Product Description

The linked stories in In Other Rooms, Other Wonders illuminate a place and a people as they describe the overlapping worlds of an extended Pakistani landowning family: the servants and dependents in Mr. K.K. Harouni's overflowing Lahore household, the peasants on his estates who rely on his favor, and the parallel world of his industrialist brother, who has distanced himself from the feudal past. Inextricably bound to each other, the characters confront the advantages and constraints of station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change. A girl, a socialite from a decayed feudal family, tires of endless parties, of drinking and drugs, and marries a young landlord in an attempt to reinvent herself. A light-fingered electrician who by tricks and ingenuity supports his twelve daughters comes perilously close to losing all that he has worked for. Elsewhere, an aged laborer by a stroke of luck earns enough money to marry a young, mentally disturbed girl - who vanishes soon after the wedding, exposing the old man to charges of murder.These richly textured stories reveal - at times humorously, at times tragically - the complexities of Pakistani class and culture, as they describe the loves, triumphs, misunderstandings and tragedies of this diverse group of characters. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders marks the arrival of a major new literary talent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #363432 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
'Under Daniyal Mueenuddin's gaze, Pakistan is lit up as though by a lightning flash, clear, sharp-edged. This is a debut as auspicious as Jhumpa Lahiri's. From the outset there is something arresting, beautiful, or wise (as opposed to clever) on every single page. I can hardly believe this book exists - it's so remarkable, I admire it so deeply.' --Nadeem Aslam

`An astonishing collection of short stories by the new star of South Asian fiction'
--William Dalrymple

Review
'A stunning achievement. This superb collection ranges across a vast swath of contemporary Pakistan - from megacities to isolated villages, from feudal landlords to servant girls - and such is its narrative power that I couldn't stop turning the page. Daniyal Mueenuddin is a writer of enormous ambition, and he has the prodigious talent to match.'

Review
`An astonishing collection of tales...reveals a writer who seems to combine the intimate rural rootedness and gentle humour of RK Narayan with the literary sophistication and sylishness of Jhumpa Lahiri.'