In this deftly written, intricately detailed novel, Mirza explores the dynamics of a family of five, parents Rafiq & Layla, children Hadia, Huda & Amir, Indian-American Muslims struggling to find the good life as both circumstances and their own flaws and failings stand in the way. This book was really a masterpiece in my opinion. The book moves around in time in as fluid and seamless a way as any book I’ve read in years and years. We fill in the blanks around these characters and their interactions as we jump through the years, seeing moments in time from the courtship of Rafiq and Layla to their days as elders facing mortality with their children grown with families of their own. The leaps always feel exactly right, almost thematic in the way the book transitions from scene to scene, making emotional connections between people and events separated by years. As well, the characters are stunningly well written. Huda is the least developed of the main family, but all of the others are given really excellent treatment. Each of those main four characters is deeply flawed but as a reader, I felt empathy for all of them in their turns and I also felt very angry with each of them in their turns. I think if I was to say one thing about this book and one thing only, I would say that what distinguishes it from many of the other, very similar family drama type books is just how punishingly sad this book is. And it doesn’t require a lot of over the top plot developments, just the simple rhythms of life: a crush on a childhood friend, the surprising death of an acquaintance in an accident, a hot temper, a casual emotional cruelty as only children can commit them, an escalating drug addiction that stays far this side of melodrama while also treating the issue with seriousness. These are the things that Mirza builds a tapestry of sorrow and grief of, the things, I suppose, that we all build our tapestries out of. Watching as these characters both inflict pain on others and have pain inflicted on them by others is a deeply moving experience. Mirza writes very poetically and beautifully, but not romantically I’d say; even in her most beautiful prose, she is drawing us deeper into the sorrows and dissatisfactions of these people. Now, look, I get it; we’re finally coming close to ending 2020 – you may not be in the mood for a book that basically vacillates tonally between “melancholy” and “crushingly sad.” But I found the catharsis of great tragedy here; the ending is beautiful and deeply moving in a way that is both sad and transcendent, a note of hope and faith amidst deep sadness that I found incredibly meaningful. This is a phenomenal book, one I’d come darn close to calling perfect. It’s engrossing, compelling, moving and hypnotic; the structure is as strong as the characters, the themes as deeply felt as the story. This is the Novel as a form at its most emotionally powerful, generating empathy, to evoke Roger Ebert, at maximum efficiency. There’s a whole world of humanity here. 4 stars.
tl;dr – decade-spanning family drama is perfectly structured & crushingly sad; brilliant characterization & beautiful prose create a masterpiece of intense emotions. 4 stars.