middle-classes although brief mentions of the effects of the violence in Karachi on these social classes occured but this was not explored sufficiently.
Still overall an excellent book and a great read. Ms. Shamsie is very gifted as a story teller and has a great command over words. The constant interjections of word-play were delightful.
The author has the rare talent of being able to conjour up images of the places she describes with minimum effort.
The decisions of the past haunting those in the present.. a great book for everyone to read, regardless of their background.
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