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Broken Verses | 
 enlarge | Author: Kamila Shamsie
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 387205
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0156030535
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780156030533
ASIN: 0156030535
Publication Date: June 1, 2005
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Product Description
Fourteen years ago, famous Pakistani activist Samina Akram disappeared. Two years earlier, her lover, Pakistan's greatest poet, was beaten to death by government thugs. In present-day Karachi, her daughter Aasmaani has just discovered a letter in the couple's private code-a letter that could only have been written recently.
Aasmaani is thirty, single, drifting from job to job. Always left behind whenever Samina followed the Poet into exile, she had assumed that her mother's disappearance was simply another abandonment. Then, while working at Pakistan's first independent TV station, Aasmaani runs into an old friend of Samina's who gives her the first letter, then many more. Where could the letters have come from? And will they lead her to her mother?
Merging the personal with the political, Broken Verses is at once a sharp, thrilling journey through modern-day Pakistan, a carefully coded mystery, and an intimate mother-daughter story that asks how we forgive a mother who leaves.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The Poet and the Activist May 18, 2005
Luan Gaines (Dana Point, CA USA)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Aasmaani can`t let go of her history: fourteen years ago her mother, Samina Akram, a political activist, disappeared, assumed dead. Samina was the ardent follower of the Poet, Nazim, whose work reflected the injustices and excesses of the Pakistani government through various stages of social and political upheaval, civil war, repression and religious fanaticism. Aasmaani cannot, or will not, release her mother, a woman who moved in and out of the young girl's life, following the Poet into exile, living nearby when he was imprisoned.
Now in her 30's, Aasmaani has begun work at a cable television network, where she is introduced to the handsome son of a famous retired actress, Shenaz Saeed. The actress is about to return to the screen in a cable soap opera. Another face from Aasmaani's past, Saeed was formerly a close friend of Samina`s, especially in the difficult years after the Poet's death. When the actress passes along a letter received from an anonymous fan, Aasmaani is shocked to find it written in the secret code used by her mother and the Poet. She is soon obsessed with the letters, translating and authenticating details, searching for remnants of truth: "He was still alive. Oh, dear God, he was still alive."
The novel works on two levels, the Poet's role reflecting the ills of a society in transition and a young woman's urgent need to unburden herself of lifetime of grief for a lost mother and father-figure. The novel speaks to the power of words in an age of repression, the character's actions cast against the turbulent history of Pakistan since its inception. The Poet is beloved because he dares tell the truth, a metaphor for democracy, holding society responsible for its actions. Samina is just as powerful in her role as an advocate for women's rights, her passion and integrity a valuable weapon against injustice.
Aasmaani is in an untenable position as the daughter of such a woman, torn between the need for her mother and belief in the cause, always sharing her Samina, either with the people or the Poet. Aasmaani is fragile for most of her life, but this rite of passage calls her to recognize her true heritage, her own identity: "Sometimes I feel like I've spent my whole life missing Mama." How does a daughter not resent living in the shadow of her mother's greatness and find peace with the memories she has left? Now Aasmaani is desperate to prove one of them alive, clinging to possibility.
In the end, I am conflicted about this novel. I persevered through the author's lengthy political discourses and the esoteric dialog of the Poet and his lover, trusting the integrity of the characters, even the stubborn, if formidable Aasmaani, who exhausts everyone who loves her. Her psychological distance remains palpable, inaccessible. Aasmaani walks with the gods, refusing to acknowledge their humanity or her own. She has infinite passion for the Poet and the Activist, but no compassion, protected in the ivory tower of her intellect. Shamsie's protagonist has no tolerance for the flawed or the ordinary, yet the story's facile resolution is duplicitous, an author's conceit. Luan Gaines/2005.
 short stories sewn together ... May 8, 2005
S. Rehmani (Texas, USA)
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
I just got done reading kamila's latest book and was extremely disappointed. Not only is the narrative lacking in the poise and flow her previous works displayed, it also has no common underlying theme.
I kept waiting for something significant to happen all the way to the end of the book.
One would only hope that a couple of pages got left out of the print edition.
I really expected something more substantiative ...
 a powerful and riveting work...her best yet May 18, 2005
C. Cracker (New England, MA)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie's latest novel may be her best novel yet. I loved this book. Although there were moments of awkward writing and dialogue in the opening chapters of the book, these were few, and the story and its narrator sweep you toward a powerful conclusion. 30-year-old Aasmaani's mother, a charismatic political activist, disappeared nearly 15 years ago, two years after her lover, Pakistan's greatest poet, was brutally killed by the government. Now, Aasmaani is receiving letters written in a secret language known only by her mother and the poet. Could either or both still be alive? Aasmaani search for the truth and her mother's and the poet's whereabouts becomes an investigate into her own mind and heart. Filled with Shamsie's hallmark humor and lyricism and commentary on Pakistan's history and politics, BROKEN VERSES is a book that lingers in the mind long after the last page.
Shamsie's back with a BANG!! July 20, 2005
Saloni Kapur (Pune, India)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Based in Pakistan, this is a touching tale about a mother-daughter relationship. Thirty-one year old Aasmani is still dealing with the disappearance of her mother seventeen years ago, and sorting through her feelings of rejection, resentment and jealousy. Shamsie's style is gripping from cover to cover. Her first thriller is impossible to put down - I read it, beginning to end, from 11pm to 6am! The characters have a way of getting under your skin. The only flaw I found with the book is that the end doesn't quite hold together. But I guess that could be excused since it provides the surprise element. The novel gives an insight into the political life in Pakistan and portrays the plight of women under the Hudood ordinance. Paradoxically, it offers a glimpse into the lives of an unexpectedly liberal and unorthodox section of Pakistani society. The novel is perfect for a rainy day (preferably a Sunday) when you can curl up in your blanket, sip on a cup of warm chai, nibble on hot pakodas and relish Shamsie's creation at leisure.
 Sounded good, but I couldn't finish it August 24, 2005
Avid Reader (Atlanta GA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book sounded so intriguing from the back cover & the first 3 pages, & the author's writing style is great, but for the life of me I could not finish this book. The characters were likable enough, but as another reviewer said, I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did. It's too bad, because there are some nice observations & phrasings in the book, but the plot is seriously lacking.
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