Wish Maker The (PB)

the strong begins strongly but then becomes dull and repetitive. i was disappointed

I don't like he printing quality of this book so I just returned it..

I received a pirated copy with low quality paper which was clearly just photocopies of the book. Definitely not a penguin published copy

Ali Seth's The Wish Maker is his debut novel and I so hope there will be others to follow as it is such an excellent read. The story revolves round Zaki, recently returned to Pakistan for his cousin Samar's wedding. The two grew up together and are best friends as well as cousins. Zaki takes the reader on a journey into his childhood and we share his journey to adulthood, meeting all the members of his extended family and the servants attached to the household. We come to know these people very well and to care about them. It is beautifully written; witty, sad, funny and a totally satisfying read which offers a real insight into life in Pakistan.Reviewed by Mary Smith, author of  No More MulberriesNo More Mulberries

This book is rather aimed for teenagers rather than for adults - most of the content seem to be monotonous.

I should warn you right away, this book doesn't have a lot of suspense, you don't have to wait for what might happen in the end.The novel is about an upper middle class family in Lahore. It is similar to a lot of other novels coming out from Pakistan since 2000. The writer growing up in Pakistan, going to colleges in America, and to a lesser extent in Britain, coming back, and writing books in English.After the protagonist in this novel comes back from America, he narrates his life growing up, his parents' life, especially his mom's, and his grandparent's.There's quite a lot on the politics of the county, especially during the 80s and 90s. The author's focus is this upper call family and their sheltered environment. There's almost nothing on other people--their servants--their lives, their struggles. It's probably because other than the western audience, the vast majority of people in Pakistan who would read this book, will also belong to that small elite class.The flaw in this novel is that author doesn't deeply divulge into lives of characters, I felt the description of almost all the characters is at the superficial level. I didn't get to see why people did what they did, they just did it.

Sorry, but it was drag to read. May have been something interesting for the class of people with similar living conditions.It was a good decision on Mr. Sethi's part to move to acting. That suits him a lot better than this literary endeavor.

I ordered the book from this company, said used and in good condition. They were exactly right, and it came when they said it would. I will definitely order from them again.