In the City by the Sea (1998) begins on the roof of Hasan’s house in Karachi,
Pakistan. Hasan is 11 years old, living with his artistic mother, Ami, and his lawyer
father, Aba. “The family’s unspoken rules had it that this was Hasan’s
territory, as sacred as Ami’s studio or Aba’s crossword-chair.”
On
the roof Hasan observes a young boy on a nearby roof, kite flying, “not for one
moment turning [his] eyes away – not to blink at the sun … not even to watch
for the roof to end.” Hasan sees the boy fall. The boy’s fall becomes a
constant image in Hasan’s head. “The time it took him to fall from roof to
ground seemed an eternity, longer and longer each time Hasan replayed it in his
mind.” Hasan feels guilty. He thinks the boy’s fall to his death is his fault: “getting
so involved in making the kite fly, because he knew I was watching.”
Hasan’s
uncle, Salman Mamoo, whom Hasan idolises, tells Hasan, “before I wanted to
be a cricketer, I wanted to be an astronomer.” But he entered politics. He was
arrested for treason and placed under house arrest. Hasan could visit as often
as he liked. He takes books for his uncle to read: a star gazer’s guide, a
cricket book, the novel Lord of the Rings,
and a textbook on mathematics.
Three
months later a new President was elected. Hassan liked Zehra next door. She was
two years older than Hassan, with a black dog called Ogle. Hasan thinks the new
President’s spirit has been imprisoned inside Ogle. The dog and the President
have the same birthday; they both have a scar over their left eyebrow; they
fell ill at the same time; Ogle’s left paw was bandaged at the same time as the
President’s left hand was bandaged; and “while the President’s speech was
broadcast live on television, he and Ogle scratched their ear at the same
moment.”
His
uncle was taken from house arrest to prison. “Now Hasan knew what anger was.” He remembered how
his uncle was revered as a politician - people cheered him as “the saviour, the
future, the only hope.” Now he was in prison, about to be tried in a military
court for treason. But the anger came from the fact that “Salman Mamoo’s imprisonment didn’t
even get a page six side-bar” in the newspaper.
This
is a novel of a young boy coming to terms with change – with his feelings of
guilt about the death of the kite-flying boy, with the imprisonment of his
uncle, the changing political landscape within the country, and his changing
relationship with Zehra. Delightfully told - it reveals a boy’s interactions
with family and friends – and whom he confides in during difficult times.
Amazing
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