A Deconstructed Heart
by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed 
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Description
Mirza is a middle-aged Indian college professor whose wife has left him. He moves out of his house into a tent in his back garden, where he sets up an outdoor classroom and serves tea to his kind but bewildered neighbors. He is visited by the irritable spirit of his long-dead teacher, Khan Sahib, who is befuddled by the dysfunctions of modern life.In the north of England, Mirza's niece, Amal, is finishing up her last year of college before she is expected to join her parents in their new show more home in India. Asked by her father to talk her uncle back into his senses, she moves into Mirza's house, and they soon are connected by their shared loneliness. She meets Rehan, Mirza's student, and is intrigued by the path of certainty he has built over his own loss and loneliness--a certainty that is threatened by his growing feelings for her. When Rehan disappears, Amal's suffering forces Mirza to face the world once more. Together, Mirza and Amal must come to a new understanding of what it means to be an immigrant family when the old traditions have unraveled.A Deconstructed Heart is a novella that explores the breakdown and rebuilding in one immigrant family trying to adapt: how lines in families and cultures are forcibly redrawn, how empty space can be reframed by a tent into a new definition of home... but how, no matter how hard we may try to forget, the past refuses to be contained. show lessTags
Member Reviews
Initially, [A Deconstructed Heart] appeared to be a mid-life crisis book - shades of Harold Fry. But, his wife leaves him, and he moves into a tent in the back yard. His niece moves in to help take care of him and falls for one of his students who is also helping out.
Suddenly, the young man bids the niece an abrupt adieu and disappears. The uncle recovers his wits and sets out to help his niece and, by extension, himself. Uncle gets a lady-friend, the niece gets over the feckless boy, family comes together.
Then BAM! The last sentence suddenly turns noir.
It starts out as a(nother) mid-life crisis tale, then it seems to become a romance, then a nice culturally-influenced drama, then "WHAT?" The ending seemed very out of sync with the show more development of the story. Ashraf-Ahmed is a talented writer, characters are well-developed, story-line is solid, descriptives are well done. But the ending turned me off the book. This is not one that I will re-read. show less
Suddenly, the young man bids the niece an abrupt adieu and disappears. The uncle recovers his wits and sets out to help his niece and, by extension, himself. Uncle gets a lady-friend, the niece gets over the feckless boy, family comes together.
Then BAM! The last sentence suddenly turns noir.
It starts out as a(nother) mid-life crisis tale, then it seems to become a romance, then a nice culturally-influenced drama, then "WHAT?" The ending seemed very out of sync with the show more development of the story. Ashraf-Ahmed is a talented writer, characters are well-developed, story-line is solid, descriptives are well done. But the ending turned me off the book. This is not one that I will re-read. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
A Deconstructed Heart
In her multifaceted novel Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed weaves past and present events. Her cast of characters is large but their various personalities and actions are unified by their relationship to Mizra, who, when his wife leaves him, abandons their house and moves to the adjacent field.
Mizra is fortunate his neighbors are caring people and that a group of students from his college rally to provide aid and comfort. (Not an easy task!)
There's a splendid cat (named Moriarty), a ghostly visitor, and a "backstory" that gives some clues, helping us to understand unexpected influences of cultural differences.
All in all this is a rich reading experience.
In her multifaceted novel Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed weaves past and present events. Her cast of characters is large but their various personalities and actions are unified by their relationship to Mizra, who, when his wife leaves him, abandons their house and moves to the adjacent field.
Mizra is fortunate his neighbors are caring people and that a group of students from his college rally to provide aid and comfort. (Not an easy task!)
There's a splendid cat (named Moriarty), a ghostly visitor, and a "backstory" that gives some clues, helping us to understand unexpected influences of cultural differences.
All in all this is a rich reading experience.
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3 Works 21 Members
Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 11
- Popularity
- 1,995,076
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.25)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 1
- ASINs
- 1
