A Case Of Exploding Mangoes
Mohammed Hanif


The point of departure for this debut novel is historical fact.
On Aug 17, 1988, a military plane carrying Pakistan's ruling dictator General Zia ul-Haq crashed under mysterious circumstances. He was killed along with several of his top generals and the American ambassador.
In the author's imagination, General Zia's death becomes an overdetermined event. He is paranoid for a good reason - everyone is out to get him.
There is General Akhtar, chafing under the label of the country's second most powerful man and plotting to seize the reins of control.
Blind Zainab, unjustly sentenced to death after being raped, unleashes a curse that finds its way to a winged harbinger of doom, a crow.
And officer cadet Ali Shigri plans an act of vengeance over the death of his colonel father.
The Pakistan-born Mohammed has fun skewering the buffoonish dictator and uses dark humour to convey the ludicrousness of life under a religious zealot.
He also works in unexpected sexual tension and romantic tenderness in the story of Ali, the character the novel focuses on.
Even as the various strands of story converge and the novel marches towards a pre-ordained conclusion, the writer manages to ratchet up the suspense and sustain one's interest.
But the ending falls short of being the explosive finale implicit in the build-up and promised in the title.


If you like this, read: Animal Farm by George Orwell
This political allegory is a classic study of how power corrupts.
(ST)