Afrah Jamal

Published in Daily Times (Pakistan) / 24 June 2014 Published under the title: Domestic Bliss, Displacement & Desi Wives Thank you Indireads & Rizwan Tufail for the review copy Happily ever after’s have not lost their appeal. But Shewta Kumar takes fairy-tale endings, with the land far away as a launch pad, and enlists a newly-wed Mythili busy trading in her journalistic credentials for ‘desperate’ housewife’ as a starter. This is Shweta’s third novel and her first e-book / novella. She is an Indian writer / travel columnist who has worked as a CNN-IBN correspondent, and authored two bestsellers - ‘Between the Headlines: The Travails of a TV Reporter’ & ’Coming up on the Show: The Travails of a News Trainee’. Here she sets out to sketch Mythili’s new life among fellow expats using Manila as a backdrop where time weighs heavily and the walls start closing in. Having left her crime reporting days as ‘chief-ferreting-out-information-officer’ behind, the characters t...

First Published by Daily Times (Pakistan) / 07 Oct 2013 This is an Advanced Review Zara Hamilton returns to Qila, her ancestral home, to a dying aunt, a troubling secret and a cradle full of memories. Her Pakistani origins, Indian roots and British background add spice to a casual road trip. Her quest will be inscribed against a stormy backdrop darkened by communal rites, tired superstitions and Hindu-Muslim divides. It casts the requisite pall on princely states, and their gracious guardians, and turns the few memorable chapters from her life into a lovely epic. Shahrukh Husain lifts the barriers separating two worlds, unearthing crevices filled with centuries of emotional debris and calcified remains of old glories. Her new novel traces their luxurious outlines with grim determination as it staggers into a vault of memories and retrieves a closet full of worn-out skeletons in search of clarity. Married to an Englishman, the protagonist’s dual identity and rich heritage come ...

BOOK REVIEW: The Redeemers Published by Daily Times (Pakistan) / 15 Sep 2013 Author: Suresh Taneja Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Thank you Suresh T. for the review copy ‘The Redeemers’ can easily be in the fantasy / fiction aisle because of its ludicrous premise. It begins with India at the top of the superpower pyramid for starters’ and its citizens seen breezing through U.S. immigration sans visa. It then goes on to cast four conscientious youngsters responsible for its remarkable transition as narrators who step in to the ring and relive the heady years leading up to the year 2030. The glittering future demands an enormous suspension of disbelief, present day India however with all the spectacular excesses will make the South Asian community feel right at home. Suresh Taneja’s blue print for a new domestic world order can ostensibly be mapped on both sides of the border and not just because of unavoidable similarities in terrain. The author is a Chartered Accountant with...

First Published in Daily Times / (Pakistan) / 1 June 2013 Reproduced in The Kashmir Moniter Fans who have kept up with Robert Langdon, our favorite symbologist/iconologist on quests that take him to the Vatican, Paris or Washington, will willingly join the professor jogging through the picturesque streets of Florence. Even when he claims to have a sad case of amnesia, no way of telling the time (his signature time piece lost), and a wily assassin on his tail, he is a force of nature. It is a part he was born to play. And in Dan Brown’s murky universe, it is one he reprises at the first sign of an anagram. The author uses the sorry state of mankind as a launch pad to project his ominous design, decrypt a Renaissance painting and set a controversial debate in motion. His novel provides delicious historical context as it plumbs the depths of Dante’s tortured soul and his savage interpretation of hell, helpfully illustrated by Botticelli ( and available for viewing on iPad’s Da...

Published in Daily Times (Pakistan) / 23 Feb 2013 Author: Uzma Aslam Khan Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Uzma Aslam Khan is the author of critically acclaimed, award winning books like Trespassing and Geometry of God . Her new novel, ' Thinner than Skin' goes off the beaten track for inspiration. A realm built upon incomprehensible layers of intrigue, violence, fairytales and legends provides the stage. People foraging for a lifeline become the props. And the inevitable soundtrack of radicalism now coursing through every fibre sets Pakistan’s modern heart to an ancient beat. It is these paradoxes that bring its US-based protagonist, Nadir, along with a German-Pakistani girl, Farhana, on a trek from northern California to the Kaghan Valley. Wesley — the American in the background — is drawn to the mating glacier ritual, which is an actual thing. And their trusty ally/guide Irfan charts the course to their path of self-discovery past majestic mountains and ice encrusted l...

Published in Daily Times / Sat 9 Feb 2013 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Author: Shazaf Fatima Haider Thanks to Liberty Books for the (temp) review copy “ Gwendolen : I am engaged to Mr. Worthing, mamma. Lady Bracknell : Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself . . .” - The Importance of being Earnest ( Oscar Wilde) Characters chasing ‘ happily ever after’s ’ are often pulled aside by enterprising elders who try to flag all but the most traditional road to the altar. A fiendishly funny narrative pounces on the retreating figure of Cupid and explores his cultural relevance in the sport they call match-making. The saga of the Bandian clan comes with a perpetually scandalized, formidable ...

Thanks to Ayesha Zee Khan for the Review Copy Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 08, 2012 Also appeared in Google Books Section Reviewed by : Afrah Jamal Compiled by : Ayesha Zee Khan After the Rain is a compilation of short stories that pans over the SAARC region striving to bring a cross section of voices suited for its literary experiment into the fold. The collection houses five writers and ten entries. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not coincidental since these offerings rely on personalised snapshots to project their exotic vision onto a fresh new canvas. Budding authors and established names come together from Nepal, Maldives and Pakistan to showcase their range and the region’s rustic charm. This impromptu gathering of ‘the chosen ones’ boasts of names like Ibrahim Waheed ‘Ogaru’, the ‘writer-artist’ from the Maldives; Pushpa R Acharya from Nepal; Arbab Daud and Kiran Bashir Ahmad from Pakistan. Ayesha Zee Khan , the winner of the SAAR...

Published in Daily Times / 20 Oct 2012 Author: J.K Rowling Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Published under the Title : What Happens in Pagford Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Someone drops dead in a golf club. A malicious rumour mill kicks into action. A silent war brews somewhere in the Council. And because this is not a whodunit doling out cocktails of conspiracy at the door, there will be no big reveal at the end. J.K. Rowling’s latest book — ‘The Casual Vacancy’, uses the demise of one Barry Fairbrother to pry into the soul of a quaint looking town called Pagford. The battling citizens loom in view, caught in a stormy sea of addiction, abject poverty, class divide, domestic abuse, molestation, moral deviance, apathy and social injustice. Fans still under the spell woven by heroic wizards and witches might be ill prepared for the culture shock that awaits them beyond the gates. The reigning queen of fantasy returns to the world of fiction tilling an arid field f...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times / Saturday, September 17, 2011 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Author: Tahmima Anam They call it a debacle for a reason. Once the victory lap is over — the drumbeats of war lie silenced, the voices of protest are stifled — new questions arise. Can a landscape of fear be used to stage a new production of hope? The sequel to A Golden Age is set in the immediate aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The map of the subcontinent has been hastily rearranged — a new country has staked its claim on the spot where once stood East Pakistan. Thirteen years on there are no thanksgiving celebrations. Tahmima Anam takes a brooding look at the horrors of war and the price of peace through the eyes of Maya and Sohail — siblings who played their part in carving out a fresh national identity. One is a crusading doctor newly returned home and the other, a former warrior, has replaced arms with the Book. The story is centred on...

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, May 14, 2011 Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal Author: Shehryar Fazli “Cabarets, conspiracies and a couple of crazies.” It is the early 1970s and Pakistan is in transition. The air crackles with energy; the land sizzles with intrigue. The significance of this time will not be lost upon readers. Islamists were still searching for a foothold; democracy beckoned; and Pakistan was about to lose its East Wing. Anyone casually trawling through the streets of Karachi now will find little trace of its once vibrant nightlife. Back then it was not a ‘safe haven’ — just a haven. Shehryar Fazli’s generation may have missed the excitement but his protagonist will return to his native country — and land atop a pit of vipers. It will be a fraught homecoming. The author thinks the nation has yet to get over what happened in December 1971. He feels connected to this juncture in time as a moment when Pakistan could have gone a different way — and that they let th...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Author : Shilpi Somaya Gowda Reviewed By : Afrah Jamal Published in Daily Times / Saturday, January 29, 2011 Published under the title : Family Matters Reprinted in The News Today Posted in SouthAsianMediaNet Quoted in Shilpi Somaya Gowdas Website Reposted on Shilpi Somaya Gowda's Facebook “East is East & West is West” and strange things happen when the twain set out to meet. Secret Daughter mixes compelling drama with daring social commentary to create a powerful narrative that speaks a universal language. First time author Shilpi Gowda’s summer job volunteering at an Indian orphanage provided the inspiration for this fictional tale. This is a story of origins — alternating between themes of abandonment, alienation, female infanticide and cultural identity . This ambitious venture juggles multiple storylines with dexterity in a well-choreographed performance with a plot that takes 21 years to develop . It go...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Reviewed by Afrah Jamal Author: Maha Khan Phillips Published in Daily Times / Saturday, December 25, 2010 / Under the Title: Couture served with a side of scandal Attend a decadent party in the city, document a rural tragedy and dupe a bunch of “angrez” — it is all in a day’s work for the characters created by Maha Khan Phillips. Her debut novel features Pakistan dressed up in couture and served with a side of scandal. This is fiction based on (rarely acknowledged) facts that alternates between rural and urban settings — merrily creating waves in one and unabashedly finding dirt in the other. Using such a varied palette enables her to draw on a wide range of complex themes that are useful in expanding the stage, which looks like a catwalk in the beginning. The writer takes present day Pakistan — a hub of violence and an increasingly misunderstood region — and draws a composite that will jolt, repel, confound and overwhelm. She ha...

First Published in Daily Times - Saturday, September 18, 2010 Published under the title: Playing for high stakes Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal All the books in the Southern Vampire Mystery series have the word ‘dead’ in the title, a female lead with moxie as the protagonist, a mystery at the core and the un-dead community as its star attractions. The media is saturated with vampires these days but instead of dying from overexposure, this proves that they are stronger than ever. Charlaine Harris adds another dimension to an old tale, tweaking the mythology to imagine a world where vampires have risen again. This time they have a stake in society instead of the other way around and no longer need to skulk around in the shadows or hunt humans for that matter. Freshly recognised, at least in the US, out of the coffin, into the open, teetotaller vamps owe their new found freedom to the Japanese whose alternative nourishment plan involves synthetic drinks. These un-dead run true to t...

He has penned numerous bestsellers, done a stint as an M.P. (Member of Parliament), followed by a stint in prison, stopped by the House of Lords, and been in and out of politics. Somewhere along the way he also made ‘life peer’. He is Jeffrey Archer –successful British author and failed politician, who has a knack for turning his fortunes around. His lordship has been front page news for years. He is no stranger to celebrity or infamy and is someone who seems to juggle these roles (as author, politician and jailbird) better than most. Archers first book – ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less’, written after his close encounter with near-bankruptcy was an instant bestseller. In later life, his courtroom ordeal became a stage play (Archer dabbles in playwriting) titled ‘The Accused’ and two years in prison ended up as a three part volume aptly named ‘A Prison Diary’ - Hell (Part 1), Purgatory (Part II) & Heaven (Part III). Another well known work - ‘Kane and Abel’ has been recently...

Thanks to Liberty Books for the review copy Published in Daily Times / Saturday, July 03, 2010 Author: Yann Martel According to a website, the Middle East, race relations, gun control, origins of man and religion are among the top 10 things that can never be discussed online “without serious drama following shortly thereafter”. “The systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborator,” otherwise known as the Holocaust, is number four on this list. Their reasoning is simple: whichever side you are on, this one topic is a guaranteed firestarter. Yann Martel is not just talking about the fourth item on the list but is also seeking a new venue altogether to stage his ‘representation’ of that event. To know how he intends to take on such a delicate subject and why it took him eight years to write another book, one must meet Henry. Henry L’Hote, the main character of this book, is an author...

Published in Daily Times / Saturday, June 26, 2010 Published under the Title: A Tale of Two Carries Reviewed by: Afrah Jamal As a 30 something single ‘girl’ living in New York City, Carrie Bradshaw has arrived . A strong, independent female who goes through several suitors, stands by her (3) loyal friends, pursues and gets pursued by one very elusive Mr. Big , Carrie cheerfully models Versace, Chanel & relationships and turns her (universally unacknowledged) insights into a successful news column. That Carrie, we know well. She is a fictional character living the dream . As a 17 year old high school student from Castlebury High still fantasizing about making it big!, she ruefully admits to having nothing figured out and secretly entertains hopes of writing a book that would change the world . The Carrie from the diaries is not yet fluent in ‘ Manolo Blahnik ’, though the fashionista in her can be seen trying to break free. ‘ If it’s deliberate, its fashion ’ she de...