Rating: 
Summary: Oprah's gotta read this one!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time....the prose are amazing, the characters addictive and deplorable all at once, the plot gripping...the imagery of Hamid's words is vivid..(the lust scenes don't hurt either). Knowing nothing about Pakistan before opening the book, I was shocked by how quickly I became captured by the story. Hamid's words are so descriptive that you can literally see the characters and the places in the book. This is one of those books that keeps you so hooked you've got to carry it with you everywhere so you can keep sneaking a page at every spare moment you get until it's finished....then after you're done with it, you keep thinking about the characters and wishing there were already a sequal to it!
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Tale
Review: This wonderful novel is full of flavor and fun. An account of the upper crust of Pakistani society the author tells the story of two boyhood friends whose intertwined lives cause one ruin and the other hardship. This book also sheds light on life at the peak of Pakistani society where booze flows and the women are loose, the parties are lavish and the men behave very much like any westerner(so much for Islamic modesty). A wonderful account, full of flavorful writing and suspense. You will enjoy this quickly readable book.
Rating: 
Summary: A good start, but there is more to Pakistan than this
Review: While it is refreshing to see a novelist of Pakistani originpublish a novel with a major publisher, I must say that this book isover-rated. Though the nuanced allegories in the book will undoubtedly strike chords with many Pakistani elite (often the ones who are web-savvy), Western readers must not take this to be a representation of "Pakistani society" ... Hamid is describing the top 0.01 % of Pakistan's pretentious elite -- which is fine, but unfortunately the book is being marketed as if it were about Pakistani culture -- which it is not. In fact much of the "wannabe" cultural attributes that Hamid highlights among Pakistani elite can be found in most developing country elite from Argentina to Zimbabwe (I can speak from personal experience of interacting with elite from both those counties as well). The imagery is lyrical and at times compelling, but the language does not reflect the stylistic maturity of other South Asian writers such as Sara Suleri or Anita Desai. Nevertheless, a good start. I hope that Hamid's next novel will also try and cover some of the more exemplary attributes of Pakistani society, particularly among the majority of the populace who do NOT drive Pajeros nor drink Scotch! END
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