Customer Reviews

Maps for Lost Lovers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As Asian literature, Aslam Nadeem's "Maps For Lost Lovers" is a vastly superior piece of fiction and far more engaging and enjoyable than Monica Ali's overpraised "Brick Lane". The story of Kaukab, her husband Shamas, their three British-born children and extended family of relatives is simply heartbreaking in its exposition of the trauma of immigration and how failure of assimilation into a culturally alien environment can tear even the closest family apart. Other than her physical person, Kaukab never left Pakistan. Her stubborn refusal to accept even the tiniest aspect of her host society's mores and steadfast attachment to her own religious way of life only finds her increasing stranded from the rest of her family who - must needs - move on. Even Shamas, her husband, is driven into the arms of a divorced Muslim woman who, trapped by the dictates of her religion, has her own agenda and axe to grind. Her children flees from her clutches in desperation to find their own place in a new society.

The murder mystery surrounding Jugnu's & Chanda's disappearance and various other subplots are nothing more than plot devices to show the wickedness of an old society out of step with the rest of the modern world. Here, Nadeem's demonisation of his ancestors' old world values unsettles the nice balance he could have achieved with a more even handed approach. He even, subconciously perhaps, forgets to paint in a personality for the white daughter-in-law Stella who remains a curiously unwritten minor character in the family saga. And I'm not sure he doesn't condone the monstrous behaviour of the westernised younger son. I certainly don't.

Nadeem's prose is both beautifully lyrical and overwrought, depending on one's own taste. His sentences are often suffused with images and metaphors that convey the smell and taste of the natural world (eg, butterflies, exotic flowers, fruits and trees, etc), they lose their value when they keep interrupting the development and flow of his ideas and when this happens, become an unnecessary distraction. The novel would in my view have profited from a little less heavyhanded stylistic approach.

Despite these flaws, "Maps For Lost Lovers" is a wonderfully impressive piece of work that deserves as wide a readership as the inferior "Brick Lane" got. Highly recommended.

Can't say much more than that. The writing is gorgeous beyond anything I have read in a long long time. The story is enlightening amd helps me to better understand the ideas of the Islamic terrorists and extremists. It doesn't really matter the country or culture or religion- it happens in countries all over the world - when religious ideas become so all encompassing, rigid and the only way to look at the world. The cruelty to women is mind bending in its totality. It sounds like I am describing a really brutal and depressing but there is tons of Love and Light in it also. Thank you Nadeem Aslam !!!!!!!!!!!

As other folks have pointed out the writing style of this novel is just wonderful. Metaphors, similes, juxtaposed-imagery and detailed character buildup are all very delightful to read and appreciate. Surely a lot of effort has gone into writing such fiction. Hats off and much accolade to Nadeem Aslam for creating such a work of literary genius for us.
However, I was extremely disappointed by the story itself. To me it read like a 300+ page tirade against everything Pakistani, Islamic or even remotely culturally related to Muslims. Initially I thought that there would be some balance to this extremely biased portrayal of labor-class that came to England in the 50s and 60s, mainly from the subcontinent. However I didn't find any till the very end. Every sentence and every paragraph was filled with demeaning and degrading comments/observations about the traditional Pakistani/Islamic customs and traditions.
I find it difficult to see what purpose such a book can serve? Surely its acidic contents/message cannot create any inter-community harmony or understanding. At best it would help in creating a very skewed and uncivilized perspective about its subject - the subcontinental labor class in England.
But I suggest that this book should be enjoyed just for its writing and not much thought should be given to what's actually written.

The writing, the story, the descriptions of nature, the main character, all totally beautiful. The only slight worry might be that submerging yourself in the large part of this novel that concerns truly conservative Moslems, mostly in the UK, might turn you almost Islamophobic, sympathetic to David Cameron's latest words on the subject. Just keep in mind how many backward, closed-minded people there are in almost ANY religious or national community you can think of, and you can sail right through.

I know almost nothing about the ex-pat Pakistani community in England or anywhere. This book was a real eye-opener. However, I was so caught up in the strange Muslim customs and beliefs that Aslam portrays that I was set off-kilter when a wealthy Pakistani walks through the neighborhood decrying the ignorance of the poor residents. Suddenly, I thought that I must be careful not to allow myself to generalize that this story is telling the story of all Pakistanis who live abroad.
Aslam's writing is indeed lush, and the metaphors are all original and often very beautiful. Frequently, though I felt like the moths he describes--caught in the images, but missing the context. A good read, but not an easy one.

I am really disappointed and appalled that people are so fond of this book. It is one of the most oppressive, melodramatic books I have ever read, with little to offer in the way of redemption for its characters (or readers!). There is no dialogue here, as some critics claim...it's an endless, sadistic lament about Pakistani culture and Islam, with no complexity or sensitivity, and no true representation of other ways of being a practicing Muslim or being a Pakistani. The character, Shamas, who ostensibly symbolizes "moderate Islam" is in fact a communist with Hindu parentage, while all other "believers" in the book are caricatured as vindictive, small-minded maniacs. Shamas and Kaukab's sons, mouthpieces for Western values, are unnecessarily cruel and unbelievable. Likewise, the author's excruciating overuse of ridiculous metaphors made a chore of reading. I finished the book only to see if it would actually continue to the bitter end this way. I fear that the book's popularity is due to the fact that it merely reinfores the stereotypes that are destructively circulating in the world today. What a shame.

I thought Maps for Lost Lovers was beautifully written and gave a glimpse into a community I knew very little about. I don't quite understand some of the other reviewer's belief that Maps was a piece of anti-Islamic propaganda or trying to perpetuate negative stereotypes. I am neither Muslim nor Pakistani but if anything the work facilitated a greater appreciation of the Pakistani community and Islam. I am a minority and the fact is stereotypes do exist. Some arise from factual representations in a community and others grow from a fear others may project onto that community, but acting like we don't have them is ridiculous. And what exactly were the stereotypes? That some Pakistani people believe in djinns or are religious zealots? Well there may be people like that in the Muslim world, but there are people like that in every religion, in every culture. While I can see how one may think that the book gives a narrow perspective of Pakistani life, the book does not claim to be an informative work on ALL of Pakistani culture. It is a story that focuses on ONE community in ONE part of the world. Anyone who would conclude that this book obviously is representative of a whole group of people is ignorant and most likely wouldn't pick up the book in the first place. As for the mountains of metaphors, well that is just personal preference and while I didn't find it annoying I could see how it could become tedious to others. But the butterfly/moth metaphor served a purpose. It spoke to the nature of man to be drawn to things in our life that may ultimately hurt us in the end (such as the liaisons between the Hindu boy and the Muslim girl or Chanda and Jugnu), like a moth to a flame. Whether you like the book or not, I always think it behooves people to learn about another culture as long as you are cognizant of the fact that it is rarely, if ever, representative of all the people of that culture.