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Fiction. Literature. HTML: The acclaimed author of The Wasted Vigil now gives us a searing, exquisitely written novel set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the months following 9/11: a story of war, of one family�??s losses, and of the simplest, most enduring human impulses. Jeo and Mikal are foster brothers from a small town in Pakistan. Though they were inseparable as children, their adult lives have diverged: Jeo is a dedicated medical student, married a year; Mikal has been a vagabond since he was fifteen, in love with a woman he can�??t have. But when Jeo decides to sneak across the border into Afghanistan�??not to fight with the Taliban against the Americans, rather to help care for wounded civilians�??Mikal determines to go with him, to protect him. Yet Jeo�??s and Mikal�??s good intentions cannot keep them out of harm�??s way. As the narrative takes us from the wilds of Afghanistan to the heart of the family left behind�??their blind father, haunted by the death of his wife and by the mistakes he may have made in the name of Islam and nationhood; Mikal�??s beloved brother and sister-in-law; Jeo�??s wife, whose increasing resolve helps keep the household running, and her superstitious mother�??we see all of these lives upended by the turmoil of war. In language as lyrical as it is piercing, in scenes at once beautiful and harrowing, The Blind Man�??s Garden unflinchingly describes a crucially contemporary yet timeless world in which the line between enemy and ally is indistinct, and where the desire to return hom… (more)
User reviews
Rohan runs a school in a village called Heer (interesting name sounds like here). He has one son, Jeo, who is a doctor in training--the author is a doctor--and a step-son, Mikal, who is an orphan. The 2 boys go to Afghanistan naively thinking they can contribute as medics to the war effort on the side of the Afghans. However, they discover quite quickly that this is not so easy. Jeo is killed almost immediately and Mikal, the narrator, is taken captive by a warlord, who amputates his trigger fingers and proceeds to sell him to the American. Meanwhile, Jeo's wife,Nedeem, who is also Mikal's paramour, receives Jeo's body and goes in search of Mikal after she learns from Rohan that he also has died. She becomes convinced that Mikal is still alive and waits for his return.
Meanwhile, Mikal is sent on a mission by the warlord to steal a religious relic but that fails he ends up at a brick mosque where he is picked up by Americans. He is tortured by the Americans and, when they realize he has no information for them, they plan to release him back at the mosque. However, Mikal panics when he thinks they are planning to kill him and he kills 2 of them instead. Mikal then escapes into the hills. Eventually he discovers an injured American, who is the brother of one of the victims at the brick mosque. Mikal takes his rescue and salvation on as a cause. His motivation for doing this is a little obscure. This is one of the central themes of the novel--shared humanity. They start out hating each other, but slowly learn to care for each other despite no shared language and minimal ability to communicate. There is lots of adventure to follow, but Mikal turns out to be very clever, courageous and resourceful. I really liked the way they managed to call in the Americans using the muezzin's loudspeaker. A bit far-fetched, but fun.
Aslam also develops the characters back in Heer well-enough. There is a terrorist event at a Christian school, where Nedeem is held and eventually mistakenly reveals who Basi is (Mikal's brother). The hostage-takers kill him. There is another side story where Sharif Sharif, the man who once raped Nedeem's mother, Tara, wants to marry Nedeem and offers to and pay for their home save Rohan's sight. This fails when Mikal returns-possibly carried in the American chopper. Sharif disappears.
The story ends well for Nedeem and Mikal with 2 kids, one is Nedeem's (child of Jeo or possibly Mikal) and one from Yasmin, the wife of Basi. Rohan loses his sight but survives.
Aslam could have so easily succumbed to stridency and pontification about the Taliban and extremism whether Islamic
This is a novel to which I will return again and again, each time finding pleasure in the subtle tragedy Aslam reveals. Highly recommended.