A Case of Exploding Mangoes
by Mohammed Hanif
Knopf, 2008
Mohammed Hanif's first book is not elegantly crafted, sports scant lyrical prose, nor does it play with words or imbue multiple layers of meaning to objects or names. Yet the raw emotion that infuses the prose holds the reader enthralled in the narrative. In spite of (and not because of) his degree in creative writing, Hanif moves beyond the textbook styles of novel writing that so characterise the works of some other notable Pakistani writers – Kamila Shamsie, for instance, with her attempts to mimic 'magical realism', or Mohsin Hamid, who tends to rely on overly clever symbolism. Hanif, on the other hand, is content simply to allow his heart to speak.
It is June 1988, and a young Pakistan Air Force cadet, Ali Shigri, is coming to terms with his father's mysterious death. A war hero with access to the inner circles of the army's high command, his father's exploits in the covert war in Afghanistan are legendary. At the height of his success, however, he has suddenly committed suicide. Meanwhile, Shigri's roommate at the Air Force Academy may have been killed during an unauthorised flight out of the base. There are questions about the role of an American guest instructor, who had been spending time with the two young men.
As Shigri is given a round of the detention cell at the base, and then of the infamous Lahore Fort, Hanif introduces us to some of his more colourful characters. Major Kiyani, for instance, is the Lata Mangeshkar-listening intelligence operative who runs his little world with a packet of Dunhills, a gold lighter and an unregistered car. There is the secretary-general of the All Pakistan Sweepers Union, who is accused of planting a bomb in an attempt to assassinate General Zia ul-Haq. And, of course, in an echo of a real-life case from the 1980s, there is Zainab, a blind rape victim who is in jail awaiting punishment.