A boy comes home to Pakistan after a couple years at college in America, and tells the stories surrounding the women in his family. Occasionally I found myself wondering "how would he know that?" but that mostly originates from my need to have everything make sense (even fiction). The stories of the women are engaging and really shaped them as characters. I began by disliking most of the characters around him (such as his mother and grandmother), but as their stories were disclosed to me I felt myself growing fonder of the characters. Though I disliked her at first glance, Sukia (his mother, and activist) became my favorite character. Though I did not agree with some of the things in this book (mostly the amount of marriage, and how little the women knew the men before these weddings took place, but also the fact that a 12 and 14 year old were showing their 10 year old cousin porn and letting him smoke), I realized that some of this was based in cultural differences. I did find that I sometimes got lost in how old they were, because it sometimes switches between years without warnings, but once again, this was minor. This book provides some of the history of Pakistan as well, in a very engaging, un-textbook-like format, since the characters live through the time. The stories were interesting, and I appreciate the glimpse I got into this culture that is so very different from my own. Ali Sethi is a supremely untalented writer. To say that the book overpromises and undelivers is inaccurate, for the book has almost nothing to do with what the synopsis claims. All that the book has are the ramblings of this 20-something-year-old about his childhood memories. This book should have never seen the light of day, at least not in its current scrambled and unedited form.Sethi clearly comes from a connected south asian family, and pehaps that's all it takes to get a south asian book out--and connected to the extent that this "boy" is now apparently making music in Pakistan. I have no doubt he will soon have a music record to show for it as well, but I am also as sure that he is as true to his music as he is to his writing.
What do You think about The Wish Maker (2009)?
Great insight into Pakistan's history, an area I have always been intrigued about.
—JoJomusic257
The language in this book was frequently clunky and awkward.
—starling85
Got 65 pages in and couldn't take it anymore.
—carmenunu
