About this title: A first novel about an appealingly hapless young druggy, high-living jet-setter in Pakistan. A New York Times Notable Book for the year 2000.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good in Good jacket. First Edition. 216-W Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T), Gordonsville, Virginia
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780374213541ISBN:0374213542
Description: Fair in Fair jacket. 0374213542 This book has some shelf wear as well as marks on the jacket and pages. The library stamps and stickers are still on this book. This book is 245 pages. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. 0374213542 Gently Used Book ~ some pages with light pencil marks, otherwise Neat & Tight Binding ~ all books carefully examined & well packaged. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9782126777455ISBN:2126777456
Description: Good. Creases on front cover, light shelf wear to corners, front cover is lifting, dampstains on front and back covers as well as ffep, felt marker on bottom edge of book, sticker on back cover. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780312273231ISBN:0312273231
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Picador USA
Date Published: 2001-02-01
ISBN-13:9780312273231ISBN:0312273231
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780312273231. read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: GRANTA BOOKS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9781862074057ISBN:1862074054
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 272 pages. (272 pages) pakistan, summer 1998. in lahore, daru shezab loses his job. soon he has fallen for his best friend's wife and started mixing heroin and hash. "moth smoke" tells the story of daru's spectacular downfall: a bittersweet tale of politics and corruption, of friendsh1p and betrayal. edition new ed (Paperback) read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780374213541ISBN:0374213542
Description: Very Good in Near Fine dust jacket. 9780374213541. For a complete description, please inquire.; Tight, unread Review Copy w/press material included.; Catalog #AA81. read more
"This book is my all time favorite novel. I love Hamid's lyrical quality, love his images, his wry observations, love the sex scene around pg 98, I've memorized lines from this book, that's how much I love it. I read this book as an 18 year old fed on fiction that was never about people who looked or sounded like me and it filled my lungs with breath sweeter than ever."
"I chose this book because it was written by a Pakistani. You get a different picture of the country from this book than you do from Three Cups of Tea. This story is set in Lahore and the narrator/"hero," the son of a soldier killed in action, lives on the fringes of the wealthy (corrupt) class in Lahore-his father's comrade, after leaving the military and entering government service (where he found opportunities to make lots of not-so-honest money) has taken Daru's family sort of under his wing. So Daru goes to good schools but can't afford to attend university in the U.S. He gets a decent job in the banking industry but only, as it turns out, because his benefactor arranged it. Key to the story is the relationship between Daru and the son of his father's former comrade-as well as the son's wife. There are drugs and crime. Characters react to Pakistan's nuclear bomb tests. Most of the story is told from Daru's point of view, but several chapters are "written" by Ozi (the friend), Mumtaz (the friend's wife), Murad Badshah (a drug-dealing rickshaw driver) and a judge before whom Daru appears for a crime that I obviously can't give details about here! I found the Ozi chapter the most compelling because it revealed the mind-set of prosperous urban Pakistanis. Islam plays absolutely no role in these people's lives. A note at the end of the book indicates that the story is meant to be an allegory to illustrate the fragmentation of the country, and it works pretty well. The style seemed a tiny bit contrived at times but in general I found the descriptions and dialog satisfying."
"I could only think of one word to describe this book when I finished reading this book and that was a pathetic 'Amazing'. I was left speechless by the magnitude of its 'Amazingness'.
A book dealing with the one reality of our dear country with such truth and horror that I was left almost shaking with enlightened disbelief. Everyone is guilty of one thing or another but no one is held accountable for what they actually did, instead are convicted for a crime that was not of their doing. The moths seemed to symbolise our people and the flame was a symbol of the various temptations and obsessions we so easily give in to, be it wealth, lust or spite and jealousy. We seem to be drawn in by the outward magnificence of the flame's glorious burning but fail to comprehend that if we get to close to it the inevitable singing will occur as we too become a fuel for it: an ever consuming furnace.
As far as the strange case of Darashikhu Shehzad is concerned, he is a disturbed fellow whose downfall seems to be catalysed by the entry of Mumtaz into his life. He was doomed to fall from the start and failed to feel sorry for him at any point in the novel except one. Ironically, I felt for him only when he shot at the little boy in the boutique. He was not in control of his actions at that moment and it seemed rather clear that he was going to do something that he would live to regret. However, to be tainted by the murder of an innocent child and that too out of spite and hatred for another innocent child undeserving of such feelings was his ultimate falling. I kept on wishing that somehow things could have turned out differently on that fateful day.
Mumtaz, a woman who was trapped in a situation she had brought upon herself: to be married when she least wanted to settle down and to have given birth to a child when she least wanted to be responsible for anyone.
Aurangzeb, AKA Ozi, the infamous wealthy son of a wealthy man, who has gotten pretty much everything he had ever desired. I have to admit that he was my least favourite character in the book. A man who supports corruption without guilt, who has grown up into a selfish jerk, who does not talk to his friend for days just because he showed disapproval when disapproval was justly shown. In short he was nothing more that a man indifferent to all things but those directly related to his well being. I don't blame him for being so, but I don't like him either. He is the ultimate example of that sort of person about whom a girl's parents warn her to stay well away from.
Murad Badshah, a fat man wanting not to be told what he really is. Not in terms of his weight and neither in terms of his criminal status. A man who is so self righteous in contrast to his actual being which is anything but righteous, I believe he was truely an incredible creation. What shocked me though was the fact that what was a man with a masters degree doing in the rickshaw business, especially in a time when the demand for english language was running so high? This made his position rather unbelievable for me but nonetheless amazing.
All in all, I believe that this book is a must read for all those interested in the socioeconomic state of Pakistan, as it sheds true light onto most of what is still happening in 'our poor country', the only one innocent out of all those who have ever been brought in court."
"Intense and grim contemporary noir from Pakistan, which sets nuclear anxiety as the backdrop for the steady progress of moral decay in the protagonist's soul.
I found this pretty gripping from about the second page on and actually stood outside my front door with my keys in one hand and the book in the other for five minutes as I read the last few pages."
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