Description
The Broken Verses is an acclaimed novel by the Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie, published in the year 2005. The novel is a read rich in thought, full of texture, and nuance to both personal loss and political history-as well as the intricacies of life between mothers and daughters.
Karachi, Pakistan Aasmaani Inqalab is haunted by the disappearance of two important figures from her life: her mother, Samina, a rising star in the field of feminist activism, and her mother’s lover, an influential poet known as “The Poet,” whose disappearance was found to have a connection to some political disturbances. For years, she cannot come to terms with that loss and the dark silhouette cast over her life.
It’s years later when cryptic messages written in code, only known to her and the Poet, start appearing. Aasmaani begins to wonder whether he was still alive. The journey of solving the clues will teach her how to confront painful memories and unresolved grief, as well as the legacy of her mother’s activism.
Broken Verses is a novel about identity, political resistance and the fusion of personal and public lives, and above all, about the cost of loss. Shamsie manages to weld dramatic narrative with lyrical prose, infusing personal drama with Pakistan’s turbulent political history. This novel is at once a mystery and a meditation on love, art, and in the glow of the finish line – about the enduring impact left by those we lost.
2/2
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