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The Wasted Vigil (Vintage International)
 
 
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The Wasted Vigil (Vintage International) (Paperback)

by Nadeem Aslam (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Hardcover £17.99 £10.79 29 used & new from £4.37
Paperback £7.99 £4.14 60 used & new from £0.22

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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Books USA (8 Sep 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0307388743
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307388742
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Review

'Ambitious and luminous ... The Wasted Vigil reminds us that fiction can do things that mere reportage can't ... Aslam does not simply appropriate a few headlines for easy currency. He has immersed himself in a country and a culture.' --Peter Parker, Sunday Times --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'[Aslam] confirms he is a writer of singular genius ... Beautiful, harrowing and fired with a compelling sense of horror, The Wasted Vigil is remarkable ... the quest novel we should - no, must - all read.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and horrible, 24 Aug 2009
By Czarniawska Barbara (Gothenburg, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Wasted Vigil (Paperback)
The beauty of this book depends on the landscapes and works of arts painted with words of utmost skill. The horror of this book is the history of recent decades in Afghanistan, told through several stories, representing all parties that put their fingers into the meager pie there - with good or evil intentions, but with equally tragic consequences. As a novel, it is amazing. As a message, it is terrifying in that it leaves no hope for the future. It seems that all that was beautiful will vanish sooner or later, and even the beauty of some characters has been created by the author as an embellishment, to be admired, but not to be believed.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An epic work, 17 Mar 2009
This review is from: The Wasted Vigil (Hardcover)
A truly great novel from the author of Maps for Lost Lovers. Lara is Russian and arrives in present-day Afghanistan to unravel the mystery shrouding the death of her soldier brother some 25 years earlier. There are echoes of Ondaatje's The English Patient and many marvellous images. This is a beautiful, angry, courageous and inspiring work about the legacy of war and the insidious new horror, terrorism.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 24 Sep 2009
This review is from: The Wasted Vigil (Paperback)
This is one of the most gut wrenchingly powerful novels I've ever read. Some passages were so affecting I had to look away from the page for a while. I haven't read any of this author's work before, and I'm so glad to have discovered him.

The Wasted Vigil really is fiction at its very best. A complex story weaving together the tales of a rich cast of characters. A setting so vividly described you can see, smell and hear it. The emotion behind the writing is strong, the writing itself is lyrical without being overwrought.

I can't praise this book enough. It's the best novel I've read in years, and it's one that I'll think about for a long, long time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Before reading this book about Afghanistan...
Before reading this book about Afghanistan, you should know that the author has never been in Afghanistan! Read more
Published 8 days ago by Jean Philippe Tournut

5.0 out of 5 stars A still small voice
'The Wasted Vigil' is a beautiful book that weaves an intriguing pattern and inspires readers to seek meaning, lessons, or anything else to pin their hopes on. In vain. Read more
Published 21 days ago by W. Marth

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only read one novel about Afghanistan make it this one.
This is a beautifully written, complex novel, that using memory, and some truly beautiful imagery weaves a tale of Afghanistan that is really quite unforgettable. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. Hope

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than its cover...
This book is stunning and brutal in equal measure. Rarely have I read a book that has presented such a desperately sad outlook for its main characters, yet has continued to keep... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lucy Talk

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written yet disappointing
Maps for Lost Lovers was a wonderful novel and I was so looking forward to this one but although as beautifully written, it was disappointing. Read more
Published 6 months ago by James Rogers

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written
This is a marvellous book which is both thought provoking and informative. The author uses delicately chosen words to describe the terrible history of Afghanistan.
Published 6 months ago by Mr. J. P. Russell

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable
One of the great books of the year, an extraordinarily powerful and accomplished work that takes us on a harrowing ride through beauty and terror and gives us one of the most... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Richard B. Cameron

1.0 out of 5 stars Going backwards instead of forwards
Nadeem Aslam wrote an excellent second novel, "Maps for lost lovers", about bigotry and superstition in a Pakistani family in Northern Britain. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S. Hare

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