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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Do you like surrealism? Absurdity? Curious about the impact of occupation and war on contemporary Afghans and the diaspora?
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak is the collection for you.
Jamil Jan Kochai interrogates power and violence at every turn by employing fantastical twists in his tales. There’s an academic who turns into a monkey and then becomes a revolutionary.
A sympathetic FBI agent observes the Muslim family he’s been spying on for years. Former mujahideen, doctors with survivor’s guilt, and more all create an empathetic and morally complex portrait of people who are all too often dismissed or distorted in post 9/11 narratives.
Kochai is a masterful storyteller, using multiple forms to draw us toward unforgettable characters.
These are short stories I’ll reach for again and again, always finding something new in the sharp prose. I can’t decide on a favorite, but that’s a sign of how solid the work is as a whole.
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak is the collection for you.
Jamil Jan Kochai interrogates power and violence at every turn by employing fantastical twists in his tales. There’s an academic who turns into a monkey and then becomes a revolutionary.
A sympathetic FBI agent observes the Muslim family he’s been spying on for years. Former mujahideen, doctors with survivor’s guilt, and more all create an empathetic and morally complex portrait of people who are all too often dismissed or distorted in post 9/11 narratives.
Kochai is a masterful storyteller, using multiple forms to draw us toward unforgettable characters.
These are short stories I’ll reach for again and again, always finding something new in the sharp prose. I can’t decide on a favorite, but that’s a sign of how solid the work is as a whole.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jamil Jan Kochai’s short story collection is masterful. These stories—they will take your breath away. A teenage boy fantasizes that his favorite video game might allow him to play out his family history so that it turns out differently. An idealistic Afghan American couple believe they can help save Afghanistan from its turbulent violence without becoming targets themselves. An American agent falls in love with the Afghan family they are assigned to surveil and tries to justify their increasing involvement by attempting to serve as a kind of guardian, “helping” but with the same paternalistic mindset the West has “helped” Afghanistan with for centuries. Stories echo and mirror and speak to each other in ways that only deepen each text.
But it isn’t just the subject matter that makes the book riveting. Kochai also demonstrates spectacular technical prowess. The story “Enough!” is a single sentence that stretches over 12 pages as the family matriarch contemplates her frustrations with her children and her grief over her dead son, only to wake up in one moment to what her life truly is. A murderous American soldier is (quite justly) turned into a goat. An Afghan American PhD student is (quite unfairly) turned into a monkey for his religious failures. These transformations lead to further transformations, which Kochai uses to explore the ways violence and misguided morality can destroy entire communities and families. Somehow, through it all, Kochai manages to be both critical and deeply humanizing of all his characters. If you love literary short stories with a dark yet deeply humanist sensibility, Kochai will not disappoint.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
How is everyone sleeping on this collection? It's fantastic, I ripped through it in two days.
Again, a great short story collection. Especially enjoyed it because you get to meet some characters again and again throughout the short stories. I have to say: I didn't necessarily "get" everything, but I enjoyed the stories nonetheless! Really looking forward to read something by Kochai again!
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced