Scan barcode
greeniezona's review
5.0
I bought this book last year, early in my translated fiction kick, and I think it's easily one of the best books I found as a part of that interest.
It is also a difficult and challenging book to read. Zakir wanders between the events of his present day, reminiscing about the past, and then, as the book goes on, into dreams and visions, retellings of myths and history that blend into each other so seamlessly that you're not sure you've departed from the here and now until suddenly you're in a town where most of the inhabitants have been beheaded -- but they are still up and walking around and talking.
Adding to this complexity is that while most of the book is narrated by Zakir, not all of it is, and in conversation there are only the quotes, lacking the signifiers of who is speaking them, then the cultural/language difficulties of understanding nicknames and other naming conventions. There is a very helpful glossary, though, which I wish I'd discovered earlier in the book.
Despite these difficulties, it is the later parts of the novel, when the effects of war -- the uncertainties and suspense and unknowingness of war -- cause Zakir to stray more often and deeper into stories, myth, and metaphor, that I really fell in love with the book. And it makes a powerful argument for the humanities -- there are forces that, when you're living them, espeically, cannot be understood by science or journalism alone.
An amazing book.
It is also a difficult and challenging book to read. Zakir wanders between the events of his present day, reminiscing about the past, and then, as the book goes on, into dreams and visions, retellings of myths and history that blend into each other so seamlessly that you're not sure you've departed from the here and now until suddenly you're in a town where most of the inhabitants have been beheaded -- but they are still up and walking around and talking.
Adding to this complexity is that while most of the book is narrated by Zakir, not all of it is, and in conversation there are only the quotes, lacking the signifiers of who is speaking them, then the cultural/language difficulties of understanding nicknames and other naming conventions. There is a very helpful glossary, though, which I wish I'd discovered earlier in the book.
Despite these difficulties, it is the later parts of the novel, when the effects of war -- the uncertainties and suspense and unknowingness of war -- cause Zakir to stray more often and deeper into stories, myth, and metaphor, that I really fell in love with the book. And it makes a powerful argument for the humanities -- there are forces that, when you're living them, espeically, cannot be understood by science or journalism alone.
An amazing book.
tanvi_214's review
challenging
informative
reflective
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Death of parent
jeffreyp's review
3.0
I suspect I will get more out of this after a second reading, but the narrative style made it a very difficult read for me. I kept feeling like I do when I try to read Ulysses...just kind of lost, and not in a good way (lost in a good way would be something like Dhalgren). I'll pick it up again someday and try once more, but most of it was lost on me I think.
The stuff that did resonate had to do with the build-up to large-scale conflict, that feeling of being unmoored, which Husain (and his translators) capture beautifully. The shift that you can feel happening, but can't do much about, even though you *have* to do something about it...it reminded me of the best parts of Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins.
The stuff that did resonate had to do with the build-up to large-scale conflict, that feeling of being unmoored, which Husain (and his translators) capture beautifully. The shift that you can feel happening, but can't do much about, even though you *have* to do something about it...it reminded me of the best parts of Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins.
barbarabarbara's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
shoaibmnagi's review
5.0
A dreamlike meditation on the birth and evolution of a nation explored through the eyes of someone physically and spiritually invested in it. Zakir, whose voice gives life to the novel, personifies the struggles of tens of thousands who crossed into the infant nation in hope of a dignified life.
The mental trauma of the partition, the dilution of sacrifice in the eyes of many when the nation fractured in two and the subsequent sociopolitical uncertainties that haunted the psyche of millions permeates Hussain's prose throughout the novel, prose that is fairly apolitical and yet captures the 'state of the nation'.
'Basti' is a reflection on love, loss, displacement and the piecemeal alienation of a man's existence from the land he calls his own. It is indeed the 'Great Pakistani Novel' and a must-read for specially young Pakistanis who are aloof from the tribulations of the two generations that came before them.
The mental trauma of the partition, the dilution of sacrifice in the eyes of many when the nation fractured in two and the subsequent sociopolitical uncertainties that haunted the psyche of millions permeates Hussain's prose throughout the novel, prose that is fairly apolitical and yet captures the 'state of the nation'.
'Basti' is a reflection on love, loss, displacement and the piecemeal alienation of a man's existence from the land he calls his own. It is indeed the 'Great Pakistani Novel' and a must-read for specially young Pakistanis who are aloof from the tribulations of the two generations that came before them.
harryr's review
4.0
This is a Pakistani novel from 1979, set during Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan, but with lots of flashbacks — to a pre-Partition life in India, to Partition and the migration to Pakistan — and dreams going further back still, to India’s First War of Independence.
The earliest scenes of pre-Partition India are seen, through a child’s eyes, as idyllically multicultural, which makes Partition a sort of fall from grace. Partially that’s just the contrast between the innocence of the child and the cynicism of the adult; but there is a sense reading the book of a great deal of political and ideological energy being expended and great changes being achieved, and none of it making life appreciably better.
Politics aside, it’s just a very well-written novel (hat-tip to Frances W. Pritchett for the translation). As well as the flashbacks, parts of it are in the form of letters, diary entries and dreams. The result is atmospheric and impressionistic, and occasionally confusing, especially for those of us who don’t have the cultural context. But it has a very strong sense of place, a great eye for detail, well-drawn characters and natural-sounding dialogue.
This is the second book from Pakistan I’ve read for the Read The World challenge; I felt I ought to be able to do better than the last one ([b:Kartography|290384|Kartography|Kamila Shamsie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328874818s/290384.jpg|869828] by Kamila Shamsie), which was fine but nothing special. Basti is a definite improvement.
The earliest scenes of pre-Partition India are seen, through a child’s eyes, as idyllically multicultural, which makes Partition a sort of fall from grace. Partially that’s just the contrast between the innocence of the child and the cynicism of the adult; but there is a sense reading the book of a great deal of political and ideological energy being expended and great changes being achieved, and none of it making life appreciably better.
Politics aside, it’s just a very well-written novel (hat-tip to Frances W. Pritchett for the translation). As well as the flashbacks, parts of it are in the form of letters, diary entries and dreams. The result is atmospheric and impressionistic, and occasionally confusing, especially for those of us who don’t have the cultural context. But it has a very strong sense of place, a great eye for detail, well-drawn characters and natural-sounding dialogue.
This is the second book from Pakistan I’ve read for the Read The World challenge; I felt I ought to be able to do better than the last one ([b:Kartography|290384|Kartography|Kamila Shamsie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328874818s/290384.jpg|869828] by Kamila Shamsie), which was fine but nothing special. Basti is a definite improvement.
More...