An Engaging Read from Modern Pakistan
- Book: Broken Verses
- Location: Pakistan
- Author: Kamila Shamsie
I really enjoyed the humor and poetic use of language in this book. The main character – a single, youngish woman in Pakistan – was very engaging, easy to relate to, and the sort of person I would like to be friends with. She’s searching for clues about the disappearance of her mother, a former women’s right activist, and her mother’s longtime lover, a subversive poet, while trying to find her own purpose in life. The story veered a bit off track in the last 25 per cent of the book, – but overall it had a great pace and feel. I also enjoyed the fact that the POV character was a strong, independent, modern woman who does her own thing. I spent several years living in the Middle East and South Asia – and the main character reminded me of many of the spunky women friends I met there. It’s great to see more books that challenge the submissive, veiled stereotype of Muslim women that can be all too common in the West.