01 November 2007

too near the surface

Kartography is a novel about violence and politics, corruption and inequality. But most of all it is about love. Raheen loves Zia. Zia loves himself and nobody really understands Karim enough to know what or who he loves. Set against a backdrop of a terrible hot summer, the teenage characters try to understand the mistakes of their parents and the confusion of their government.

In the beginning of the book, Karim and Rahhen - best friends since birth, are thirteen. It is the late 1980's but references are made to 1971 when as Raheen's father puts it "the music changed". 1971 is an important date for the characters of Kartography. It is the year when their parents met and crucially when the civil war between East and West Pakistan took place. A subject which is gently alluded to throughout the book.

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