Shades of understanding

THE SHADOW OF THE CRESCENT MOON
Author: Fatima Bhutto
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 240
Price: Rs 499

 

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, Fatima Bhutto's 231-page debut novel, starts at 9:00 in the morning and ends at noon. With extensive use of flashback, that's enough for her to skillfully tell a gripping story of betrayal, oppression, revenge and manipulation. The novel is set in a fictional Waziristan town named Mir Ali. There are several wars happening here, all at once: people against the army, the Taliban against the people, army against the Taliban, Sunni versus Shia, drones being rained on innocents and militants alike - the list is long.

If a novel is a reflection of the times, the picture that emerges is truly bleak: a million mutinies seem to be playing out in this small town. It's not just a simple clash of cultures, the old order trying its best not to yield to the new order, but a war in which there will be no clear winners. Bhutto, on her part, dismisses any suggestion that there is a clash of cultures happening within Pakistan. "It looks like a clash from outside because there is such a singular view of Pakistan," she says while on a promotional tour in New Delhi. "Pakistan is a place with so many pathways. It may look like a clash but I don't know how organic or natural it is. To me, that is manipulated, convenient and dictated. The new generation of Pakistanis isn't isolated; they want to be more connected. That creates a harmony." To be sure, the principal characters in Bhutto's book are all young; their conversations and concerns are no different from their counterparts anywhere else. You will not find in her book the jihadi stereotype, angry with the world and seeking a return to the dark ages.

Call it coincidence but all recent narrative from Pakistan - most of it of extremely high quality, including the masterful film, Khuda Kay Liye - has been one of pain, except Mohammad Hanif's wickedly funny A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Bhutto acknowledges that a different Pakistan also exists - the one of McDonald's and fashion shows - but she chose to write about the other one. She is, after all, an activist, though a future in politics is not on her mind.

That's significant because Bhutto is the granddaughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan. Her previous book, Songs of Blood and Sword, had told the story of the Bhutto family from her perspective. The underlying sentiment of that book is pain, loss and angst. Traces of her own life experiences, which she had narrated in the earlier book, can be found in good measure in The Shadow of the Crescent Moon. One, there is the overbearing state: devious, impersonal, ruthless and untrustworthy. Two, the women emerge stronger and stronger as the story progresses. And three, there is betrayal at the end.

Though The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is a story of three brothers who set out on different errands one morning from home on Eid, the women take over halfway through the plot. One survives at the end, the other doesn't. "If you look at survival and those who have to bear the heaviest load, in Pakistan or anywhere else in the world, I think women take the lion's share," Bhutto says. The world, she adds, thinks women in South Asia are quiet and docile, forever ready to make peace with their fate. "But to survive in a climate like south Asia, you have to be strong, you have to be a fighter." Her book seeks to debunk the belief that there is one kind of woman in Pakistan, somebody who hides in the background and has no voice.

Those who thought Bhutto would be left with no stories to tell after Songs of Blood and Sword erred in their judgment.