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The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon Hardcover – 28 Nov 2013

by Fatima Bhutto (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars 17 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Viking (28 Nov. 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0670922986
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670922987
  • Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 2.5 x 20.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 678,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Bhutto writes of an extraordinary place where beauty lives alongside brutality, with superb poise and a kind of defiant lyricism (The Times)

Stunning . . . Few debut novels can adequately explore such colossal themes as betrayal and allegiance, or persuasively render fear, doubt and determination (The National)

Incredibly ambitious, extremely powerful and moving (Radio 4)

Stunningly worded (Company Magazine)

Concise, elegant. Bhutto is a gifted and compelling writer, economically and poetically summoning up this beautiful mountainous backwater (Mail on Sunday)

Powerful, compelling, moving inexorably to a devastating conclusion (Sunday Express)

[Explores] the divisive split between those suffering from the direct consequences of war and a generation of unaware, complacent young Pakistanis (Evening Standard)

A first novel of uncommon poise and acuity, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is set in an old and protracted war for land and dignity. But its swift and suspenseful narrative describes a fiercely contemporary battle in the human heart: between the seductive fantasy of personal freedom and the tenacious claims of family, community and history (Pankaj Mishra)

An extraordinary first novel which reads like a politico-religious thriller. Compelling. (Hector Abads)

This is (...) a human story, with love as well as ideology - Bhutto blends the two adroitly (and) writes with great poignancy, keeping the emotional pitch high (Financial Times)

It's a heart-stopping thriller, as well as an important political commentary about oppression, occupation and war. Most strikingly, though, it's a devastating love story (Jemima Khan New Statesman 'Books of the Year')

The novel is set over the course of one morning in a small town in Pakistan's tribal regions (and) follows the story of three brothers who are forced to make difficult choices. But the heart of the novel, for Bhutto, lies in the female characters (Observer)

Thought-provoking. Above all, what The Shadow of the Crescent Moon captures so well is not just the trauma of war, but also the conflicts of contemporary Pakistanis, torn between remaining faithful to the legacy of previous generations, and their own dreams of choosing their own destiny (Sunday Telegraph)

About the Author

Fatima Bhutto was born in 1982 in Kabul, grew up in Damascus, and lives in Karachi. She is the author of a memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword. The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is her first novel.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsWell written and not overdone, but sometimes a bit too brief
By BookWorm TOP 500 REVIEWER on 17 Jun. 2014
Format: Paperback
Written with admirable economy, 'The Shadow of the Crescent Moon' focusses on a single family and a single day. The setting is the tribal areas of Pakistan close to the Afghan border, a region familiar from news bulletins. It was a fascinating insight into the lives of people in this troubled area and the politics of the region, although at this relatively short length it can't offer more than a glimpse. The action centres around three brothers who could each be considered to represent different viewpoints on life. The eldest is ambitious and willing to compromise principle in order to get ahead in life. The middle son is a mild mannered doctor who just wants to live his life as best he can. And the youngest is the rebel and idealist, prepared to risk his life for a cause.

The story follows each brother as he goes about his business on a single, soon to be momentous, day. It also gives us some details about their past and backstory so we can understand the context of their actions. There are two female characters - the wife of one brother, and the girlfriend of another. Their stories are also revealed and they play a key part in the events that unfold. The book paints a picture of a troubled region and a people who suffer at the hands of both the army and the insurgency. This is highlighted beautifully right at the beginning with the three brothers each choosing a different mosque to pray in so that if one of them is attacked, they will not all three perish. This was a very simple and effective way to bring home what it must be like to live somewhere chronically unstable.

The writing style is clean and very economical. There is no wasted time or padding here.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsNot quite satisfying
By Christopher Sullivan on 25 Mar. 2014
Format: Paperback
In the fictionalized version of the city of Mir Ali in Pakistan, which lies close to the border with Afghanistan, three brothers are having breakfast on what is one of the most important festival days in the Muslim calendar, Eid.
One of the brothers Aman Erum, recently returned from studying in America. Sikandar has recently lost his son in an attack on the hospital where he works. His wife Mina who was a lecturer in the department of psychology at the same hospital, has disengaged herself from her previous life and now attends the funerals of strangers in an attempt to `find' her son.
The youngest brother, Hayat, is fighting a long running war to have Mir Ali separated from Pakistani and become part of Afghanistan.
After the brothers have finished breakfast they will part ways and make decisions that may affect each other lives forever.
The novel is set during one morning during the hours of 9am and noon. However, the novel moves from that morning to the past as we find out what lead the three brothers and their families to this point of time and the decisions they feel they have to make.
Though the triumvirate of brothers are initially to be read as the main characters of the novel it becomes apparent as the novel enters its middle section that in fact the two main protagonists are two women; Mina the wife of Sikandar and Samarra who fights alongside Hayat and has a relationship with him and his brother Aman Erum. Mina's pain and anguish at the death of her son, Zalan is so well crafted, so palpable that the reader feels compelled to look away from the page sensing the character Mina, will turn on us the reader for intruding in her suffering.
Samarra is the epitome of the new Pakistan woman.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsAn interesting first novel
By Wiliam H. Peace on 23 Jan. 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is the first novel by Fatima Bhutto, who is the granddaughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, whose sister was Benazir Bhutto. Fatima Bhutto graduated from Columbia University in 2004. She lives in Karachi, and is a freelance writer. Interestingly, her website does not mention this book. Instead, it mentions three other books. Judging by one article on her website, she seems to be a political radical.

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is an interesting novel, relatively brief and quite intense. It is set in the tribal region of northwest Pakistan and involves three brothers who are preparing to celebrate Eid, the Muslim feast at the end of Ramadan. The oldest son has decided to leave his childhood sweetheart and go into business away from his home town of Mir Ali. The middle son has become a doctor in Mir Ali and the youngest has joined his brother's sweetheart as an insurgent. In the novel, Mir Ali is the focal point for the armed struggle between Pakistan's army and local people who crave their own freedom.

Fatima Bhutto does a very good job describing the culture, the issues, the people and the setting. One gets the sense of a long-running, life-and-death struggle in the northwest of Pakistan. It is clear that the author's sentiments are with the insurgents.

I found the novel frustrating in the sense that it lacks focus. There is an insurgent plot to kill a minister, and the story seems to be headed to a climax there, but the novel ends in uncertainty. Was he killed? Who killed him? Or if not, why not? There is some uncertainty as to who the insurgents are. Some are Taliban; some are ordinary people. What is the relationship between them?Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsPolitics in Pakistan

The problem I had with this book is that it presupposed more knowledge than I happen to have, and without doing quite a bit of research I couldn’t work out what was going on. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Amanda Jenkinson
4.0 out of 5 starsEXQUISITE WRITING

I decided to put The Shadow of the Crescent Moon on my reading list after listening to an interview with the author. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Gloria
1.0 out of 5 starsNot impressed

Book was in very good condition but didn't like the story much. It seemed to be rather a slow plodding story but I didn't read many chapters. Read more

Published 21 months ago by L. C. Cooper
5.0 out of 5 starsIt is an excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more ...

This is a deceptively subtle book. The narrative is steady and stoically relayed, yet it manages to pierce right through you. Read more

Published on 15 Nov. 2014 by S.R
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

will be reading this very soon

Published on 1 Oct. 2014 by E. G. LANGFORD
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

wonderful

Published on 13 Sept. 2014 by gizmo
3.0 out of 5 starsSuspenseful but ultimately unsatisfying

I read with breathless anticipation of a terrible ending to this story of family's divided loyalties on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Read more

Published on 18 May 2014 by Harriet Denning
4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting

I had heard about this book so thought I would give it a try. Having just finished it I am left unsure. I did enjoy it but I guess I was expecting more

Published on 12 May 2014 by Bright pink pig
5.0 out of 5 starsCaught between fires

A story set in troubled Mir Ali describes the actions of several individuals caught between fires of insurgency. Read more

Published on 6 Feb. 2014 by Edward B. Crutchley
5.0 out of 5 starsThe finest novel on the impact of conflict, sectarian violence, the...

Reading this exquisitely and subtle novel set in the north-west tribal territory of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, whilst I am on a gender, human rights, humanitarian fact... Read more

Published on 27 Dec. 2013 by margaret owen

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