Kartography

Rating:
Summary: an adolscent luv story
Review: a recommendation on a discussin forum, brought my attention to his piece, and I kept postpoing it. My first attempt at kartography , got it from my library 2 weeks, a 14 day book. Started out dry in the begging, with Karim and Raheen two kids, aged 14, go for holidays to Aunt Laila's farm. They both of them have an epiphany they aren't clear about. karim a Bengali, decides to overlook, either having an inkling of the facts wheras Raheen is curious, asks her uncle until a fight one day, makes her decide she is never going to enquire on the topic again.
As to how detrimental it is to have dead secrets buried, more so for the secrets to remain buried, shows up a decade, there's more buried under, thatz been blocked out, and one fine day the truth is out in the open and a shocker, as to why Karim and Raheen could never become one, inspite of their undying love for each other.
The book starts out at an excellent pace after Raheen's grown up and studying in NY, and they show her reading that romantic stuff, from that part on, I couldn't stop reading , till I finished. It was such an enjoyable read. And towards the end She really messed it up like in the beginning where it's all about tying loose end. I had to read the parental generation story twice or thrice before I understood the gist of what happened. Karim and Raheen once grown up , was the wonderful part to read. All those child - age realizations didn't really impress me. Worth a read, once wish there was more of spice. more of a tale, and really there were more personal rants, with the story being narrated in backdrops.. specially the partition scene made a comeback for a very brief period of time. .. But I guess it could have been edited a lot more, most of those adolescent scenes could have been dropped in order to make way for an impressive romance between Karim and Raheen. I kept waiting for more, and more.. and well.. it was disappointing..

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE this book
Review: As soon as I began to read this book I was hooked! I loved how the book was very descriptive without being tedious, the four main characters are very likeable. The story is about the friendship between Raheen the narrator and Karim who seem destined soul mates even after Karim moves away and how they deal with being apart. Its also about the voilence in Karachi and how Raheen and her friends deal with it with the political troubles. I dont know if my review does this book justice but let me just say its a great book. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Love in times of chaos
Review: Children of destiny, Karim and Raheen grow up in the shadow of their parent's convoluted relationship. The parents have switched fiancés at the last minute, a fact that becomes part of family mythology. However, the swap has more serious implications, occurring during a period of civil unrest in Pakistan in the 1970's, where the upper class citizens of Karachi cannot escape the reach of the troubles. A decade later, still affected by the civil chaos that threatens the city, Karim's parents leave Karachi for London, where they eventually get divorced. Raheen loses her alter ego and best friend, writing only sporadically over the years.

Later, when Karim returns to Karachi, the two meet again, but their once easy relationship has become complicated by distance and family secrets. Neither can unravel the emotional knots created during the years they were separated. Raheen's nature is to cling desperately to her childhood memories, savoring the closeness she enjoyed with her best friend, although she is definitely in love with him. Karim has evolved into a principled man, a cartographer, whose world is defined in black and white, in absolutes.

Karim has long known the family secret; because of this, he judges Raheen for her complicity, although she has no knowledge of the event that occurred before they were born. In the bright idealism of youth, Karim's judgment comes easily, albeit flawed by his ignorance. Karim and Raheen have difficulty managing the complications of love, friendship and polarizing politics, their emotions as entangled as the love of their parents; only when they embrace the decisions faced by their parents can the young couple overcome their lack of communication.

This upper class Pakistani slice-of-life is set against a background of recurring civil war, beautifully illustrating the unbreakable bonds of love and friendship, made more durable by friendship. Shamsie's engaging prose evokes the warmth and acceptance of family, as the author connects politics with the everyday lives of the citizens of Karachi. Eventually, affluence is insufficient protection from the random violence of war and personal possessions cannot isolate these families from tragedy.

This is indeed a love story between a boy and a girl, but also an inter-generational one, where compassion defines the quality of family relationships. The extraordinary friendship of the parents, even with its inherent problems, teaches their children about the fragility of the human heart and the catharsis of forgiveness. Luan Gaines/2004.

Rating:
Summary: Kartography
Review: Excellent book with refreshing style and wit. Couldn't put the book down and read it in a day (up all night!) Nice to finally find a book that is so engrossing!

Rating:
Summary: Honest and heartachingly true
Review: Goodness, I was SO emotionally invested in this book. It is narrated by a person whom I love so much...she is such a wonderfully TRUE character and I so ABSOLUTELY identify with her. Plus, the narrative style is so personable and delightful...it's a gorgeous story. The images of maps (duh! It's called Kartography...which I'm guessing is a combination of cartography and the fact that it is set in Karachi) and the way that residents of Karachi relate to space and place names...it's just BRILLIANT. These were some of the most accurately depicted 13 year olds I'd ever read, and their early twentysomething selves are equally true and satisfying. It was a bit amazing to me how much I could relate to them when I was fortunate enough to never have lived through all the civil war, violence and uprisings of Pakistan in the seventies, eighties and nineties, but that's part of what I love so much about this book...everyone is still human and has everyday mundane human moments, even when one's city is at war. Just, wow. This was the PERFECT book that came into my life at the perfect time. I read the entire thing in one day...almost. I read 10 pages the first night, half of it at work, and then I stayed up well past 1am finishing it (and weeping like a baby too. What an emotional ride, but I cherished it!!)

This novel is beautiful and very honest. God, I really identified with the narrator. You see friendships blossom and die and drift apart and change...it totally made me want to call all of my friends (especially those to whom I was close but haven't seen in awhile) but seeing how late it was when i finished reading, I refrained. *smile*

Normally, when I've read an AMAZING book I run around making everyone read it (Josephine Tey's "Daughter of Time" is a recent example) but while I needed to tell people about this one, I didn't want anyone else to read it just yet. Because if someone else were to read it and not love it, I thought it would break my heart. I've had a little more time to breathe now and am willing to loan my copy to friends now.

Plus, I knew little specifics on all the problems in Pakistan so this book was really informative, too.

Definitely made me wish I were better at anagrams!!


Rating:
Summary: This will do its parts in making Karachi just another city
Review: I have never finished a book in 2 1/2 days ever before. I was born in Karachi and must say I am biased but this book is fun yet intense. A love story set in a large urban not unlike any third world country with an educated population, which is yearning to leave it but can never forget it.

Rating:
Summary: Mapping the boundaries of the human heart.
Review: In this warm and complex study of friendship, love, and roots, Kamila Shamsie focuses on the interrelationships of a group of vividly realized, upper-class residents of Karachi, particularly Raheen and Karim and their friends, only thirteen years old as the novel opens. Raheen has always regarded Karim, her one-time crib-companion and blood-brother, as her best friend, someone who knows her so well he can complete her sentences. Their parents, too, are close friends, and as the story evolves, we learn that Raheen's father was once engaged to marry Karim's mother, and that Raheen's mother once pledged to marry Karim's father.

The story behind the exchange of fiancées, though revealed as an intimate personal story, has wider implications, since it is tied, obliquely, to the ethnic unrest of 1971, when civil war broke out between East and West Pakistan, and Bangladesh came into being. Unaware of the conflicts which occurred before they were born, the children are also unaware of the reasons for the fiancée-switch. It is only after they have grown up, attended college, and gained new perspectives that this mysterious situation begins to haunt them, influencing both their relationships with their parents and their unique and special relationship with each other.

Acutely sensitive to language and story, Raheen, now 23, is writing about her damaged relationship with Karim in an attempt to understand it. Straightforward and perceptive in her thinking and speech, she conjures up imagined conversations from the past with a deft, often humorous touch. Precocious, articulate, and somewhat rebellious as a child, she is, as an adult, somewhat detached and even blase about emotional issues, including the continuing violence in Karachi. Karim, on the other hand, demands accountability. He is a map-maker, accustomed to evaluating and correcting what he sees. Ultimately, the two must map the past in new ways, filling in the uncharted territories of their lives, and creating new boundaries and borders.

The emotional resonance of this novel is enhanced by strong subordinate characters. The parents of Raheen and Karim are insightfully drawn, and their story, as it unwinds, shows the fragility of relationships and the insidious prejudices that can creep into people's lives. As the exchange of fiancées is revealed through the eyes of the participants, the reader observes parallel events in the lives of Raheen, Karim, and their friends. Major themes are illuminated in the small details of everyday life, rather than in great historical moments. Through unique observations and insights into human character, this rich, thought-provoking novel creates maps of the human heart, ultimately achieving a universality and depth one does not often find in novels of personal relationships. Warm and human, this is a novel to love. Mary Whipple

Rating:
Summary: Engaging, Witty and Astute: But tread slowly
Review: Kamila Shamsie's third novel, "Kartography" is an engaging, witty, yet strangely endearing story.
Raheen and Karim, members of Karachis elite privileged class, are soul mates from birth, but after Karims move abroad they somehow drift apart, yet hold onto memories forever. On his return, Raheen seeks to understand what possibly could have caused the divide between their hearts; Karim seems accusatory, speaks in a language she cannot understand, and is trying to tell her something that she does not know of. In between their complicated love and friendship, there are haunts of an earlier relationshop; Karims and Raheens parents were once engaged to each other, until "the music changed". Why this happened, and how it affected their childrens lives, Raheen asks and explores, until she is told the truth and her world and literally everything she stood for, collapses.

In the larger political and social backdrop is the Civil war between East and West Pakistan that divided the nation into two. This story, set in the later 80's and early 90s sees Karachi, their beloved city, torn apart by strife and violence. Should this affect their relationship? Raheen chooses to accept it while Karim feels the pain and demands Raheen to understand it in context.

Kamila Shamsie's writing is extremely engaging and humorous, with a shrewd understanding of society and people, at times; although she can be confusing and rewuire readers to read over to fully understand the meaning. Conversations don't always seem real; the characters speak in drawn out sentences and in a literary, philosophical manner, which can be annoying at times (nobody speaks in words like "palimpsest"). The book refers only to a very very minute selection of Karachi society, the extreme elite who live outside the circles that define mainstream Karachi.
However, despite the confusion and constant energy and action that can be taxing to your understanding of the plot and following of the story, Kartography is extremely enjoyable, overall very well written and astute. While not particularly deep, as novels go, its definitely worth its price.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging, Witty and Astute: But tread slowly
Review: Kamila Shamsie's third novel, "Kartography" is an engaging, witty, yet strangely endearing story.
Raheen and Karim, members of Karachis elite privileged class, are soul mates from birth, but after Karims move abroad they somehow drift apart, yet hold onto memories forever. On his return, Raheen seeks to understand what possibly could have caused the divide between their hearts; Karim seems accusatory, speaks in a language she cannot understand, and is trying to tell her something that she does not know of. In between their complicated love and friendship, there are haunts of an earlier relationshop; Karims and Raheens parents were once engaged to each other, until "the music changed". Why this happened, and how it affected their childrens lives, Raheen asks and explores, until she is told the truth and her world and literally everything she stood for, collapses.

In the larger political and social backdrop is the Civil war between East and West Pakistan that divided the nation into two. This story, set in the later 80's and early 90s sees Karachi, their beloved city, torn apart by strife and violence. Should this affect their relationship? Raheen chooses to accept it while Karim feels the pain and demands Raheen to understand it in context.

Kamila Shamsie's writing is extremely engaging and humorous, with a shrewd understanding of society and people, at times; although she can be confusing and rewuire readers to read over to fully understand the meaning. Conversations don't always seem real; the characters speak in drawn out sentences and in a literary, philosophical manner, which can be annoying at times (nobody speaks in words like "palimpsest"). The book refers only to a very very minute selection of Karachi society, the extreme elite who live outside the circles that define mainstream Karachi.
However, despite the confusion and constant energy and action that can be taxing to your understanding of the plot and following of the story, Kartography is extremely enjoyable, overall very well written and astute. While not particularly deep, as novels go, its definitely worth its price.

Rating:
Summary: Kartography Maps The Intricacies Of Love - A Superb Novel!!
Review: Karim and Raheen have been the closest of friends since they shared a crib as infants. Growing up together in a wealthy Karachi neighborhood during the 1980s, they finish each other's sentences, speak in anagrams, dream each other's dreams and are true soulmates. The two are sure of the fact that, "If I wasn't me, you wouldn't be you." "Can angels lie spine to spine?" Raheen wonders to herself. "If not, how they must envy us humans."

Raheen's and Karim's parents were once engaged to each other: her father to his mother, his father to her mother. There is a long buried secret, a family mystery, behind the fiancee swap - one that threatens to sever the magical bond that unites these young people as they become adults.

Filled with wry humor and wit, this is a novel about a friendship predestined to turn into love. The metaphor of maps and identity is embodied by the character of Karim, who wants to be a mapmaker, obsessed with finding the roots and meaning of geographical belonging. However, the author Kamila Shamsie also writes about Pakistan, political violence, and growing up rich and comfortable in a land that is always on the edge of riot and despair.

Ms. Shamsie writes a lyrical, impassioned narrative, lush with detail. Her novel is a love song, of sorts, to Karachi. Set against the backdrop of Pakistan's bloody civil war, it is a story of a country at war and of hearts at war, where the intricacies of love and intimacy are deftly explored. A superb novel!
JANA