A vivid picture of a city blown to pieces by years of violence. . . . From his shards of stories he reconstructs a vibrant, hopeful panorama.” — The Wall Street Journal
“A thoughtful and original book.” — New York Journal of Books
“The Scatter Here Is Too Great [offers] nuanced characters, rich textures of fragmented experiences, and a distinct writing style. . . . One hell of a good read.” — Washington Independent Review of Books
“Bilal Tanweer has written a modern love letter furious, passionate, playful, and longing to Pakistan. And in his brilliant hands it becomes the universal story of home.” — Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet
“A superb and genuinely exciting debut.... He assembles a story of Karachi through lovingly-collected fragments. By the end of this book he had made me see that certain things are more beautiful and valuable for having been broken.” — Nadeem Aslam, author of Maps for Lost Lovers
“A beautiful debut, and a blood-soaked love letter to Karachi.” — Mohammed Hanif, author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes
“Bilal Tanweer uses his many gifts as a writer to evoke a Karachi of humor, violence, frustration, love and breathtaking stories at every turn. A wonderful debut.” — Kamila Shamsie, author of Burnt Shadows
“A timely and unconventional debut. . . . Powerful. . . . Its beautiful fragments coalesce to form an elaborate, haunting portrait of urban Pakistan, one that is rich with acute sociological detail and subtle existential contemplation.” — The Guardian
“Edgy. . . . Stylish. . . . This poetic novel-in-stories is an invaluable portrait of modern-day Karachi.” — Publishers Weekly
“An eloquent, moving debut.” — Booklist
“In one slim volume of interconnected stories Bilal Tanweer creates characters so deftly alive they illuminate the world’s strangest and least-charted megacity in all its soiled and yes, hilarious, splendor.” — Lorraine Adams, author of Harbor
“This is a beautiful, deeply powerful novel. Tanweer is a talented writer who manages with simple, elegant phrases to draw a very touching, humane portrait with real characters that can almost breathe on paper.” — Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building
Bilal Tanweer uses his many gifts as a writer to evoke a Karachi of humor, violence, frustration, love and breathtaking stories at every turn. A wonderful debut.
A thoughtful and original book.
New York Journal of Books
An eloquent, moving debut.
A vivid picture of a city blown to pieces by years of violence. . . . From his shards of stories he reconstructs a vibrant, hopeful panorama.
A beautiful debut, and a blood-soaked love letter to Karachi.
A timely and unconventional debut. . . . Powerful. . . . Its beautiful fragments coalesce to form an elaborate, haunting portrait of urban Pakistan, one that is rich with acute sociological detail and subtle existential contemplation.
A superb and genuinely exciting debut.... He assembles a story of Karachi through lovingly-collected fragments. By the end of this book he had made me see that certain things are more beautiful and valuable for having been broken.
Bilal Tanweer has written a modern love letter furious, passionate, playful, and longing to Pakistan. And in his brilliant hands it becomes the universal story of home.
The Scatter Here Is Too Great [offers] nuanced characters, rich textures of fragmented experiences, and a distinct writing style. . . . One hell of a good read.
Washington Independent Review of Books
This is a beautiful, deeply powerful novel. Tanweer is a talented writer who manages with simple, elegant phrases to draw a very touching, humane portrait with real characters that can almost breathe on paper.
In one slim volume of interconnected stories Bilal Tanweer creates characters so deftly alive they illuminate the world’s strangest and least-charted megacity in all its soiled and yes, hilarious, splendor.
06/30/2014 The edgy account of Karachi life given in Tanweer’s stylish but flawed debut resembles a Pakistani La Ronde, so gracefully does the narrative waltz from one character’s life to another. The difference here is that most of the people we meet are connected not by love, but by a bomb blast. In one of the best sections of the novel, an unnamed boy and his sister, Aapa, are sent to live with their grandmother. When Aapa’s romance with a local boy is discovered, shame and calamity befalls the family. The narrative then jumps into the life of Sadeq, who is involved in the dangerous world of auto repossession and gradually revealed as Aapa’s lover—except the encounter that so disrupted her life is just a blip in his. Later, Tanweer follows Akbar, a young paramedic undergoing a spiritual crisis after witnessing the bombing. Although all the pieces fit, and many are beautifully written (the opening sequence, about a bus ride the boy and his father take to the seashore, is masterful), the overall thrust of the narrative is unclear. Nonetheless, this poetic novel-in-stories is an invaluable portrait of modern-day Karachi. (Aug.)
An eloquent, moving debut.