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Book Summary and Reviews of Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

Moth Smoke

by Mohsin Hamid

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  • Feb 2001, 256 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Through a brilliant array of voices and perspectives, debut author Mohsin Hamid tells the story of one love-struck Daru Shezad, who when fired from his banking job, instantly removes himself from the ranks of Pakistan's cell-phone-toting elite and plunges into a life of drugs and crime.But when a heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may not have committed. His uncertain fate mirrors that of Pakistan itself, animated by nuclear weapons and sapped by corruption.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Hamid's tale, played out against the background of Pakistan's recent testing of a nuclear device, creates a powerful image of an insecure society toying with its own dissolution." - Publishers Weekly.

"A pitch-perfect tale of the destruction of a young man ... Hamid is a writer to watch." - Library Journal.

"Stunning, [Hamid] has created a hip page-turner. He flies his pair of moths, [the characters] Daru and Mumtaz, like an expert kite fighter, singing wings and fraying strings." - The Los Angeles Times.

"[A] brisk, absorbing novel . . . Hamid steers us from start to finish with assurance and care." - Jhumpa Lahiri, The New York Times Book Review.

"A first novel of remarkable wit, poise, profundity, and strangeness . . . Hamid is a writer of gorgeous, lush prose and superb dialogue . . . Moth Smoke is a treat." - Esquire.

This information about Moth Smoke was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Humaira Azeem

"Great effort by Mohsin Hamid"
Moth Smoke is a great effort of Mohsin Hamid published in 2000. It narrates the story of Darashikoh Shezad, a banker in Lahore, Pakistan who mislays his job, falls in love with his best friend’s wife, and stabs into a life of drugs and crime. It memorizes the historical trial of the moderate Mughal prince Darashikoh by his brother Aurangzeb as an allegory for the state of Pakistan at the time of 1998. If we take this book as the memory of Mughal Empire it wouldn’t be wrong. It is true depiction of unique themes which are: desire, class division in society, decadence, death, power, jealousy, unemployment, greed and lust. No doubt, Mohsid Hamid uses his experience, brilliant narrative style and fabulous allegory technique. As well as the title Moth Smoke has immense use of intelligence which is the true depiction of main plot. The sad thing about the book is doomsday. It clutch out no hope and like the moths’ dancing around the flame that will eventually kill, same as the protagonist lost his life moving around the wrong direction.

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Author Information

Mohsin Hamid Author Biography

Photo: Ed Kashi

Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels, Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and Exit West, and a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations.

His writing has been featured on bestseller lists, adapted for the cinema, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, selected as winner or finalist of twenty awards, and translated into thirty-five languages.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, he has spent about half his life there and much of the rest in London, New York, and California.

Author Interview
Link to Mohsin Hamid's Website

Name Pronunciation
Mohsin Hamid: Moh-sin Hum-eed

Other books by Mohsin Hamid at BookBrowse
  • The Reluctant Fundamentalist jacket
  • How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia jacket
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