Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... The Golden Legendby Nadeem Aslam
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  anzlitlovers | Feb 4, 2022 |  Beautifully sharpened to pierce the thick skin of religious fundamentalism... (  ) hummingquill | Jul 24, 2019 | I found a lot of this novel to be unfocused, and the pacing to be off. However, the last section was so poetic and beautiful, it became easier to overlook the book's other flaws. (  ) Katie_Roscher | Jan 18, 2019 | I loved this book. I thought the characters were wonderfully written and the story was in turn heartbreaking, painful, joyous and hopeful. Others have summarised better than I can, so all I'm going to write is 'read this book' it will stay with you. ( ) sachesney | May 26, 2018 | shawjonathan | May 9, 2018 |
 "Nadeem Aslam’s powerful and engrossing fifth novel,...Despite the misery and cruelty it depicts, “The Golden Legend” is a heartening book, largely because of Aslam’s faith in the integrity and courage of his main characters and, one supposes, of real people like them." There are irritants – flat dialogue and perhaps too much symbolism. Even so, this urgent, undeniably passionate and wayward novel convinces through the sheer cumulative force of its intent and a random array of dazzling anecdotes and historical references, which help deflect the brutalities of religious fanaticism at its most unforgiving.
"A brave, timely, searingly beautiful novel from the acclaimed author of The Blind Man's Garden: set in contemporary Pakistan, the story of a Muslim widow and her Christian neighbors whose community is consumed by violent religious intolerance When shots ring out on the Grand Trunk Road, Nargis's life begins to crumble around her. Her husband, Massud--a fellow architect--is caught in the cross fire and dies before she can confess her greatest secret to him. Now under threat from a powerful military intelligence officer, who demands that she pardon her husband's American killer, Nargis fears that the truth about her past will soon be exposed. For weeks someone has been broadcasting people's secrets from the minaret of the local mosque, and, in a country where even the accusation of blasphemy is a currency to be bartered, the mysterious broadcasts have struck fear in Christians and Muslims alike. When the loudspeakers reveal a forbidden romance between a Muslim cleric's daughter and Nargis's Christian neighbor, Nargis finds herself trapped in the center of the chaos tearing their community apart. In his characteristically luminous prose, Nadeem Aslam has given us a lionhearted novel that reflects Pakistan's past and present in a single mirror, a story of corruption, resilience, and the disguises that are sometimes necessary for survival--a revelatory portrait of the human spirit"-- No library descriptions found. |
Popular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914 — Literature English {except North American} English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.93)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
Wikipedia in English
1
He seems to have made a career out of writing about dysfunctional Islam. Maps is about an immigrant Pakistani community in England; Vigil is about Islam in Afghanistan, and The Golden Legend is about terrorism, cruelty, corruption and sectarianism in Pakistan. There is also love across religious divides in Aslam's fictional city of Zamaran, but as the novel traces the ill-fortune of Nargis after her husband Massud is killed in a terrorist attack, it portrays a culture of inescapable violence and intimidation.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/01/31/the-golden-legend-by-nadeem-aslam/ (