And how is one to extract Karachi from oneself? The city gathers wanderers and dreamers into its bosom, contradictory, impenetrable, endlessly jostling its subjects to make room for new ones. And in this city of subterranean terrors and surprising bouts of goodness, a brother and a sister grow into their own. Seema and Hafiz, born into a Basti, long to make something of themselves. But when Seema wins a scholarship to attend university, she finds that social barriers are not easily defied, and when Hafiz finds himself smitten by a coworker's wife, he learns of the mutability of love and friendship. Meanwhile, Claire, an American anthropologist, discovers that while her professional training will only take her so far in her quest to unravel Karachi, living in the Basti is an education in itself.Anis Shivani's debut novel is an ambitious work that aches with intimacy even as it encompasses an entire generation into its bold, panoramic vision. Karachi Raj is the sort of book that will shape our understanding of urban Pakistan for years to come.
About the Author
Anis Shivani's books include Anatolia and Other Stories and The Fifth Lash and Other Stories, both longlisted for the Frank O'Connor award. He has also written My Tranquil War and Other Poems and Soraya: Sonnets. Karachi Raj is his first novel. He has received a Pushcart Prize and his work appears in many major newspapers and magazines. His fiction, poetry, and essays appear in leading journals like Yale Review, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, Boston Review, The Threepenny Review, Antioch Review, Meanjin, The London Magazine, The Times Literary Supplement, The Cambridge Quarterly and elsewhere. He is currently writing a new novel, Abruzzi, 1936, and a book of criticism on new interpretations of realism in the contemporary American novel. He was educated at Harvard College, and lives in Houston, Texas. |
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