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In the Company of Strangers by Awais Khan


Rating:

4 Stars


Themes:

Contemporary, Multiple POV, Psychological Fiction, Pakistan


Thoughts:

This is a beautifully complex story with so much more to it than just a love story. The setting in Lahore instantly took me to another world than that which I live and I really appreciated that the author put potentially new words in italics the first time they were used since I had to google quite a few of them. The book starting with a short POV from a terrorist just moments before he detonated the suicide vest drew me right in and gave us a warning of the sorts of horrors that may be described straight off. Mona is an awesome and strong female character, although in some instances she is expected to shrink she doesn’t always and instead faces the consequences for being herself instead. I felt for her quickly with her husband not even calling after a bombing was near and the way he behaved felt progressively worse when he bothered to be present in the story at all. Ali is also quite a strong character, feeling the weight of his family on his shoulders, especially helping with Hussain after his injury and I can understand how he fell onto the path he ended up on. I did feel a little conflicted at first with that sort of age gap, especially when first seeing him Mona considered him as a partner for her daughter so she is literally old enough to be his mother but I can see how in that climate they fell into each other's orbits and started developing feelings. The ending is quite bittersweet but does leave us with the feeling that there is a way for the characters and it felt almost like an epilogue with the last chapter being 2 months after.


Favourite Quotes:

“Terrorism is nobody's fault.” and “The truth that grief in any form was intolerable, even that of enemies.”

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