A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Thorndike Large Print Laugh Lines) - Hardcover

Hanif, Mohammed

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410409600 ISBN 13: 9781410409607

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 2008

Synopsis

There is an ancient saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. A Case of Exploding Mangoes is the story of one such plane. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of:
1.Mechanical failure
2.Human error
3.The CIA's impatience
4.A blind woman's curse
5.Generals not happy with their pension plans
6.The mango season

Or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri?

Here are the facts:

A military dictator reads the Quran every morning as if it was his daily horoscope.

Under Officer Ali Shigri carries a deadly message on the tip of his sword.

His friend Obaid answers all life's questions with a splash of eau de cologne and a quote from Rilke.

A crow has crossed the Pakistani border illegally.
As young Shigri moves from a mosque hall to his military barracks before ending up in a Mughal dungeon, there are questions that haunt him: What does it mean to betray someone and still love them? How many names does Allah really have? Who killed his father, Colonel Shigri? Who will kill his killers? And where the hell has Obaid disappeared to?

Teasing, provocative, and very funny, Mohammed Hanif's debut novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries and out if it spins a tale as rich and colourful as a beggar's dream.

About this title

Review

"Zesty, highly inventive...Hanif is a gifted writer...His explosive finale is brilliantly constructed" (Daily Mail)

"Exuberant and satirical: this is an angry comedy about Zia's brutal legacy to Pakistan" (Observer)

"Witty, elegaic and deliciously anarchic" (John Le Carré)

"A Pakistan not reducible to generals, jets and jihadisa...a debut novel shaped as much by the subcontinents fascination with history and historical figures as by political thrillers in the tradition of Forsyth and Le Carre.... Along the way there is plenty of humour and slapstick... Cadet life is entertainingly evoked, overflowing with japes, jerkoffs, hashish highs and liquored lows... The most unexpected aspect of Mangoes is also its most compelling - the wryly told story of a love affair between two cadets" (Guardian)

"Entertaining.... darkly comic.... There are sharply observed sketches of toadying ministers, mindlessly efficient security chiefs, filthy prison cells, sex-mad Arab sheikhs and erudite communist prisoners...as a piece of political satire, A Case of Exploding Mangoes deserves a high mark" (Independent)

Book Description

A superb debut novel centred around the assassination of the Pakistani dictator General Zia.

Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Novel and shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2008.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1410409600
• ISBN 13: 9781410409607
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 535