Skip to main content

In the City by the Sea by Kamila Shamsie: book review




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.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing