“The Scatter Here Is Too Great”: A book review by Hina Fatima

“Reasons were invented, and stories were invented, and stories were reasons that allowed us to connect ourselves to the world, to compose ourselves in ways that others could read. Fragments were true, but we needed stories greater than fragments. We needed stories to imagine the mad world we lived in.”

And how beautifully, almost realistic fragments are amalgamated into stories about different souls coming from the various pulses of Karachi. From the real-life scenes on the streets of Karachi to Cantt. Station to Seaview; all are depictions a true Karachiite may have experienced at one time or another.

There is something or the other about ourselves in the stories within the lives of the characters that one can relate to; a little part of our lives somewhere, be it a bomb blast in the city or the loss of a loved one or a date on the shores of Seaview or simply the frustration of driving on the roads of Karachi. There is something there about every one of us.

Tanveer takes you from one two-story to another, forming a complex relationship from one character to the other. A story within a story itself. A book you wouldn’t want to put down.

A Book Review by Hina Fatima