greyemk's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This is one of those books that is mostly a love letter to a city and the human characters are incidental. Luckily, Shamsie is talented enough that not just our leads but our supporting characters and their supporting characters all feel real and lived-in. Like real people behaving like people do.
Raheen loves Karim. Always has and always will. This book is about how to take the parts of ourselves we can’t control, our histories and our childhoods, and make them make sense. Have them shape us into the people we want to be and not drag us into the worst parts of the past.
When we love something, a person or a city, we believe we know it better than anyone. But love can be naive or it can be complicated. It’s easy to love when we hide the unsavory bits, the pieces that make us uncomfortable, the hurt and pain. What means more is to see things as they are and love anyways.
I love these characters and this world. This was the first book I’ve read in a very long time where I wasn’t counting down to the end, thinking about what to read next (other than more by this author). I was immersed. The prose hit the sweet spot between poetic and straightforward, with its moments of beauty mixed with its readability.
This was just a really good book! I feel like I have more to say but I’ll leave this review at that so I don’t ramble incoherently for ages.
Raheen loves Karim. Always has and always will. This book is about how to take the parts of ourselves we can’t control, our histories and our childhoods, and make them make sense. Have them shape us into the people we want to be and not drag us into the worst parts of the past.
When we love something, a person or a city, we believe we know it better than anyone. But love can be naive or it can be complicated. It’s easy to love when we hide the unsavory bits, the pieces that make us uncomfortable, the hurt and pain. What means more is to see things as they are and love anyways.
I love these characters and this world. This was the first book I’ve read in a very long time where I wasn’t counting down to the end, thinking about what to read next (other than more by this author). I was immersed. The prose hit the sweet spot between poetic and straightforward, with its moments of beauty mixed with its readability.
This was just a really good book! I feel like I have more to say but I’ll leave this review at that so I don’t ramble incoherently for ages.
songmingi's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Kartography tells the tale of Karachi itself and the people that give the city life. Kartography covers so many important and complex themes, it speaks of a Pakistan I never got to experience but one I still recognise. It puts forward questions about love, identity, classicism and how we define the places we call home.
I enjoyed the writing style; it wasn't simplistic but wasn't too prose-heavy either. However, I didn't always enjoy the pacing, sometimes the flashbacks were too abrupt and spaced out a lot oddly leaving me a small bit confused at times. This book also delivers drama in a way only a desi person could write.
In regards to the character writing, I'm conflicted, the characters have their complexities, and they are in a way two dimensional or a mishmash of tropes. However I think they are unequally developed I could never wrap my mind around Karim, other than his obsession with maps and yearning for a connection who was he? While Raheen annoyed me, it was the point, she was someone self-centred and stubborn and had to learn the errors of her ways.
Despite its flaws I think Kartography is a beautiful exploration of the history of Karachi and captures its magic in a way I have never seen before.
I enjoyed the writing style; it wasn't simplistic but wasn't too prose-heavy either. However, I didn't always enjoy the pacing, sometimes the flashbacks were too abrupt and spaced out a lot oddly leaving me a small bit confused at times. This book also delivers drama in a way only a desi person could write.
In regards to the character writing, I'm conflicted, the characters have their complexities, and they are in a way two dimensional or a mishmash of tropes. However I think they are unequally developed I could never wrap my mind around Karim, other than his obsession with maps and yearning for a connection who was he? While Raheen annoyed me, it was the point, she was someone self-centred and stubborn and had to learn the errors of her ways.
Despite its flaws I think Kartography is a beautiful exploration of the history of Karachi and captures its magic in a way I have never seen before.
choirqueer's review against another edition
4.0
I did really like this book, but it was difficult to read, and not for the reasons I expected. I loved the first few chapters and was very excited to see how the story would unfold, but after that it felt like the narrative was rather uneven in terms of how compelling I found it. I was really looking forward to a story that focused on the friendship between the two main characters, and I felt like I didn't really get the story that I was excited about when the book began. The different love stories just seemed to take over the plot in ways that didn't hold my interest. Nonetheless, I'm glad I read it and would certainly give other work by this author a try. I felt like there were a lot of good things in this book that I just would really have liked to see more of in the overall story.
ridaakhtar_'s review against another edition
1.0
God. Someone. Please. Cleanse. The. Pakistani Fiction Shelves. Everywhere.
junkets's review against another edition
3.0
Very different from most things I read, the cultural and historical parts of the book were fascinating to me. However, the awkward love story of the unlikable main couple just couldn't hold my interest.
jackieeh's review against another edition
3.0
I could have lived without pages and pages of argument, but I could understand why they were included. Such beautiful descriptions of friendship. Such beautiful descriptions of place.
zainub_reads's review against another edition
4.0
🌟🌟🌟✨ 3.5-4
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This is a bit of a difficult book to write a simple review about so I’ll just mention the likes and not so liked bits ->
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What I liked:
The prose is beautiful.
The writing is not very simple as is usually and a few times I had to reach for the dictionary to reconfirm the meaning of a few words.
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The storyline itself is simple but woven around over decades and has quite a few flashbacks to get a better understanding of the present.
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The City of Karachi is a character throughout the book. The omnipresent City plays a pivotal role in the development of events in the lives of people long after they have left it’s shores.
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The Not so Liked ->
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The language of the book is the voice of the author; beautiful and intricate but I don’t believe a bunch of 13-14 years old can be that articulate (at the beginning of the book i.e.,).
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The characters are sometimes too complicated for their own good. How and why must so many people know the truth and keep it hidden away especially when they believe in the goodness of the person behind it all?
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The ending is a cliffhanger & left me a bit disappointed & confused so yeah off course I did not appreciate that ☺️
meowlvika's review against another edition
2.0
1 star for Raheen's character development. 1 star for my teacher's effort to discuss the Muhajir issue.
It was so sappy, so Bollywood, and so sappy... Forgive me if I sound all over the place. I have been sleep deprived while struggling to finish it.
If it weren't in the syllabus, I would have honestly dropped it. That being said, I liked the fact that Shamsie picked up the ethnic issue in Karachi, I hate it however that it was just one of those decorative themes. I also hated how obviously "filmy" it was.... Like... Uh... Why did my teachers even think it was a good idea for a paper dealing with trauma
It was so sappy, so Bollywood, and so sappy... Forgive me if I sound all over the place. I have been sleep deprived while struggling to finish it.
If it weren't in the syllabus, I would have honestly dropped it. That being said, I liked the fact that Shamsie picked up the ethnic issue in Karachi, I hate it however that it was just one of those decorative themes. I also hated how obviously "filmy" it was.... Like... Uh... Why did my teachers even think it was a good idea for a paper dealing with trauma
nabihakhan's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stormwitch66's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0