Modern Pakistani fiction in English

August 29, 2015

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Both debut female authors are engaged in careers seemingly antithetical, though verily not alien, to the exigencies of a literary vocation

Two debut novels in English, by female authors of Pakistani origin, have lately appeared on the native literary scenario. Lara Zuberi of The Lost Pearl is a Pakistani expatriate teaching medical science in the US whereas Sara Naveed of Undying Affinity is a Lahore-based business professional.

Both works tend to singularise and reiterate the pristine intensity of human feelings in a socio-political milieu chequered with tragedies of sorts. Interestingly the authors are engaged in careers seemingly antithetical, though verily not alien, to the exigencies of a literary vocation. This review aims to cover the two books.

The Lost Pearl

Lara Zuberi, the author of this novel, is a Pakistani expatriate teaching haematology and medical oncology at the University of Florida (US). As a debutant fictional narrator, she has fared exceptionally well in The Lost Pearl – the tragic tale of a deeply distressed girl Sana who haplessly witnesses the cold-blooded murder of her loving father, a career diplomat and a man of great virtue.

The plot of the novel is dexterously woven, with a Hellenic surfeit of suspense. The theme is essentially filial strung on a delicate romantic cord conjoining deprivation and destiny on one hand and ‘anger, revenge, and forgiveness’ on the other. Its timelessness apart, the author seems to ‘feature the terrorism of 9/11 in the backdrop’ of the narrative to widen its thematic implication and tenor. Besides, the technique of interior monologue adopted by the protagonist in the narrative is meant to counterpoint its dependence, so to say, on dialogue or action.

On the empathetic level as the reader is entranced into vicariously identifying the protagonist’s traumatic experience, it carries him through a catharsis resembling the one in a tragedy of the Aristotelian denomination. Following the gruesome murder episode, Sana’s travel to and stay in California; her connection with Ahmer, a compatriot pursuing higher education in law at Stanford (US); the false involvement of the latter’s father in her dad’s killing; her proposed betrothal to Zain; the denouement envisaging her recognition of the truth regarding her father’s alleged assassin, and finally the reunion of the couple (Sana and Ahmer) turn out to be the major episodes in the novel, the tragic flaw in the protagonist being her ‘compulsive’ disability to disclose the identity of the killer to the authorities (or to any consequential person for that matter) as an eye witness, during initial investigation of the case.

‘As a debutant fictional narrator, she has fared exceptionally well in The Lost Pearl – the tragic tale of a deeply distressed girl Sana who haplessly witnesses the cold-blooded murder of her loving father’

A sense of guilt begins to hound her as soon as she learns the truth after interviewing Shahryar Khan, who happens to be no one else than Ahmer’s father, undeservingly convicted and sentenced for the heinous offence perpetrated on her late father. Her, as well as the readers’, tension is ultimately released when Sana has found out the identity of the real culprit who is, lo and behold, no other person than her own (half) uncle Amjad Shah. There is yet another twist in the story when Sana listens to his confession and feels pity for his ignoble plight. His is a tale of guilt, suffering and repentance.

One of the non-native reviewers of the book, writer Kathleen S Schmitt has very aptly summed up her opinion in the following words: ‘The Last Pearl is a family story with the complications that we encounter with parents and siblings, uncles and aunts and all the rest. It is about the need to belong and the pain of estrangement. We come to gain ultimate knowledge of the key players in this story and especially of the tangled network of emotions and beliefs that motivate Sana through the confusion and chaos of her growing years and her endeavour to find her way towards healing and justice.’

The book thus relates ‘an emotional tale about the strength of the human bond and the consequences of a truth left untold’, and is genuinely expected to draw instant but large readership for its formal and contextual attributes.

The Lost Pearl

Author: Lara Zuberi

Publisher: Ilqa Publications, 12-K, Gulberg 2, Lahore

Pages: 218; Price: Rs395/-

*****

Undying Affinity

The author of the novel, Sara Naveed is a business student and professional. She seems to have worked assiduously on her 407-page fictional work. She has termed it as her ‘debut romance book’. It is the story of a 22-year old female Zarish Munawwar, with an aristocratic family background and a demeanour resting on naivete, stubbornness, arrogance, vanity, extravagance and impulsiveness. Her perspective towards life undergoes a drastic change when she comes into contact with Ahmar Muraad, her finance teacher at university who turns out to be the son of her father’s arch-business rival.

The plot of the story is rather a straight one, if not flat, denoting cause and effect in a horizontal line. The conventional trio of a hero, his heroine and a villain of the piece (Ahmar-Zarish-Haroon) is there to amuse and bemuse the reader alternately. An impending reunion of the lovers is the anticipated end-result of a long-drawn romance between the two.

‘On the plus side however, character portrayal in the novel is very apt and life-like. The writer seems to be a keen student of human psyche albeit her young age’

The narrative is laden with verbosity although its language is racy and fluent. Unnecessary details and digressions tend to affect, if not mar, the over-all impact of the narrative. The same is true of the errors of proof-reading which though few in number, are quite conspicuous, nonetheless.

On the plus side however, character portrayal in the novel is very apt and life-like. The writer seems to be a keen student of human psyche albeit her young age. Ahmar’s character, and in fact the whole book, is claimed to have been inspired from an emerging young Pakistani movie star Fawad A Khan whose message is also included in the book to acknowledge the ‘verisimilitude’.

It would be interesting to conclude the discussion by quoting one of the female admirers of the work Yashica Bansal (exclaiming her ‘undying affinity’ with it via internet) who gleefully remarks: ‘I would recommend it (the book) to the people who have been in love and especially to those who have not been in love at all as they will get to know what exactly it feels when you are in love. This is what happened in my case. Now I truly believe in love. I would also recommend it to the non-readers as they would definitely be hooked by it and will fall in love with reading.’