A dysfunctional family mirrors a dysfunctional nation in Sethis unfocuseddebut. The novel ends where it begins with Zaki Shirazi arriving in LahorePakistan for ... » 

A dysfunctional family mirrors a dysfunctional nation in Sethis unfocuseddebut. The novel ends where it begins with Zaki Shirazi arriving in LahorePakistan for the wedding of his cousin Samar Api some years after 911. Now acollege student in Massachusetts Zaki grew up with Samar who was his closestchildhood companion. They lived in his grandmothers house in Lahore. Daadi aforceful old woman agreed with her younger sister Chhoti Samars mother thatthe little girl was better off in the city than in the repressive conservativevillage of Chhotis oldfashioned husband. As for Zaki I had been given toDaadi as compensation for the death of her son he tells us. His father aPakistani air force pilot died in a flying accident before his birth and hismother is a devoted journalist but a negligent parent. We seem to be headed fora comingofage story about Zaki or perhaps Samar but their narratives havemany gaps and a big chunk of the novel concerns Zakis mother who also liveson sufferance in Daadis house. Zakia her husband wanted the boy named afterher is the most interesting character. A progressive cuttingedge reporterfocusing on the subjugation of women the novels halfburied theme shes asupporter of Benazir Bhutto but becomes disillusioned when Bhutto achievespower. Sethis unenlightening references to the volatile world of Pakistanspolitics hardly more sophisticated than today democracy tomorrow martiallaw are jarringly juxtaposed with the soapopera story of a teenageconfidante who steals Samars boyfriend. Zaki performs acts of vandalism to gethis mothers attention Samar is punished for her alleged loose living andreturned to her fathers feudal homeland. But Sethi muffles the drama inherentin his characters troubled lives Samars exile is reported after the factand when Zaki is involved in the school fight of his life the circumstancesare as murky as the authors prose. Commendably ambitious but this youngPakistani author has bitten off more than he can chew. Kirkus Reviews «