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A review by alivegurl
A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
4.0
This book has been on my to-read list for about a year now and I am stoked to finally be able to flip through the pages. To be honest, I don't particularly know what the story is about, but I know it will touch a little bit on Islam and Pakistan, so I'm just excited to find out how the story will go. Mohammed Hanif is also not a familiar name for me, therefore I have no expectations for the writing style and plot. In short, I dove into this book with an open mind.
At first, I couldn't really get into it as I'm not entirely sold on the military angle of a story and was expecting there to be a breakout from the whole barracks and platoons. However, unfortunately, I was mistaken. The story will not get too far from politics, militarism and all the plotting and crime that comes with it. That being said, the story starts to develop into a more interesting flow rather quickly. It introduces the conflict quite early on—which then opens layer upon layer of what should actually be revealed later on—that jogs our curiosity and gets our adrenaline pumping. The main character's dark history is also being introduced first in bits and pieces, in a way that makes us understand it rather slowly and create quite an impact. The author doesn't seem to indicate much on his personality until well into the book, so that we only know what he wants us to know, finding out only a lot later that he isn't who we may think he is.
What is really important to me: it is really funny! A beautiful satire that doesn't take most things seriously, everything can be a joke in a way that the characters involved don't even know it. Everything General Zia does, everything the military protocol dictates, everything the civilians decide to believe—literally everything can be a joke, without being too in-your-face about it. I also love how the author can give so much character to the historical figures, such as General Zia and his cronies. I wonder what kind of research he made to be able to do this. I wonder how much of such research he did. Or if he simply took an exaggerated view on every news and action involving the general back when he was alive and in power. But it is done so eloquently that you can see it in your local politicians of today. Maybe the kind of humour only an experienced journalist can have.
Unfortunately, I wish the author would have put in a devout Muslim—or any religious person, really—in there who doesn't like an utter lunatic, hypocrite or dictator. It makes me feel uncomfortable and, frankly, slightly offended that the only religious Muslim in this book seems to be General Zia, which also happens to be butt of every joke. It's kind of hard not to see the author trying to antagonise Islam, when our main character—and the rest of the protagonists—is an agnostic Muslim. While I find that may just be the author sticking to his belief—I'm not familiar with his belief system—I also feel that it strengthens the stereotype of religious people being stupid and/or ridiculous and/or cruel. But what do I know? I'm not even that devout myself.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would describe it as Scandal meets The Kite Runner meets Saturday Night Live. But, hey, that's just me.
At first, I couldn't really get into it as I'm not entirely sold on the military angle of a story and was expecting there to be a breakout from the whole barracks and platoons. However, unfortunately, I was mistaken. The story will not get too far from politics, militarism and all the plotting and crime that comes with it. That being said, the story starts to develop into a more interesting flow rather quickly. It introduces the conflict quite early on—which then opens layer upon layer of what should actually be revealed later on—that jogs our curiosity and gets our adrenaline pumping. The main character's dark history is also being introduced first in bits and pieces, in a way that makes us understand it rather slowly and create quite an impact. The author doesn't seem to indicate much on his personality until well into the book, so that we only know what he wants us to know, finding out only a lot later that he isn't who we may think he is.
What is really important to me: it is really funny! A beautiful satire that doesn't take most things seriously, everything can be a joke in a way that the characters involved don't even know it. Everything General Zia does, everything the military protocol dictates, everything the civilians decide to believe—literally everything can be a joke, without being too in-your-face about it. I also love how the author can give so much character to the historical figures, such as General Zia and his cronies. I wonder what kind of research he made to be able to do this. I wonder how much of such research he did. Or if he simply took an exaggerated view on every news and action involving the general back when he was alive and in power. But it is done so eloquently that you can see it in your local politicians of today. Maybe the kind of humour only an experienced journalist can have.
Unfortunately, I wish the author would have put in a devout Muslim—or any religious person, really—in there who doesn't like an utter lunatic, hypocrite or dictator. It makes me feel uncomfortable and, frankly, slightly offended that the only religious Muslim in this book seems to be General Zia, which also happens to be butt of every joke. It's kind of hard not to see the author trying to antagonise Islam, when our main character—and the rest of the protagonists—is an agnostic Muslim. While I find that may just be the author sticking to his belief—I'm not familiar with his belief system—I also feel that it strengthens the stereotype of religious people being stupid and/or ridiculous and/or cruel. But what do I know? I'm not even that devout myself.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would describe it as Scandal meets The Kite Runner meets Saturday Night Live. But, hey, that's just me.