Maps for Lost Lovers [Hardcover]

Nadeem Aslam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2005

Jugnu and his lover, Chanda, have disappeared.

Though unmarried, they had been living together, embracing the contemporary mores of the English town where they lived but disgracing themselves in the eyes of their close-knit Pakistani community. Rumors about their disappearance abound, but five months go by before anything certain is known. Finally, on a snow-covered January morning, Chanda’s brothers are arrested for the murder of their sister and Jugnu.

Shock and disbelief spread through the community, and for Jugnu’s brother, Shamas, and his wife, Kaukab, it is a moment that marks the beginning of the unraveling of all that is sacred to them. As the novel unfolds over the next twelve months, we watch Kaukab struggle to maintain her Islamic piety as the effects of the double murder prove increasingly corrosive to the life of her family.

Upon its publication last year in England, Alan Hollinghurst praised Maps for Lost Lovers as “haunting, vivid, and tender,” and Colm Tóibín hailed it as “a superb achievement, a book in which every detail is nuanced, every piece of drama carefully choreographed, even minor characters carefully drawn.” Beautifully written, emotionally and sensually arresting—“a Persian love poem for the twenty-first century” (Books Quarterly)—this deeply felt and moving novel explores the heart of a family at the crossroads of culture, nationality, religion, and the most personal crises of faith. Maps for Lost Lovers introduces American readers to a magnificent voice in fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this poignant, lushly written novel, Aslam (Season of the Rainbirds) explores the interwoven lives of Pakistani immigrants in an English town they have rechristened Dasht-e-Tanhaii, "the Wilderness of Solitude" or "the Desert of Loneliness." The disappearance of Jugnu and Chanda, lovers who broke Islamic law to live in sin, throws the small community into upheaval. The police arrest Chanda's brothers, whom they believe murdered the couple to avenge their family's shame. Meanwhile, Jugnu's brother, Shamas, contemplates the loss, occasionally clashing with his wife, Kaukab, a devout Muslim who overtly disapproved of the relationship. Aslam depicts an insular ex-pat Pakistani community fighting to preserve its cultural heritage and losing the battle to its Western-born children—often quite violently. At the heart of the turmoil is sexual freedom, and Aslam illustrates the many ways women's lives are restricted and romantic love is denied in the name of religion. At times, Aslam's critique grows didactic, as when he saddles his characters with long stretches of wooden, philosophical dialogue. But in Kaukab, the lonely, sympathetic believer who inadvertently alienated her own children, Aslam personifies the conflicts of acculturation, crafting a truthful story that resists easy conclusions. (May 8)
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From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–A Pakistani enclave in contemporary London is beset by uncertainty when an unmarried Muslim couple–an impossibility for many with loyal Pakistani and religious ties to imagine, let alone condone–are found murdered. Kaukab, the deeply religious middle-aged woman who is both a neighbor and the man's sister-in-law, grapples with the fact that the pair lay dead for many days before being discovered. Kaukab is also struggling with her aging body, her younger son's alienation, and her husband's inattentiveness to Muslim law. Readers see most clearly into Kaukab's world, but her viewpoint is not the only one represented: her husband reveals his inner life and, in the end, the last morning the murdered couple lived is recounted, as are the actions and thoughts of their killers. In spite of the adult concerns of this novel, high school students, especially those with knowledge of Pakistani émigrés, will find this tale spellbinding. Aslam writes beautifully and evokes each character's emotion with elegance.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (May 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400042429
• ISBN-13: 978-1400042425
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Flag of a Deeper Colour, May 18, 2005

By 

Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maps for Lost Lovers (Hardcover)

Maps for Lost Lovers takes place in 1997 and is set over the course of a year in an unnamed community in England with a large Muslim population. It's primary focus is a married couple, Shamas, a non-believer and Kaukab, his pious wife. There are many mysteries threaded throughout this beautifully written novel, but the central one focuses on the disappearance of Shamas' brother Jugnu and the woman he was living with, Chanda. The two were not married and therefore were perceived to be living in a state of sin according to Muslim belief. Chanda's two brothers have been accused of murdering the couple. Over the course of the year, the trial over their suspected murder unfolds and many hidden secrets of the community are brought to light. It's a story of great suspense, giving precious insight into a very closed community that is struggling to maintain the beliefs of the country they left and the religion which is in many ways antithetical to modern English life.

It took Aslam over ten years to write this novel, working largely in solitude and subsisting on a very humble income. The beautifully wrought passages attest to the concentrated labour used to create them and the vast amount of time he spent with these characters shows in the penetrating insight he gives to their individual minds and hearts. The lyrical style of the novel which uses metaphor upon metaphor might at first be a distraction to the reader. However, this persistent way of likening one thing to another reflects the attitudes of people in this community who persistently compare things in England to their home country. It's a device by the author to show how they are in some ways unable to see things in England as they really are. One of the most remarkable things about this novel is the shocking, extremely violent reactions by the Muslim community used to condemn some of the characters' actions. Aslam based all these events on real reported incidents. He also depicts the extremely intolerant and racist attitudes of non-Muslims to this community of immigrants. However, at the same time the author shows how deeply compassionate members of the community are to each other and the difficult struggle they experience trying to maintain their beliefs in opposition to the more extreme Muslim behaviour some of them disapprove of. Aslam has spoken about how moderate Muslim's need to speak up in today's world and dispel the popular Western view that all people of this religion are dangerous extremists. This rich, entertaining and poignant novel is a testament to that struggle.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, timely, insightful, intense, August 6, 2005

By 

Leslie Newman (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Maps for Lost Lovers (Hardcover)

The poetry of this book required that I read it slowly. The metaphor-rich first chapter introduces us to Shamas, a Pakistani immigrant, in his soul a poet, living in England. We meet his wife Kaukab, a devout Muslim, with more direct language, with the smells of food preparation and the beauty of fabrics immersing the reader in her everyday life.

The compelling murder mystery that drives the story provides a context for the central motif: how traditional religion both serves and disserves its community, how literal interpretation of religious texts competes with reason, how love and marriage which so often defy control are strictly governed, leading to much unhappiness for both men and women, with women suffering most harshly.

The novel presents assimilation as a tremendous threat to this immigrant community, the systematic discrimination and daily indignities reinforcing its isolation, and also as the only avenue, at least some measure of assimilation, to a less constrained, less superstitious, less oppressive and potentially less oppressed life.

The story takes place pre-9/11 and of course, pre the London bombings this year. Having come this far with Shamas, Kaukab and their children, I am saddened to think about how their burdens have increased, and I thank the novel for allowing me to make this connection.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a masterpiece of imagery and emotion!, June 24, 2006

By 

NaughtiLiterati (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Maps for Lost Lovers (Paperback)

I have never read a more exquisitely written and detailed novel in my life and am reluctant to finish it! It is a story that can be read over and over and I know that I will because THIS is top-notch writing! Though the descriptions CAN be lengthy, they don't interrupt the flow of the story but rather add to them because you are being painted a picture and can take a second to imagine and have your senses thrilled. It's quite erotic!

I'm not going into the details of the story because that's what the jacket copy is for and other reviewers have already done for me, but what I loved best was the unflinching portrayal of the Muslim community - and the way he wrote his characters; so vivid, flawed and HUMAN that if they were appear right next to you, you wouldn't bat an eye.

I also recommend Bodies in Motion by Mary Anne Mohanraj and That Summer In Paris (but especially Babyji) by Abha Dawesar for more delicious and provocative tales of South Asians.