Young 038; Asian

There has been a lot of fiction out of Pakistan in recent years focusing on the Bangladesh war.

A Golden Age
Tahmima Anam

There has been a lot of fiction out of Pakistan in recent years focusing on the Bangladesh war. Tahmima Anam, hailed in London8217;s literary shorthand as the new Monica Ali and even Zadie Smith, dips into stories of her own family for this novel. Anam, Dacca born and London based, has clearly drawn from the experiences of her mother whose family would shelter local fighters and protect them from detection by the Pakistan army. A Golden Age opens in Dacca in 1959 with young Rehana Haque being separated from her children, who are given by the court to the care of her relatives in Lahore. But most of the narrative clings to the events of 1971.

An extract: 8220;The city slowly adjusted to occupied life8230; Wild rumours circulated in the quiet. The army had dug a mass grave to hide the bodies. There was a warehouse, somewhere on the outskirts of town, where they tortured the prisoners. The animals in Mirpur Zoo, even the Bengal tiger, had all dies of fright8230; Those people who had never really been citizens of the city erased their faint tracks and returned to their villages.8221; As she watches her city become watchful, Rehana will make her own contribution.

There is, alas, also an unfortunate comparison with Ali that comes to mind. Brick Lane suffered a bit, and only on account of the false notes hit by the letters Nazneen receives from her sister back home in Bangladesh. Here too, Anam strikes a false voice when Rehana converses with her dead husband. How one wishes Anam had stuck to the third person narrative throughout.

Graffiti My Soul
Niven Govinden

The blurb announces the book in a most maverick manner: 8220;This is Surrey, nothing bad ever happens. Except somehow fifteen-year-old Veerapen, promising young kosher Tamil boy8217; and the fastest runner in his school, has just helped bury Moon Suzuki, the girl he loved. His dad has run off with an optician and his mother8217;s just started speed dating.8221;

Like Anam, Govinden was born in the mid-8217;70s, and he brings a fresh voice to an old theme. Govinden8217;s burden at the end of the day is his precocity. He talks through the complexities of his 8212; that is, the complexities of living in multicultural Britain at the present moment 8212;with glibness and wit.

There8217;s an inevitability in Govinden being hailed as the new Hanif Kureishi. However, Graffiti My Soul brings to mind another recent book. Though they are vastly different in style, it is just as intuitive as Gautam Malkani8217;s Londonstani.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid

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And this is more of an advance notice. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is one of the most eagerly awaited novels of this year. Hamid burst on the scene in 2000 with Moth Smoke, his hip and layered novel about Lahore8217;s elite. By all accounts, his new novel is about Changez, a Pakistani working in an elite firm in New York, and how his life changes after the events of September 11, 2001. Expected to be available some time in March.