Broken Verses

31-year-old Aasmaani has a new job at a Karachi television studio, and a new apartment next door to her half-sister and her husband. Aasmaani’s life has been defined by her activist mother’s disappearance 14 years earlier, and the death of her mother’s lover, The Poet, two years before that. It seems like an opportunity for a new start, but soon after Aasmaani’s arrival at the television statement, someone starts sending letters written in a code known only to Aasmaani’s mother, The Poet, and Aasmaani. Does this mean Aasmaani’s mother is still alive?

This novel explores themes of grief, depression, love, parent/child relationships, feminism, and politics. Aasmaani has been so preoccupied by the people and relationships show more she’s lost that she can’t fully embrace the relationships she has now. This novel will speak to individuals weighed down by grief, as well as to those who do their best to provide social and emotional support for bereaved persons. It wasn’t an easy read, but it was ultimately rewarding. show less

Broken Verses is a heartbreakingly lovely book. It is so nice to 'see' another side of Pakistan (rather than how it is often depicted in the US news). It shows the families, the poets, the artists, the activists, the grandiose, & the mundane from their hopes & dreams to their disappointments & heartbreaks. This book had me crying by the end (something I normally don't like but was ok within this story world that I was visiting).

Recommended.

Aasmani Inqilab's childhood would be unusual for an American girl; for a Pakistani one, it is almost unheard-of. Her mother is Pakistan's most famous women's rights activist and a feminist icon who "lives in sin" with her lover, Pakistan's most beloved poet. Because the poet is so frequently imprisoned or exiled, Aasmani's mother is often too distracted to care for her and leaves her with her biological father and his new wife. All this chaos ends suddenly when Aasmani is 14. The poet is found brutally murdered, her mother plunges into a depression and disappears mysteriously two years later. You might think I'm spoiling the novel with this much information, but this is all set-up for the heart of the novel, which takes place 14 years show more later. Aasmani is 31, living on her own for the first time, outwardly "just fine" while inwardly consumed with grief, rage and denial. When a letter appears written in her mother's secret code, she must choose whether to investigate it.

This book contains a mystery, but no matter what the jacket copy would have you believe, it's not really a mystery novel. Most of the suspense is psychological: if Aasmani chooses to believe her mother is alive, what will be the cost to her sanity? Should she forgive her mother for abandoning her so many times and the poet for asking her to do so? How do we love someone who is both brilliant and flawed? How can we see the dead as the real people they were and not the mental picture of them we created in their absence?

I absolutely loved this book. It is emotionally resonant, character-driven and asks worthwhile questions about living. I particularly admired writer Kamila Shamsie's show-don't-tell writing and ability to create larger-than-life characters who still felt very real. Although I gave this book a 5 star rating, it may not appeal to every reader. There is very little action because most of the book consists of Aasmani's conversations with her biological father, half-sister, new boyfriend and assortment of old family friends. Each of the dialogues explores the novel's central questions from a variety of perspectives. I left the book feeling wholly satisfied and intrigued by the questions it proposed, but other readers might find the conversations tedious and Aasmani frustrating. Read if you love cerebral, character-driven books that focus on ideas rather than action. show less

After reading Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, I was so taken in by her elegant writing style that I could not stop myself from picking up Broken Verses. Kamila has revealed yet again the artful story teller that she is. If a book can move you to tears, then surely there is something much more to it than just a story.

The protagonist, Aasmaani Inqalab literally meaning Celestial Revolution, lives in the seaside city of Karachi, where she flits from one mundane job to another so she can remove any spark of the person she once was willing to be, a person who thought she could change the world. Born to a highly unconventional activist mother and a regular banker, Aasmaani, since her childhood has been embroiled in conflicting worlds, an show more idealist world of protests and poetry which belongs to her mother, Samina and her lover, The Poet, and the pragmatic comforting world of her father and his family. Aasmaani, who cannot come to terms with her mother’s disappearance, has been conjuring up images of her glorious return the past fifteen years. She is so caught up in thinking she has never been good enough for her mother to stay, that she fails to see the people around her reaching out to her and trying to pull her out of her shell, including her half sister Razia and her colleague Ed. It remains to be seen whether Aasmaani does loosen up as this riveting tale draws to a close.....

Read more @ http://suchisbookshelf.blogspot.com/2010/04/broken-verses-kamila-shamsie.html show less

An amazing book. The writing is beautiful and poetic. The imagery keen and the story imaginative. I'm quite taken by the emotional depth of the narrator. In addition the psychology and development of each character provide such satisfying insights. The dialogue is clever and I think realistic to the point I felt like a voyeur.

I read Kartography and liked it but I think Broken Verses has greater depth and enables a richer experience. I'm now going to read Burnt Shadows.

In my effort to read all things Shamsie to prepare for reviewing her latest. I had the same issue I've had with most of her books - the premise is great but they are so overwritten and issue laden. I think she creates overly complex plots. It may be why Home Fire is such a success- to me- because she follows the plot of Antigone fairly closely.

At the same time, I am grateful for how willing she is to grapple with tough subjects.

In Broken Verses, a young woman tries to sort out what happened to her mother and the mother's lover, a famous poet, both of whom disappeared from Pakistan decades previous. There's mystery and a love story and lots of day-to-day in a young woman's life. But as mentioned above, I would have been happier with a show more simpler plot and 50 less pages. show less

This book is less a mystery and more an ode to grief and the many ways we manage to injure ourselves and others.