The Wandering Falcon [Hardcover]

Jamil Ahmad (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 13, 2011

A haunting literary debut set in the forbidding remote tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Traditions that have lasted for centuries, both brutal and beautiful, create a rigid structure for life in the wild, astonishing place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet-the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It is a formidable world, and the people who live there are constantly subjected to extremes-of place and of culture.

The Wandering Falcon begins with a young couple, refugees from their tribe, who have traveled to the middle of nowhere to escape the cruel punishments meted out upon those who transgress the boundaries of marriage and family. Their son, Tor Baz, descended from both chiefs and outlaws, becomes "The Wandering Falcon," a character who travels among the tribes, over the mountains and the plains, into the towns and the tents that constitute the homes of the tribal people. The media today speak about this unimaginably remote region, a geopolitical hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks, and conflict, but in the rich, dramatic tones of a master storyteller, this stunning, honor-bound culture is revealed from the inside.

Jamil Ahmad has written an unforgettable portrait of a world of custom and compassion, of love and cruelty, of hardship and survival, a place fragile, unknown, and unforgiving.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Superb. The work of a gifted story teller who has lived in the world of his fiction, and who offers his readers rare insight, wisdom and-above all- pleasure." – Mohsin Hamid, author of Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

"I’ve been talking about this book to anyone who will listen. From page one, I was transported to a land of nomadic tribes who live and die by ancestral codes. But The Wandering Falcon is not only about tribes. It is about honor, love, loyalty, and grace. And it is about borders--geographical, political, and personal. The terrain where Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet may be cruel and unforgiving, but every page of this book is filled with beauty and humanity. By the final pages, I found myself transformed." – Nami Mun, author of Miles from Nowhere

"I've been talking about this book to anyone who will listen. From page one, I was transported to a land of nomadic tribes who live and die by ancestral codes. But The Wandering Falcon is not only about tribes. It is about honor, love, loyalty, and grace. And it is about borders--geographical, political, and personal. The terrain where Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet may be cruel and unforgiving, but every page of this book is filled with beauty and humanity. By the final pages, I found myself transformed." – The New York Times

"[Y]ou instantly care so much about that boy and his fate that you can hardly stand to stop reading. The early chapters are reminiscent of masterpieces like Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which also features a boy alone in a gorgeous but harsh and often terrifying desert landscape.... [T]he characters, the tales, and the landscape are rendered with clarity, sympathy, and insight. The author makes us travel with him.... The book offers a rich picture of the "mountainous, lawless tribal areas" we have previously known mainly for bullets and bombs." – Steve Inskeep, NPR

"A striking debut...The power and beauty of these stories are unparalleled in most fiction to come out of south Asia." – The Guardian

"[W]ritten with such a terrible beauty...With this novel Ahmad has followed Mark Twain's advice to write what he knows. And what he know is all the more fiction-worthy for his lived experience among these hardy people, much feared and little known...Highly accomplished first novel...Elegiac voice...They are neither romanticized nor vilified but shown in all their terrible, resilient beauty." – The Independent (UK)

"Tautly written... Fantastic... Drawn with tenderness but without sentimentality... Ahmad is a deft storyteller and his slim volume possesses a strong allure." – Financial Times

"Outstanding...The novel is more than a beautifully written piece of fiction; it is a socio-anthropological account of a tribal landscape that is changing rapidly. Executed brilliantly...This is a book worth more than its weight in gold." – Business World India
 

About the Author

Jamil Ahmad was born in 1930. He joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1954 and served mainly in the Frontier Province and Baluchistan. He was also development commissioner for the Frontier and chairman of the Tribal Development Corporation, and was posted as minister in Pakistan's embassy in Kabul at a critical time, before and during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He lives in Islamabad with his wife, Helga Ahmad, a nationally recognized environmentalist and social worker. This is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (October 13, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594488274
• ISBN-13: 978-1594488276
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Who but God knows what the future holds for me and this land?" September 3, 2011

By Evelyn Getchell TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

When one thinks of a place on the world map where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet, perhaps what first comes to mind is the War on Terror, extreme violence, death and destruction. But what of the time and space before the Soviets ever invaded the area? Before the stranglehold of the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalism? Before the U.S. invasion? Before geopolitics?

The Wandering Falcon is an intimate, poetic and poignant novel of that very time and space, charting the cultural and social landscape of the wild and formidable world known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Jamil Ahmad paints the fierce but beautiful landscape of a tribal people and their lives of hardship and survival, lived and endured in a cruel and unforgiving land of extremes, a land as beautiful as it is desolate.

The Wandering Falcon is nine exquisite chapters tracing the contours of the human spirit in a tribal landscape of mountains, plains and deserts of the FATA. Each story has empathy for the centuries old, honor-bound culture and an understanding of the ancestral codes of behavior which give rigid structure to life in the wild and free tribal regions.

Each chapter tells with relentless poetry and passion, the reality of life in one of the most crucial areas of the world today. With a poignant sense of dignity and humanity Jamil Ahmad addresses the emotional conflict between the allure of the region`s past and the inescapable pull of its future by narrating the story of Tor Baz, the Wandering Falcon.

At a time in the region following the World Wars but before the Soviets ever invaded it, Tor Baz - descendant of both tribal chiefs and outlaws, orphaned early in life and raised by several different "fathers" from various tribes - travels among his tribes, living out a full life, surviving the harsh extremes of both place and the men who populate it, ever journeying closer to God as each of the seven veils that separate man and God are lifted. He moves through his life with wisdom and grace, accepting his lot together with the cruelty and beauty that go with it, for - "Who but God knows what the future holds for me and this land?"

Jamil Ahmad's deceptively simple plotting in The Wandering Falcon is as bold as its setting, a time and a region which few of us can hardly imagine now that the same region is such an explosive hotbed of conflict and violence. Jamil Ahmad is able to keep alive the heart and soul of a people whose culture is lost in the backdrop of the current war.

The Wandering Falcon is a gentle and precise meditation on the fate of a tribal people, a superb and essential contribution to world literature. The novel is slim but it speaks volumes for the value of fiction in narrating the reality of life for a forgotten people in a forgotten time and space. The Wandering Falcon is a generously spirited evocation of the humanity in the terrible but beautiful place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet and where the Wandering Falcon moves ever closer to God.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful prose and illuminating tales of a harsh region... September 1, 2011

By 35-year Technology Consumer TOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

...that should be required reading for anybody wanting to understand the powerful cultural influences in the modern politics of southwest Asia.

Jamil Ahmad wrote "The Wandering Falcon" thirty years ago, and its appearance in print today is in time to offer a valuable cultural primer on a harsh land with seemingly inscrutable traditions. It follows the journey of Tor Baz, a son born to a couple on the run, fleeing from their transgression of tribal codes.

Set vaguely in the post WWII era, the inexact timing of events is a reflection of the infinite patience of the tribes that populate what we call Waziristan and Baluchestan (generally where the borders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan converge). "Six new moons" or the "return of two winters" is sufficient precision needed to measure events in the lives of the nomads at the center of this novel.

In elegantly spare prose, Ahmad describes the challenges of nomadic peoples who care about where they can graze their animals, where they can find water, where they can take their goods to market, and where they can take refuge from bitter winds, alkaline soils and harsh winters. The conflict of conformity with arbitrary national boundaries, and the collision of tribal and nomadic culture with modern concepts of central government are wonderfully illustrated. In this book, the culture of the tribe trumps even the teachings of the Koran.

This is the tableau laid out in the life of Tor Baz, who even among nomads is nomadic himself. Ahmad illuminates the codes of honor, the swift delivery of justice, the cultural acceptance of acts which seem inherently criminal --such as kidnapping-- to outsiders, and the delicate rituals that precede actual transactions among the characters in this story.

"The Wandering Falcon" includes a few foreign words and phrases that appear repeatedly; most can be figured out from the context of the story, but I hope the release copy will include a glossary.

Wander through these lands with Tor Baz; you'll gain new appreciation for a harsh yet intriguing world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars For me, Afghanistan's "Love in the Time of Cholera" September 22, 2011

By amazonbuyer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing style, but never quite took to "Love in the Time of Cholera". I loved the prose but the story was anti-climactic to me.

I feel the same way about Jamil Ahmad's "The Wandering Falcon". I absolutely love his lyrical prose and was immediately drawn in by his amazing descriptive abilities. I couldn't wait to know more about the child who eventually became Tor Baz.

I thought Tor Baz would be the unifying thread throughout the story. But instead of understanding and knowing him more by the end of the story, I felt I knew him even less. I felt alienated by the direction his character took. I wanted a less tenuous connection with him.

I had hoped that a connection with him would aid in my understanding. I guess the best way I can describe it is that I was looking at Tor Baz from above rather than walking along with him in a deeply meaningful way. Perhaps this is what Ahmad wanted, in order to assist the Western-wired mind in understanding the complexity of Afghanistan's political and social structure.

In spite of my disappointment in knowing very little more about Tor Baz in the end than I did in the beginning, I do believe I have a bit more insight into what the different tribal groups in Afghanistan have to deal with as they struggle to maintain their way of life.

I didn't expect "Wandering Falcon" to move me in any political sense. I just thought it would help me understand the mind of the people of Afghanistan. So I was surprised when I did start thinking politically as a result of what I read. I started thinking that that the Afghan's have to determine what "stability" means to them without foreign "assistance". Afghanistan alone has the best understanding of its multifaceted peoples and they would be better served if a Western-style vision of stability was not forced upon them. Whatever Afghanistan comes up with, it will be as complex as the cultures that dwell within.

Note: The transitions between chapters were tenuous at times.