What is the moment, that exact moment when everything changes and the friends you have been, become the lovers you might be? Soul mates from birth Karim and Raheen finish one another's sentences, speak in anagrams and lie spine to spine as children. They are irrevocably bound to one another and to Karachi, Pakistan. It beats in their hearts - violent, polluted, corrupt, vibrant, brave and ultimately, home. However, Raheen is fiercely loyal and naively blinkered and she resents Karim's need to map their city, his need to name its streets and to expand the privileged world they know. When Karim is forced to leave for London their differences of opinion become a painful quarrel. As the years go by they let a barrier of silence build between them until, finally, they are brought together during a dry summer of strikes and ethnic violence and their relationship is poised between strained friendship and fated love. Impassioned and touching, "Kartography" is a love song to Karachi. In her extraordinary new novel, Kamila Shamsie shows us that whatever happens in the world, we must never forget the complicated war in our own hearts.
Kartography
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Amazon Review
Kartography is Kamila Shamsie's impressive third novel. At its heart is rather a traditional love story-cum-family saga. Karim and Raheen are anagram swapping "fated friends". Until the age of 13, when Karim moved to London, they were virtually raised as brother and sister. Their parents had once been engaged to each other. The unravelling of quite why this matrimonial square dance occurred is juxtaposed with Karim and Raheen's own, and decidedly more protracted, romance.
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.
Review
"Her characters are vividly realised; her enthusiasm for her story is infectious; her love for its location scorches the pages." -- The Herald (Glasgow), July 20th 2002
"freshly written" -- The Independent, October 12th 2002
"freshly written" -- The Independent, October 12th 2002
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am not going to try and write a clever review - I am lost for words. This is one of the most, if not THE most beautiful books I have ever read, and I read at least 10 books a month. I lost a weekend because I couldn't put it down. Such honest characters and such a fantastic story. I can't believe this is not a true life account - maybe it is? If not, then what a talented writer! I was lost in this story, and continued to think about it for long afterwards. Sad, funny, hopeful and inspiring.
You must read this book, and you must share it with others.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book whilst browsing through a bookstore trying to kill some time and as I began reading I was immediately hooked. I bought the book there and then and didn't stop reading it (more or less) until I had finished it. I found it a beautiful meditation on love and friendship and also a wry and penetrating analysis of the lives of Pakistani high society and also a poignant discussion of the role of the past in our lives in general and of Pakistan's troubled recent history (especially the secession of East Pakistan) in particular.
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Shamila
Format:Paperback
I admit I was sceptical when I recieved this book from my sister, but I was amazed at how complex and descriptive the writing was.
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.
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.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this warm and complex study of friendship, love, and roots, Kamila Shamsie focuses on the interrelationships of a group of vividly realized, upper-class residents of Karachi, particularly Raheen and Karim and their friends, only thirteen years old as the novel opens. Raheen has always regarded Karim, her one-time crib-companion and blood-brother, as her best friend, someone who knows her so well he can complete her sentences. Their parents, too, are close friends, and as the story evolves, we learn that Raheen's father was once engaged to marry Karim's mother, and that Raheen's mother once pledged to marry Karim's father.
The story behind the exchange of fiancées, though revealed as an intimate personal story, has wider implications, since it is tied, obliquely, to the ethnic unrest of 1971, when civil war broke out between East and West Pakistan, and Bangladesh came into being. Unaware of the conflicts which occurred before they were born, the children are also unaware of the reasons for the fiancée-switch. It is only after they have grown up, attended college, and gained new perspectives that this mysterious situation begins to haunt them, influencing both their relationships with their parents and their unique and special relationship with each other.
Acutely sensitive to language and story, Raheen, now 23, is writing about her damaged relationship with Karim in an attempt to understand it. Straightforward and perceptive in her thinking and speech, she conjures up imagined conversations from the past with a deft, often humorous touch. Precocious, articulate, and somewhat rebellious as a child, she is, as an adult, somewhat detached and even blase about emotional issues, including the continuing violence in Karachi. Karim, on the other hand, demands accountability.
... Read more ›3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
fantastic reading - abit slow in places but defintely worth the time and effort.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
One of the best books I've ever read. Specially because I could relate to the setting i.e. Karachi. A must read for all.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although the book starts off a bit slow, it makes up for it later on. One of my favourite reads and I would recommend it to anyone!!! Goes in depth to show class and ethnicity can pull at friendships and how easy/hard it can be to forgive the closest of friends.
Well worth a read!
Well worth a read!
By Tayob Katchi
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book describes the love affair of childhood friends whose parents have swapped partners but had remained close to each other!
If the intention was to portray Karachi through the eighties and nineties, it fails miserably, as all the historical factors that have been present and influenced the changes that have occurred in this city are just a faint background. Any analysis what brought this city from being "Paris of east " to a frontier town is non existent as is how life changed for the masses who live in the metropolis.
The book just focuses on the evolving relationship of one westernized, alcohol drinking, young couple, whose biggest problem is the fact that their parents have swapped partners after the Bangladeshi war of Independence. Talk about guilt and ignore all the social problems around them! Self centered bunch!
As love stories go, you have read better, and if you are looking for something that allows you to peep into life in Karachi, give it a miss.
If the intention was to portray Karachi through the eighties and nineties, it fails miserably, as all the historical factors that have been present and influenced the changes that have occurred in this city are just a faint background. Any analysis what brought this city from being "Paris of east " to a frontier town is non existent as is how life changed for the masses who live in the metropolis.
The book just focuses on the evolving relationship of one westernized, alcohol drinking, young couple, whose biggest problem is the fact that their parents have swapped partners after the Bangladeshi war of Independence. Talk about guilt and ignore all the social problems around them! Self centered bunch!
As love stories go, you have read better, and if you are looking for something that allows you to peep into life in Karachi, give it a miss.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 18 reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
