In other rooms, other wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

 As it comes from a Pakistani writer, I immediately reached for this book which many people claim to be the best fiction ever written about Pakistan.In Other Rooms,Other Wonders is a collection of eight short stories. Mueenuddin interlaces these eight stories, linking them to the household of a wealthy and self-satisfied landowner named K.K. Harouni. Mueenuddin has tried to reveal the complexities of Pakistani class and culture and I felt that Mueenuddin's Pakistan is ONLY dark, depressing and bleak. Happiness is very short-lived as every story has a desolate and harsh end. Therefore when I finished the first few stories, I found it hard to continue reading the book. I never believed that Mueenuddin has represented complete Pakistan (my country, which I love very much) but has just potrayed it's dark and gloomy side ignoring the beautiful and much loved side where people are also dutiful and generous. The epigraph to In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is a Punjabi proverb: "Three things for which we kill -- Land, women and gold." and throughout the book, Mueenuddin showed his characters actually representing this epigraph. Nearly everyone in the book is more or less corrupt. In Nawabdin electrician, Nawabbddin is electrician who cheats the electric company. In provide provide, Jaglani through his cruel machinations gains profit. In About a burning girl, a husband murders his wife by burning her and in almost every story women use sex to prey on the men. Thus, Corruption is too ubiquitous here and It took much effort to complete this book with such sad, tragic and harsh stories

Daniyal Mueenuddin