Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published in: 2017
Genre: Novel; Category: British Novel, Terrorism Novel
Medium: Listened to the Audiobook by Audible India @Audible_ind @audible_in
Rating: ****1/2
This poignant, heartbreaking story of a family shattered by religious discrimination and terrorism is as real as real can be. Kamila Shamsie, the famous British-Pakistani writer of many popular fictions, portrays the hardships and alienation of British Muslims owing to Jihadi movements of a handful of extremists. Gullible men, especially from the lower economic strata of the society and barely out of their teens, are recruited by seasoned extremists of ISIS using emotional blackmail and lure of recognition and affluence, turning theirs’ and their near and dear ones’ lives upside down.
Our current global scenario of intolerance, hatred, fundamentalism, and terror attacks make this story totally relevant today and a MUST READ.
Three Pasha siblings – Isma, Aneeka, and Parvaiz – second generation Britishers of Pakistani origin, have a tough childhood in a predominantly Muslim area in London. Losing both the parents in a gap of one year (father, a Jihadi who fought alongside Afghan rebels and many more, captured and held at Bagram Airfield and died one his way to Guantanamo Bay), the infant twins are taken care of by Isma and the elderly grandmother. Now in the teens, the twins are inseparable but opposite in their mindset. Aneeka, independent, fiery, smart and pretty law student all of 19, is ambitious and hardworking. She would do go to any length to protect her twin whose heartbeat is in synchronization with hers. Parvaiz loves his twin to no end but is meek in comparison; he dreams of a career in sound engineering and is emotionally less stable. Now that the twins are grown up and on their own, Isma is ready to accept an offer by her US based mentor in Amherst, Massachusetts, to research and coauthor a paper.
Isma’s immigration process at Heathrow has been a harrowing experience given her father’s past but she takes it in her stride. A faithful Muslim with a head-veil, she meets the young, dashing Eamonn Lone at a coffee house she frequents. She recognizes him as he is the spitting image of his father Karamat Lone, Home Secretary of United Kingdom – the only Muslim who has reached the pinnacle of political hierarchy. Isma Pasha and Eamonn Lone bond over coffee and she tells him about her, Aneeka, and her father. She does develop feelings for the young man. However, one look at her pretty young sister’s photograph, and Eamonn knows whom he wants to be with.
Unknown to Aneeka and Isma, following his father’s footsteps, Parvaiz fleds to Syria along with his recruiter to join ISIS. He is drawn into the ‘Chakravyuh,’ of terrorism via emotional blackmail (invoking his dead father and the need to revenge his ‘wrongdoers’). In spite of a comfortable job, accommodation, and money of his own, Parvaiz soon realizes that he is at a deadend with no way to turn back. He hates beheading and bloodshed and craves for the freedom of his country and the company of his twin. When Aneeka gets the wind of it, she plans to get him out of Syria at the earliest.
Eamonn is back in London to meet Aneeka and falls head over heels in love with her. Aneeka too enjoys being with him but wants their affair veiled in a cloak of secrecy. They meet at Eamonn’s place but on Aneeka’s terms. Other than sex and companionship, Aneeka has one more agenda in being with Eamonn. She wants to use Eamonn’s father’s good office to get her wayward brother back from Syria. Though enraged, Eamonn agrees. Encouraged by Aneeka, Parvaiz makes an attempt to flee to Istanbul to take refuge in the British High Commission there. However, fate has other things in store for him.
Once Karamat Lone gets to know about his son’s sexual escapade with the daughter of an extremist, all hell breaks loose. Lives of Pashas and Lones – that of Isma, Aneeka, Eamonn, Karamat, his British wife Terry – are now entangled in a web named Parvaiz Pasha.
One can’t hate any character in this book as everyone has a reason for doing what he/she is doing. Get into their shoes, and probably you would behave in a similar fashion. One can’t hate even Karamat Lone, the ruthless politician with strong political ideologies. He has worked hard to reach where he is and wouldn’t want to throw it all away for the whim of his ‘weak,’ (so he thought) son.
Storytelling is fast paced and intense. The first half may be a bit slow, but the hair-raising latter half compensates. And, the final moments gave me goosebumps; I had to listen to the last bit once again to ensure that I heard it right.
I miss a strong character like Isma in the second half of the book. She disappears somewhere halfway through the book except for a compelling scene with Karamat Lone (the man who refused to let her know about her dead father); instead, the author concentrates more on Aneeka’s mad love for her brother and Eamonn’s ‘Heer-Ranja-type love’ for his ladylove whom he now calls his fiancée.
This book is a forewarning to all those inexperienced youngsters who get drawn into terrorist organizations. Their foolish bravado can put not only the life of self and millions of innocent citizens into peril but also that of their own family members.
Sudhas_Musings 