|
Loading... Our Lady of Alice Bhattiby Mohammed Hanif
None. The author keeps his tongue planted firmly in cheek. This book achieves and maintains a biting wit while exposing the modest hopes and blind cynicism of its characters. Not uplifting but not exactly depressing either. The witty tone keeps the readers nicely struggling for a firm foothold. It is a scathing portrayal of sorts, more a satire with a very straight face. (  ) ming.l | Mar 31, 2013 |  What a good book! Social satire, yes, and there is quite of bit humor in here, but its often an incredulous chuckle and a "god, do people really *do* those things?" The world in which junior nurse Alice Bhatti lives is dirty, violent, and bleak. The system is not one that treats women or poor people or people of lower castes (caste systems still exist?? yes they do) well. Violence, whether physical or sexual, is a tool used freely and Alice Bhatti is an exceptional woman in that she doesn't quietly put up with it. Whether its a rich man trying to sexually assault her, or a crazed lover trying to get her attention in all the wrong ways, Alice Bhatti stands up for herself (albeit not always with great results). A complicated story, with off the wall characters and tragicomedy to spare. Wonderful writing, a biting look at the plight of women and other oppressed groups in modern Pakistan. (  ) eenerd | Jan 28, 2013 | The latest novel by Mohammed Hanif, author of the Booker Prize longlisted novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes, is set in contemporary Karachi, Pakistan in the Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments, a public hospital formerly established by the Catholic Church and led by a Catholic chief medical officer but staffed by Muslim doctors and nurses. Alice Bhatti is a newly hired nurse who trained at Sacred Heart, but was forced to leave due to her outspoken Christian beliefs and a trumped up conviction of attempted murder. She is single, attractive and well endowed, which makes her the source of unwanted attention from male patients and visitors to Sacred Heart. She is friends with Noor, a teenage street urchin who has managed to obtain a jack of all trades position at Sacred Heart while caring for his mother, who is dying from three cancers. Noor is also friends with Teddy Butt, a bodybuilder with a violent temper who works with but is not a member of the G Squad, a shadowy arm of the Pakistani police which captures, tortures and kills insurgents that terrorize the civilian population. Teddy falls in love with Alice, who suddenly agrees to marry him after rejecting his initial advances. Their flawed relationship, Teddy's troubled activities with the G Squad and Alice's apparent ability to bring the dead and dying to life form the major subjects of this novel. Unfortunately, I found [Our Lady of Alice Bhatti] to be quite implausible, as its stories about medical practice and the daily workings of a large public hospital strained credulity, and its characters were dull and inscrutable. The novel consisted of a series of connected events rather than a cohesive story, and by the end I had completely lost interest in what happened to Alice, Teddy and Noor. ( ) kidzdoc | Jan 7, 2013 | After spending over a year in a women's prison on some jacked up manslaughter charges, Alice Bhatti secures a job as a junior nurse in a Catholic hospital in the predominantly Muslim city of Karachi. There, she fights to salvage some amount of pride as she fends off roaming hands and gun-toting suitors. In the midst of this chaos, she manages to save a few lives. But is she performing miracles? Hanif's narrative has some truly beautiful moments, but I was left wondering: What's the point? There wasn't really a story-line...it was just a series of events. The scenery and characters supported the novel, but they lacked plot. This book was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust book prize, and I understand why - it displays the woes of practicing medicine in a religiously-charged, seedy environment. I certainly have a better appreciation, now, for medical practitioners in neighborhoods like this. I was moved by the characters, but not enthralled by the story. ( )2  The_Hibernator | Dec 1, 2012 | asianamlitfans | Aug 18, 2012 | no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
| Haiku summary |
|
No descriptions found.
The patients of the Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments are looking for a miracle, and Alice Bhatti is looking for a job. Alice is a candidate for the position of junior nurse, grade 4. It is only a few weeks since her release from Borstal. She has returned to her childhood home in the French Colony, where her father, recently retired from his position as chief janitor, continues as part-time healer, and full-time headache for the local church. It seems she has inherited some of his gift. With guidance from the working nurse's manual, and some tricks she picked up in prison, Alice brings succour to the thousands of patients littering the hospital's corridors and concrete courtyard. In the process she attracts the attention of a lovesick patient, Teddy Bunt, apprentice to the nefarious 'Gentleman Squad' of the Karachi police. They fall in love; Teddy with sudden violence, Alice with cautious optimism. Their love is unexpected, but the consequences are not. Alice soon finds that her new life is built on foundations as unstable as those of her home. A Catholic snubbed by other Catholics, who are in turn hated by everyone around them, she is also put at risk by her husband, who does two things that no member of the Gentlemen Squad has ever done, fall in love with a working girl, and allow a potentially dangerous suspect to get away. Can Teddy and Alice ever live in peace? Can two people make a life together without destroying the very thing that united them? It seems unlikely, but then Alice Bhatti is no ordinary nurse.… (more)
Quick Links |
Google Books — Loading... (3.56)| 0.5 | |
| 1 | |
| 1.5 | |
| 2 |  2 |
| 2.5 | 1 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 3.5 | 6 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 4.5 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 |
Become a LibraryThing Author.
Wikipedia in English
