In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

May 01, 2011 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps it's not the best idea to learn contemporary sociology from fictional short stories, but it's not a bad place to start if the stories are as good as these. Twentieth (and early-21st) century Pakistan is presented here through the eyes of the landowners and their peons. All levels of society (the 'middle' class is only glancingly represented by the landowners' 'managers') work the system, some in order to survive, others to get as much as they can. The rich aren't necessarily getting rich...more

like 11 likes · see review

Jun 16, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those interested in foreign cultures

Shelves: pulitzer, 2010, short-stories, contemporary, national-book-award, foreign-lands

I know next to nothing about Pakistan, aside from the fact that this country seems to be overrun by terrorists, so reading this Pulitzer prize nominated collection of short stories gave me a new perspective on the country and people who live in it.

The eight loosely interconnected stories revolve around K.K. Harouni - a rich Pakistani landowner - and a network of his servants, employees, relatives and opportunists. In "Saleema" a young maid seeks patronage in Harouni's household in the beds of o...more

like 7 likes · see review

May 15, 2012 Furqan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction, south-asia, trash, short-stories

Overrated, pretentious twaddle. I am surprised at the amount of positive reviews this short story collection seems to be receiving, with some over-enthusiastic reviewers comparing Mueenuddin's prose to that of Salman Rushdie, which I find very hilarious. Rushdie's prose is complex, lyrical and iridescent, whereas Mueenuddin's prose is restrained (in a bad way) and the sentences irregular and pointy that it stings your eyes to read them. The dialogue could be best described as theatrical and conf...more Overrated, pretentious twaddle. I am surprised at the amount of positive reviews this short story collection seems to be receiving, with some over-enthusiastic reviewers comparing Mueenuddin's prose to that of Salman Rushdie, which I find very hilarious. Rushdie's prose is complex, lyrical and iridescent, whereas Mueenuddin's prose is restrained (in a bad way) and the sentences irregular and pointy that it stings your eyes to read them. The dialogue could be best described as theatrical and confusing, I kept thinking who on the earth talks like that in Pakistan? I concede that few descriptive passages does evoke a sense of 'rural Pakistan', but it is is hardly worth praising when you consider the flimsy plots, repetitive themes and unconvincing characters.

The stories are obviously targeted for western audience, perhaps with the intention of portraying an 'exotic' image of Pakistan, miles away from the violent and fundamentalist image that western media seem to purport. Well, it doesn't do a very good job of it. Almost every character is devoid of any scruples. There are sordid old men perving after younger women and one might actually sympathise with the women for being so dependent on men, yet they are equally as bad as men, actively manipulating and seducing them, not caring that they might be cheating on their husbands. Basically, it is shown that for a woman to gain stability or climb the social ladder in such a patriarchal society, all they have to do is open their legs to any man who can provide them with these assurances, which is a very bleak outlook for Pakistani women.

The role of religion is blatantly ignored. In fact, Islam is hardly mentioned when it forms such a huge part of people's public and private life. Most of the stories are concerned with a land-owning feudal family and the peasants who work for them - the elites and the poor, who tend to be the least religious of all people. It's the middle classes - millions of them residing in city flats or suburbia, who are the most religious, economically independent and do not owe any allegiance to a moronic feudal lord, but are found to be conveniently ignored by Mueenuddin, which is disappointing.

In short, I hate this book and would not recommend!

(less)

like 8 likes · see review

Mar 12, 2009 Ruby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good Read. Clear, easy to follow, and very well written. Only one small problem - and maybe this is a problem that only applies to me - I felt like I was reading a book by Jhumpa Lahiri, or Anita Desai, or even Salman Rushdie. It seems, to me, that many authors from the far east are feeding off of each others literary techniques... What is it about brown authors using the same style of writing? The same extended metaphor that goes on for pages. The flowery language that's used to describe every...more Good Read. Clear, easy to follow, and very well written. Only one small problem - and maybe this is a problem that only applies to me - I felt like I was reading a book by Jhumpa Lahiri, or Anita Desai, or even Salman Rushdie. It seems, to me, that many authors from the far east are feeding off of each others literary techniques... What is it about brown authors using the same style of writing? The same extended metaphor that goes on for pages. The flowery language that's used to describe every tiny detail. I know many people appreciate this writing style, but I'm a little tired of it. I was looking forward to something original - hey a book by a Pakistani author, about Pakistan! Finally. What I got - a book about Pakistan, yes, but it could have just as easily been set in India. And yes, to many the difference is insignificant and for the most part undetectable, but not to me. Our histories are intertwined, but our cultures and very different.

Unfortunately I went into this book thinking Mueenuddin would write about the Pakistani society I was brought up in - that was probably my fault and I should not go into books assuming such things. While he does write about the disparities between upper echelon of Pakistani society and dirt poor lower class he glosses over a very large part of the Pakistani middle class/upper middle class and in doing so almost reinforces the social stratification in Pakistani society. I'm not blaming Mueenuddin for causing this disparity, but by not writing about those Pakistanis who dwell in Karachi and Islamabad and choose to abstain from alcohol/sex/other so called "vices" I think his work remains somewhat superficial. This subgroup is actually incredibly significant as it basically represents how religion, politics, culture, tradition, and the push for modernity clash. Maybe I'm overly critical, and again, I'm not blaming the author - he probably grew up in the world of politicians and the Pakistani elite and had domestic help of his own, and therefore all he knew. And maybe all he was trying to do was create a social commentary illustrating the disconnect between two specific social classes in Pakistan. Who knows. Maybe I just need to write a book about the Pakistanis that I am used to dealing with...

Regardless, I would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed short stories and learning about different cultures.(less)

like 9 likes · see review

Dec 04, 2009 Abby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2009

Most of these stories are not stories. Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. They are propelled by characterization, suspense, plot, and insights. Some of the stories, most notably Our Lady of Paris, seem to be pastiches of thoughts strung together. These stories are supposed to be portentous but they just seem like hastily scribbled notes -- observations made by the author throughout his peripatetic life in Pakistan, Michigan, Dartmouth, and Yale Law School.

Yes, the author knows what he's...more

like 6 likes · see review

Apr 30, 2012 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is not the Pakistan of the news headlines, bombings, assassination, political strife, extremism. Instead these interrelated stories provide a Dickensian portrayal of lives lived at nearly every level of social strata - wealthy landowners, their descendants, and those who rely on them for their livelihood. Like Dickens, there is as much grief and sorrow as joy in most of these lives, as fortunes rise and then often fall. Some readers here complain that the moral center of the stories is ambi...more

like · see review

Sep 28, 2011 Becca Loo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this is a collection of loosely related short stories that i wouldn't say i highly recommend but at the same time it was really really good. it was a national book award finalist so that tells you quite a bit. i picked this book because i have to admit that i do judge books by their covers especially if they have a stamp of approval by an award association. and with a name like that how can it not pique your interest.

onto the collection itself: stories range from the poor of pakistan to rich and...more this is a collection of loosely related short stories that i wouldn't say i highly recommend but at the same time it was really really good. it was a national book award finalist so that tells you quite a bit. i picked this book because i have to admit that i do judge books by their covers especially if they have a stamp of approval by an award association. and with a name like that how can it not pique your interest.

onto the collection itself: stories range from the poor of pakistan to rich and all in between. there are eight stories in total and they are all good. the first story is about nawabdin the electrician. i think the story is about forgiveness and the absence of it in real life. nawab has many children and a wife whom he supports on the meager salary of an electrician. he manages to get a scooter from his boss so that he may travel through the province easier without having to walk in his old age. one day on his way home he is threatened at gun point by a robber who wants to steal his scooter which has now become his livelihood. when nawab resists he is shot. the robber obviously doesn't know how to ride a scooter and quickly drives it into a ditch. nearby villagers hear the commotion and come to help. nawab, still alive, tells them that the man is in the reeds and the villagers fire a shotgun into the thicket. the man falls onto the road and both are taken to the local doctor. while both are treated in the same room the robber asks nawab for forgiveness, he says that he has had a very hard life of poverty. nawab tells him to go to hell, and that if nawab had been killed his children would be in the streets begging. the man dies and nawab lives. this isn't hollywood this is pakistan. there are no easy endings and happiness comes in short bursts. i've never been to pakistan and perhaps never will but there is nothing in this book that would make me not want to go. the characters struggle and sometimes overcome. yet the most striking aspect of this book is its humanity. this is life and we are all trying to survive in some way. whether the characters are servants or own servants themselves there is a commonality among them that mueenuddin portrays so beautifully. he is succinct but the picture we imagine is more complete than if he had written eight novels instead of eight stories. overall, i liked it, 'nough said.(less)

like · see review

Apr 23, 2011 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's possible to see here a scathing social critique of the death throes of an utterly corrupt system of patronage, but there is no overt political message in this book. Politics rarely raises its head, apart from local power plays. In interview the author says:

“I am not a political writer, therefore my purpose is to write the finest stories that I am able to write, given my abilities. I don’t enjoy reading political literature, fiction or poetry. I think political writing is a limiting factor b...more

like · see review

Mar 12, 2011 Greg Zimmerman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You've never read anything like this slim volume of eight interconnected short stories about life in modern Pakistan. I can almost guarantee it. Rescued from obscurity by its 2009 National Book Award nomination, Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is a blend of portraits of Pakistani people, both rich and poor. The effect is a holistic image of everyday life in a country stuck in an seemingly endless loop of feudalism and class struggle.

Mueenuddin, who was born to a Pakistani fath...more You've never read anything like this slim volume of eight interconnected short stories about life in modern Pakistan. I can almost guarantee it. Rescued from obscurity by its 2009 National Book Award nomination, Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is a blend of portraits of Pakistani people, both rich and poor. The effect is a holistic image of everyday life in a country stuck in an seemingly endless loop of feudalism and class struggle.

Mueenuddin, who was born to a Pakistani father and American mother, spent seven years after college at Dartmouth trying to untangle the twisted network of kickbacks, favors, and below-the-level law enforcement at his father's farm in Pakistan. This experience — the basis for these stories — seems to have jaded Muennuddin a bit, as evidenced by a theme-setting Punjabi proverb included at the beginning of the book: "Three things for which we kill — Land, women and gold."

The strength of the book, no doubt due to Mueenuddin's dual nationality, is how these stories cross the cultural divide. When a story focuses on the servant class, American readers have no trouble understanding these Pakistanis, their lot in life and their struggle to rise. That's true even if you're revolted by the male-dominated society and poor treatment of women. When these characters do bad things — like commit adultery, or steal from their bosses — it's still not hard to comprehend why. Sometimes there is no other choice. Sometimes it's a calculated strategy to try to move up.

In one story, a young woman, whose previously rich family has fallen on tough times, believes herself to be entitled to wealth and comfort. So she seduces the rich landowner Harouni (who is the common denominator in all the stories), takes him as her lover, and takes advantage of his generosity. However, when he dies, Harouni's scornful family turns her out completely. Now, her poverty is accompanied by even more shame. Similarly, in one heartbreaking story, a woman finally turns her life around by working hard as a servant at the rich landowner's house, only to wind up back on the streets as a heroin-addicted prostitute when Harouni dies.

So, the idea seems to be that if you're among the lower class, even if you adapt to the system, your margins still are rather thin. Your entire life and well-being is dependent on the whims and fate of your landowning boss. My favorite passage in the book sums up the dependency of servants on their masters. It is also emblematic of Mueenuddin's beautiful, elegant prose: "Gone, and they the servants would never find another berth like this one, the gravity of the house, the gentleness of the master, the vast damp rooms, the slow lugubrious pace, the order within disorder."

Several stories also focus on the upper class. The longest story in the collection, for instance, is about a rich Paris Hilton-like character who spends all her time partying, ordering servants around and living off her parents' wealth. Another story focuses on the son of a rich landowner, who is dating an American girl. These stories are okay, but don't match the pathos and poignancy of the stories about the servants.

Mueenuddin's writing and storytelling reach their pinnacle in the last story of the collection, my favorite. An old man, who has worked hard his whole life, finally catches a break when he's hired on as gardener at one of Harouni's farms. Newly wealthy (in relative terms), he hopes to sire a son, so he takes a deal to marry a mentally challenged girl, believing it to be his only chance to carry forth his name. The "simple" girl, though, promptly runs away. When he reports this to the police, he is beaten and accused of killing her. So even when things begin to look up for the poor man, the system beats him back down. It's the sad reality for life in the lower class in Pakistan, and these stories illuminate that brilliantly. This is an important book, and highly, highly recommended! (less)

like 4 likes · see review

Feb 06, 2011 Nesa Sivagnanam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Set in Punjab, the eight linked stories in this excellent book follow the lives of the rich and powerful Harouni family and its employees: managers, drivers, gardeners, cooks, servants.

The patriarch, KK Harouni, of the feudal landowning class, owns a farm in Dunyapur and a mansion in Lahore. In the title story, we meet him in the final years of his life, living mostly in Lahore, apart from his estranged wife, having surrendered the management of his farm to the corrupt Chaudrey Jaglani. When...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 21, 2011 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book is a collection of 8 loosely-interconnected stories that take place in Pakistan in the present day. I've read three of the eight stories and reviewed them here in previous years (in fact, this was my third reading of the opening story, "Nawabdin Electrician"). The stories, all together, paint a picture of a society in which the Old way of doing things still hangs on and in which the younger generation struggles to fit, as well as a society in which status still matters greatly. Most of...more The book is a collection of 8 loosely-interconnected stories that take place in Pakistan in the present day. I've read three of the eight stories and reviewed them here in previous years (in fact, this was my third reading of the opening story, "Nawabdin Electrician"). The stories, all together, paint a picture of a society in which the Old way of doing things still hangs on and in which the younger generation struggles to fit, as well as a society in which status still matters greatly. Most of the stories have a very "traveling storyteller" tone to the narration, as I noted in my original review of "Nawabdin Electrician."

I liked each of the stories individually, but felt that perhaps there was a bit too much repetition when all grouped together. The stories "Saleema," "Provide, Provide" and "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" all basically tell the same story from different vantage points and with different main characters. All three are about beautiful but poor young women who see the possibility of securing a better future for themselves by creating romantic/sexual connections with powerful older men. Yes the details of the stories are different but the basic point of the stories is the same. In fact, the basic point of almost all of the stories in this collection might be summed up as "no matter how much you plan and scheme and think you're making the right decision in the moment, nothing is ever 100% certain and life often twists in unexpected ways."

The sameness of the lesson from story to story is the book's only negative. The positives are: a writing style that feels part medieval troubadour, part travelogue; a depth of sensory description that can only be described as "sensual" regardless of whether the author is writing about the weather, the food, or the sex; and a mosaic quality that enables you to see the connections between even the most peripheral of characters. In fact, some of those peripheral connections had me wondering what had happened to certain characters "between the scenes," so to speak, and I wonder if Mueenuddin has other stories with these characters in mind.(less)

like · see review

Oct 11, 2010 Ali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a lovely collection of linked short stories. The people and places jump right off the page. From big cities to country farms, from simple servants quarters to the luxuary of a parisian hotel - these stories take the reader on a wonderful journey through the lives of some very different - and very real people who are all connected - some very loosely- with landowner KK Harouni. The stories are fully fleshed out, satisfying reads - with memorable characters. In Other rooms, other wonders t...more

like · see review

Aug 22, 2010 Allyson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was given and recommended to me by my friend Rachael who loved it. The writing is beautiful and the author creates his world and characters perfectly; I felt I was there beside all of these people, but their stories made me want to curl up in a ball in my bed and not think about them anymore.
All of the stories were too sad for me, brutally so and I could not get beyond that fact, feeling manipulated to feel badly.
It reminded me J. Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies but despite the sadness o...more

like · see review

Feb 12, 2010 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars

‘Three things for which we kill – land,women and gold.’

This is a collection of eight linked short stories which describe the overlapping worlds of an extended Pakistani family of landowners. These are stories of the servants and dependants in the worlds of Mr K.K Harouni’s overflowing household in Lahore and the peasants on his estates, as well as the parallel worlds of his industrialist relations who have distanced themselves from their feudal past.
The characters in these stories confront the a...more

like · see review

Jan 29, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

Mueenuddin has put together a collection of stories that offers a less than flattering portrait of Pakistan. But while the social structures that come under his gaze are less than ideal, his writing is top notch, his ability to create memorable and accessible characters is superb. The organizing methodology here is that each of the stories connects with K.K. Harouni, patriarch of a family in a declining landed class. He is almost an innocent, not noticing that his servants are taking extreme, an...more Mueenuddin has put together a collection of stories that offers a less than flattering portrait of Pakistan. But while the social structures that come under his gaze are less than ideal, his writing is top notch, his ability to create memorable and accessible characters is superb. The organizing methodology here is that each of the stories connects with K.K. Harouni, patriarch of a family in a declining landed class. He is almost an innocent, not noticing that his servants are taking extreme, and criminal advantage of him. Were he to say he was “shocked, shocked” to learn that his servants were stealing from him he would be saying it honestly. Yet corruption is ubiquitous in this world.

Who in Mueenuddin’s Pakistan is able to get beyond their gender roles and sclerotic class structure? In Our Lady of Paris, the young, American-educated Sohail tries to do so, in a way, by marrying an American, but her conservative mother puts the kibosh on that. He later marries another American, but once married, she pretty much goes native, so represents an infusion of DNA rather than actual change. In Lily, the character of the title was and remains a spoiled urban child. In A Spoiled Man, the elderly Rezak, who is ultimately content with his place, is abused when, at least in his own mind, he aspires to something more. Women have to sleep with higher-level servants in households in order to get by. But even when they corral a member of a higher class, it ultimately ends badly for them. Corruption is rampant. In Provide, Provide a trusted servant is really a serpent. In A Spoiled Man we learn of a business that the police engage in outside their legal duties. Mueenuddin’s Pakistan is firmly rooted in its feudal past and those who would attempt to become bridges to the future fare poorly.

While the stories here would certainly go a long way to influencing one to cancel any relocation plans, they are tales beautifully told, with engaging, rounded characters. Through their eyes we get to know a bit of what the country is all about. The American, Helen, commenting on her fiancée, Sohail, notes that he is nicer in America, “It is easier to be gentle in a place where there’s order.” As chaos spread like a malignancy in today’s Pakistan, one might expect a dearth of gentility for quite some time to come. But at least one writer is attempting to create some order and beauty from the mess.
(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 08, 2009 Jon Stout rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: anglo-indian

These stories of men and women in Pakistan are interesting in several dimensions. Starting off with the dimension of socio-economic grandeur, the stories range from village life with a jamindar or landowner (familiar territory to me) to the other extreme of jet set wealth and sophistication (not so familiar to me), all in a Pakistani context. The scenes of a decadent wealthy elite, doing drugs and hobnobbing in Paris, are as surprising to me as they would be to any villager. I have seen the educ...more These stories of men and women in Pakistan are interesting in several dimensions. Starting off with the dimension of socio-economic grandeur, the stories range from village life with a jamindar or landowner (familiar territory to me) to the other extreme of jet set wealth and sophistication (not so familiar to me), all in a Pakistani context. The scenes of a decadent wealthy elite, doing drugs and hobnobbing in Paris, are as surprising to me as they would be to any villager. I have seen the educated elite, and I have seen the musty post-colonial elite, but the glamorous elite that resembles The Great Gatsby makes me feel small and rustic.

So Mueenuddin has broadened my horizons. When the Taliban is in the news, or the mullahs in the villages, and when they are contrasted with the educated urban interests, I have in mind the cricket-playing private school boys of old, when I should be thinking of the Harvard MBA’s or international financiers. They have as little likelihood of turning their country over to Al Qaeda as would the privileged of the Hamptons or of Hollywood, unless it were through complacency.

In another dimension, the stories all pertain to the relationships of men and women, with the women definitely having the uphill struggle. The stories all follow a narrative arc in which a woman struggles to achieve a stable social position, usually with a receptive and supportive man, but then by the end of the story, often when the man has died, the woman comes to a sad conclusion, usually due to family and societal pressures. The stories remind me of The Group, by Mary McCarthy, in which women were similarly frustrated, although in Pakistan the possible roles for women, even very wealthy women, seem primarily limited to influencing the men.

Despite the economic and gender dimensions, the stories are beautiful and nuanced, portraying genuine love and affection with marvelously subtle detail and dialogue. There is a richness in the quality of life, which again surprised me, making me wonder about Daniyal Mueenuddin, who could have such broad experience and such sensitive descriptive powers. I listened to an NPR On Point interview with him, which made me realize that he was easily one or several of the characters in the book, and a very skilled and worldly observer. I am delighted to have my perceptions of Pakistan blown open by him.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Oct 23, 2009 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-east-fiction, october-2009, short-stories

This collection of linked short stories is both very well-written, and an eye-opener for readers not familiar with social life in Pakistan. So much depends on social status and wealth, and likewise gender. Women married to wealthy men may or may not have any freedoms: they can be divorced, put aside while the husband brings in another wife, or other women; they may or may not be allowed an education, and if they have an occupation prior to marriage, they do not continue it.

Men who have wealth ar...more This collection of linked short stories is both very well-written, and an eye-opener for readers not familiar with social life in Pakistan. So much depends on social status and wealth, and likewise gender. Women married to wealthy men may or may not have any freedoms: they can be divorced, put aside while the husband brings in another wife, or other women; they may or may not be allowed an education, and if they have an occupation prior to marriage, they do not continue it.

Men who have wealth are likely to have connections in government, or elsewhere, and they can use their money, if so inclined, to bribe for the release of a servant accused of murder, or to look into the disappearance of the wife of a servant. However, the police have their own system of justice, and the arrest for murder can come out little to no evidence, and the investigation into the disappearing wife can involve arresting the husband on no grounds and beating and torturing him.

All but the poorest families have at least a couple of servants, and the servants have their own hierarchy: who has served the longest, who is more closely related to the family they serve. Family connections are important: a poor person having a familial connection to a wealthy family is more likely to be taken in as a servant, though not treated any better. Other servants may be suggested by current servants as a way to help members of their families.

Meanwhile, the servants jockey among themselves for position, and for favors from the higher-ranked servants. A serving woman may sleep with the cook in exchange for better food, despite the lowering of her reputation. If she can sleep with the master, she is both scorned and feared. And when the master dies, she is back on the bottom of the ladder, or lower, having given up her virginity and threatening her possibility of marriage.

The servants, and the farm hands, and other employees also have complicated systems of keeping the books, so unless the master is very attentive, money and supplies leak out unnoticed.

Altogether a fascinating read.(less)

like · see review

Mar 05, 2012 Mark Staniforth rated it 3 of 5 stars

The eight short stories that make up Daniyal Mueenuddin's Pulitzer Prize finalist In Other Rooms, Other Wonders strip bare the class conflicts and contradictions that prop up Pakistan's crumbling feudal structure, and highlight the hypocrisies of the sleek new money that is rushing in to replace it.
The ageing K.K. Harouni is an eminent Lahore landowner, but his last days are being blighted by a decline in prominence in the face of the new industrialist wealth exemplified by his brother.
Each of M...more The eight short stories that make up Daniyal Mueenuddin's Pulitzer Prize finalist In Other Rooms, Other Wonders strip bare the class conflicts and contradictions that prop up Pakistan's crumbling feudal structure, and highlight the hypocrisies of the sleek new money that is rushing in to replace it.
The ageing K.K. Harouni is an eminent Lahore landowner, but his last days are being blighted by a decline in prominence in the face of the new industrialist wealth exemplified by his brother.
Each of Mueenuddin's inter-linking stories revolves around Harouni, his extended family and those who facilitate their supposedly serene lifestyle, from the humblest servants to the brightest socialites.
In the opening story, 'Nawabdin Electrician', a lowly worker at Harouni's mansion finds ingenious ways to make his pay stretch to feed and clothe his twelve daughters, until a chance meeting underlines the perilousness of his existence.
Mueenuddin delves deep into the lives of these servants and labourers, uncovering a world of ruthless ambition and inherent deviousness, borne out of the sheer desperation of their predicament.
The second story, 'Saleema', begins:

'Saleema was born in the Jhulan clan, blackmailers and bootleggers, Muslim refugees at Partition from the country northwest of Delhi. They were lucky, the new border lay only thirty or forty miles distant, and from thieving expeditions they knew how to travel unobserved along canals and tracks. Skirting the edge of the Cholistan Desert, crossing into Pakistan, on the fourth night they came to a Hindu village abandoned by all but a few old women. They drove them away and occupied the houses, finding pots and pans, buckets, even guard dogs, which grew accustomed to them. During Saleema's childhood twenty years later the village was gradually being absorbed into the slums cast off by an adjacent provincial town called Kotla Sardar. Her father became a heroin addict, and died of it, her mother slept around for money and favors, and she herself at fourteen became the plaything of a small landowner's son. Then a suitor appeared, strutting the village on leave from his job in the city, and plucked her off to Lahore.'

As Mueenuddin's collection develops, the relative squalor of the lives of the feudal servants is quietly nudged aside, as if in recognition of its increasingly obsolete place in modern Pakistani culture. The book begins to focus on the new-rich: from the emerging middle-class to the almost obscene wealth of the Karachi polo set, who summer in London and send their offspring to study at Yale.
If some of these latter stories lack the potency of those earlier in the book, characterized by a wholly unloveable array of pompous wives and their flitting, flirting offspring, they are no less assured.
Mueenuddin's final story, 'A Spoiled Man', pulls the two poles of Pakistani society together quite brilliantly, but it is for its whole that In 'Other Rooms, Other Wonders' deserves praise as a rare and evocative insight into a world of which the West knows little, and from which it might learn lots. (less)

like · see review

May 22, 2011 Raghu rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked up this book as it has had good reviews from writers I respect - like William Dalrymple and Salman Rushdie. It has been a long time since I read a book by a Pakistani writer. Even this author, is a Pakistani-American rather than a native Pakistani. It is collection of loosely-connected short stories, the connection being a rich landowner/industrialist in Punjab called K.K.Harouni. Two stories are set amongst the upper class members of the Harouni family and the rest are about lowly-paid...more I picked up this book as it has had good reviews from writers I respect - like William Dalrymple and Salman Rushdie. It has been a long time since I read a book by a Pakistani writer. Even this author, is a Pakistani-American rather than a native Pakistani. It is collection of loosely-connected short stories, the connection being a rich landowner/industrialist in Punjab called K.K.Harouni. Two stories are set amongst the upper class members of the Harouni family and the rest are about lowly-paid employees in the extended household of the Harouni family. It is about landowners, their accountants, the young servant maids, cooks and the privileged children of the Harounis who live in far-off Paris or New York.

Honestly, the book paints a bleak and gloomy picture of Pakistani society as seen through the Harounis. I can't remember a single character who was cheerful and hopeful in spite of his conditions of living, rich or poor. The rich come off as unfeeling, selfish people, exploiting the men and women in their service. The poor women plot and scheme to become the mistresses of the powerful and better their living condition by offering sex in return. The going is good for them as long as the rich man 'keeps' them. But they all end up on the losing side eventually as the men they sleep with are often old and die away. Once they die, the household elite simply see the women as 'cheap whores' and banish them from service returning them to their former misery. The other poor men in their service for decades end up being exploited by the corrupt police force,

Apart from the Harounis, the one common thread in the stories is one of pessimism, as far as my reading goes. I often wonder about books written by expatriate authors about their homelands. Partially, they seem to write for the 'foreign' audience because all this stuff would be exotic and more interesting for them. I doubt if a liberal Pakistani would be enamored by this book and its message. Even for an Indian like me, the setting and tenor of the social relations is quite familiar but I would believe that there is more to Pakistan than such gloom and heartlessness. It is depressing to read story after story that paints mostly the joylessness, inhumanity and the dark side of human beings.

It is a puzzle to me as to the number of positive reviews that the book has had. I wonder what I may have missed. It is possible that I am being less objective than others because of my roots in the subcontinent. But I feel the stories say as much about the author himself as it does about contemporary Pakistan. I would recommend it for reading to non-Pakistanis as a window into Pakistan but not necessarily a complete window.

(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 06, 2010 Valentina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Comprising a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories, all revolving, in one way or another, around a prominent, land-owning Pakistani dynasty, this novel sheds some light on the extremely complex and painfully feudal Pakistani society.

Ranging from tales of a corrupt elite's extravagant lifestyle, of extreme wealth, foreign travels and unrestricted alcohol consumption, to the equally corrupt but far more meager dealings of an entire class of illiterate servants trying as best as t...more

like · see review

Jul 27, 2010 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ah... After a couple of miserable days where I attempted to read "All The Pretty Horses" and concluded that I was a complete loser, I finally put that down and picked up Daniyal Mueenuddin's "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders." Three of the short stories in this book ran in The New Yorker -- always a good indication to me that I will like a book. And I absolutely loved the book... Well, "love" isn't the right word, perhaps. I was riveted. This was yet another book of interwoven short stories. Is thi...more Ah... After a couple of miserable days where I attempted to read "All The Pretty Horses" and concluded that I was a complete loser, I finally put that down and picked up Daniyal Mueenuddin's "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders." Three of the short stories in this book ran in The New Yorker -- always a good indication to me that I will like a book. And I absolutely loved the book... Well, "love" isn't the right word, perhaps. I was riveted. This was yet another book of interwoven short stories. Is this the genre of our time? I know it isn't new, but this year I have read so many books of interwoven short stories: "Goon Squad," "Olive Kitteredge," "The Imperfectionists." It's interesting to be able to compare and contrast them. I like how minor characters in one story come to the forefront in the next.

What really struck me about this book was:
- The power dynamic between men and women in Pakistan/India. In particular, the alliances that they formed -- untraditional relationships by American standards that furthered each in some way.
- The way the author glided between the classes. Some stories were told from the point of view of servants, others from the point of view of the wealthy children of landowners. The differences and the similarities of the two groups were interesting, as was the blindness of each to the other's situation -- more striking I suppose in the lack of awareness of the upper classes in the lives of the lower classes.

These stories were knitted together because they were all related to the wealthy landowner K.K. Harouni, but they took place over decades, and I didn't feel like the author was trying specifically to give us many different perspectives of the same characters and situations. Rather, the effect of the long time span and different social classes of the protagonists gave us a holistic impression of Pakistani/Indian society and in particular of this microcosm centered around the lands of K.K. Harouni.

Overall, a great read, and I think it will be my book-club recommendation. (less)

like · see review

May 06, 2010 Charlotte rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fabulous collection of interlinked short stories, mainly set in Pakistan. It's an amazing view of a country still feudal but modernizing with both very rich and very very poor classes. I felt like every story was beautifully written--crafted, but not too crafted. It was also incredibly depressing--it really IS harder to write happy stories than unhappy ones. I have no complaint about the way any of the stories ended--they were all perfectly in line with the characters' motivations, and...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 16, 2010 Bibliophile rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, fiction, india-south-asia, short-stories

I love William Dalrymple's books about India and his New York Review of Books articles about the Subcontinent, but I'm starting to think that he and I have very different literary tastes! Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is the second book I've picked up because of Dalrymple's enthusiastic review and found to be somewhat wanting (the other was Jason Elliot's An Unexpected Light)!

The short stories in this collection are loosely linked around the personage of K.K. Harouni, a fic...more

like · see review

Jan 26, 2010 Cynthia rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book was similar in approach to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout in that it was composed of a series of short stores about - in this case - people related to or dependent upon a rich land owner in rural Punjab and the city of Lahore. It gives a very insightful look into the lives of people in various walks of life in Pakistan - some more in control of their lives and some at the very bottom of the class system who have no real control. The lives of the principal characters are ultimately...more

like · see review

Jan 23, 2011 Laysee rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, comprising eight linked stories, is Daniyal Mueenuddin’s enthralling debut. Set in the Punjab district of Pakistan, it reads like an insightful commentary of Pakistani society borne of the author’s lived experience. The related tales revolve around the life of K. K. Harouni, an aging feudal landowner, his privileged children, and his retinue of servants, cooks, gardeners, business associates and cronies. Each story is a self-contained bitter-sweet morsel tasting of...more In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, comprising eight linked stories, is Daniyal Mueenuddin’s enthralling debut. Set in the Punjab district of Pakistan, it reads like an insightful commentary of Pakistani society borne of the author’s lived experience. The related tales revolve around the life of K. K. Harouni, an aging feudal landowner, his privileged children, and his retinue of servants, cooks, gardeners, business associates and cronies. Each story is a self-contained bitter-sweet morsel tasting of dreams lived, won, and lost.

Mueenuddin depicts a society where surviving well by any means is a raging and all-consuming desire. The rich engage in unscrupulous power play and use their family and political connections to lord it over the poor. There are finer gradations of poverty with the poor who have succeeded in ingratiating themselves with their rich masters oppressing their even more impoverished counterparts. Harouni’s servants prey on and siphon off his wealth (e.g., Nawabdin Electrician who has a rare talent for tempering with electric meters). Women flirt, seduce, and sleep their way to “power” only to be demeaned and destroyed. Saleema, Zainab and Husna, in three independent stories, fatefully scheme their way to become mistresses in a desperate bid to flee poverty only to be devastated when their “husbands” either die or succumb to guilt. Yet, whether it is life in the bright city of Lahore or on the farm in Dunyapur, it appears that the characters are better off when poor than when their financial circumstance improves. One example is Rezak in “A Spoiled Man” for whom life is simpler and happier when he lives alone in his portable cubicle than when his gardening job at the Harouni’s affords him creature comforts of a stone hut and money enough to marry a feeble-minded wife. Ironically, financial and social betterment is the way backward, not forward. No amount of wealth or status compares with the pure bliss of a family sitting down to a meal of fried bread and raw sugar.

Mueenuddin writes with a transparent clarity that captures the subtleties and nuances of interaction amongst the different social classes. He renders a touch of shattering authenticity to the lure of self-advancement, entrapment of self-aggrandizement, and heartbreak of disillusionment. Apart from its penetrating description of human folly, this collection of short stories paints a charming picture of the Pakistani countryside with the shady bunyan and lovely rosewood trees and mango orchards. This is a literary debut worth reading.(less)

like · see review

Dec 18, 2008 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazon-vine

While each of these stories can easily be appreciated on their own merits, what makes this such an impressive books is how these stories and the characters and their actions intertwine. The stories center around a wealthy Pakistani landowner, his family members, and people from all strata of society who associate with and work for him. Where this book excels is the emphasis on the humanity of all the characters and how each character has a story. In most books, bit characters come and go, usuall...more

like · see review

May 14, 2012 Misha Husnain Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had to sit back and think about this book for a while after I had finished it. Like a person that sits in a no longer warm bath far too long, I had trouble just "getting out" of the mindset this book will slowly entice you into entering.

To clarify: there are very few Pakistani authors (who write in English) I enjoy reading. Also, despite the fact that there are Urdu writers who are renown for their short stories, none of the English language Pakistani writers seemed interested in attempting a...more

like · see review

Jul 06, 2012 Paige rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: actors who are portraying a depressed person

Recommended to Paige by: nobody, thank god

It's hard for me to give this book a rating in stars.

I didn't dislike the writing. I don't think it's ~zomg beautiful~ or Pultizer or National Book Award material, but I often have some beef with those kinds of "big" awards anyway (even if I am sometimes drawn to them). I liked the writing style perfectly well, actually.

I just have an issue with the vast majority of short stories being depressing. This book certainly lives up to that stereotype, as every single story is plenty depressing--and th...more It's hard for me to give this book a rating in stars.

I didn't dislike the writing. I don't think it's ~zomg beautiful~ or Pultizer or National Book Award material, but I often have some beef with those kinds of "big" awards anyway (even if I am sometimes drawn to them). I liked the writing style perfectly well, actually.

I just have an issue with the vast majority of short stories being depressing. This book certainly lives up to that stereotype, as every single story is plenty depressing--and then some. The happiest story in the book is the first one, in which a man is shot several times by a stranger he tried to help, the stranger is subsequently shot, and the man lays next to this stranger while he's dying, refusing to forgive him (understandably so) and hurling abuse at him instead. Seriously. That was THE HAPPIEST story in this whole volume. All the other stories were EVEN LESS HAPPY than that one. Every time I started a new story, I would be hopeful that maybe THIS time I'd get something besides oppression, poverty, cheating, degradation of women, pointless/mindless power & control, miserable people...and every time that's what I got.

I don't mind a depressing story or two, or even if it were, say, 75% depressing. But the book jacket says "these stories comprehensively illuminate a world" and says the stories describe "the advantages and constraints of social station." Er...must have missed the "advantages" part, as even the wealthy and powerful people are miserable and unable (or maybe in some cases unwilling) to really do anything about it. I certainly hope these stories don't "comprehensively illuminate a world," because there is really no joy to be had among these pages. The tiny amount of joy that does exist seems to exist for the sole purpose of being crushed to tiny bits by the author.

Now, disclaimer: I've never been to Pakistan. But I know that it is inhabited by human beings. I'm sure small victories, loving or at least respectful relationships, and fulfillment do happen in Pakistan, probably on a daily basis, but you would never guess it was so by reading this Pakistani author's book. It's all violence against women, unhappy and insecure men, power plays and dominance. I guess that kind of goes along with feudalism, but there is not a single character showing any kind of personal strength in the face of it. I come away from this book with the message that "Pakistanis are weak and violent and immoral, wrapped up in greed and pride and artificial facades." Which is not, of course, a Pakistani thing--it's a human thing. And so is joy and happiness and strength and fortitude. All of which were sorely lacking in this book. While some reviewers seemed to think the author was (as one reviewer put it) in the background wagging his finger, I felt that the author seemed okay with it all. Even the narration takes a pretty violent, non-compassionate view of people: one character is described with the phrase "when he became useful," as if doing hard manual labor for someone is the only determinant of a person's "usefulness." Violence against women is reported matter-of-factly and no one is shown to care about it. I just think it shows a skewed portrait, and I think it's unfortunate that such a lauded book fails to show the people in Pakistan as complete human beings.

Books like this are why I generally stay away from fiction. I don't mind reading something depressing if it's real, if it actually happens to people, because at least then I feel like I can do something about it, and marvel that actual people live through such hard times. Memoirs and nonfiction are enlightening and show a fuller picture of people. This was just a bunch of made up stories where no characters really had any redeeming values--and if they do, horrible things happen to them to put them back in their place. I just don't take that view of the world. These characters weren't people, they were caricatures of misery. I'm planning on reading In the Name of Honour: A Memoir because it's a memoir by a Pakistani woman who was sentenced to be gang-raped as punishment for something her 12 year old brother did "wrong." She ended up building two schools for children in her rural village when everyone assumed she would be committing suicide in short order. That's a much more real, more hopeful, more HUMAN story of suffering--if that's what you're looking for.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 24, 2010 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-actually-own, of-the-indian-subcontinent, queasy-romantic-eye-popping-nirvana

Having grown up in Pakistan, I have always had a soft spot for fiction about the Indian subcontinent. But until this book, my favorite of these authors wrote, by and large, about India. This is hardly an impediment to the quantity or quality of that literature, as in recent times the scope of Indian fiction has grown as wide as the Indian diaspora; but it is rare to encounter a first-rate book of fiction about Pakistan. It is also noteworthy that Mueenuddin has made his mark with short stories,...more Having grown up in Pakistan, I have always had a soft spot for fiction about the Indian subcontinent. But until this book, my favorite of these authors wrote, by and large, about India. This is hardly an impediment to the quantity or quality of that literature, as in recent times the scope of Indian fiction has grown as wide as the Indian diaspora; but it is rare to encounter a first-rate book of fiction about Pakistan. It is also noteworthy that Mueenuddin has made his mark with short stories, and not, as is often the case with the "next great Indian writer", with epic post-modern Rushdian fireworks. This is quality literary prose, not flowerly, show-off, pun-propelled writing. Quite frankly, Mueenuddin's prose is every bit as masterful and pitch-perfect as any I have ever read, but his lyricism never distracts from the fact that these stories and characters are grounded in the fabric of modern Pakistani life.

As many reviews have pointed out, the stories in this book are linked together by the presence of the oft-mentioned (but rarely seen, save in the collection's title story) landlord and bigwig K.K. Harouni, they are also chronologically arranged, which works to the collection's advantage. I found Mueenuddin's strongest stories are also his most contemporary. While I'll stop short of assigning specific years to certain stories, the point for me at which these already-good stories turn great is between the story "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" and "Our Lady of Paris." This is pure dust-jacket based speculation on my part, but I would wager that those stories before "In Other Rooms" are those set in the time of the author's childhood memories (and earlier); in the later stories, I sense the author's adult presence. From "Our Lady of Paris" on, his language grows richer, the insights into character deepen.

The story "Our Lady of Paris" is, for me, the high point of the collection ("Lily" is a close second). Sohail, and his American girlfriend Helen, spend the holiday season together in Paris at the same time as his parents, who have more or less invited themselves. With a surgeon's delicate touch, Mueenuddin peels apart the relationship between the four, exposing the tension and compromise we must all make between love, duty, and family. With their different ambitions and expectations. sharing cultures and yet split by them, all for the moment are foreign to the others, and to themselves.

On terms of writerly skill alone, I would put this collection up next to Raymond Carver. I eagerly await this author's next work.(less)

like 1 like · see review

May 16, 2011 Belinda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Where's the half-star option when you need it? This (too) slim book of short stories is bumping up against the best books I've read this year, and it feels like an injustice to give it just four stars. Lovely, well-crafted stories that quietly introduce the reader to contemporary Pakistan, a country founded in fuedalism, further shaped by colonialism, and then struggling with modernity as its well-off young people go abroad for an education and perhaps spouses. Back at home, poverty and servitud...more

like · see review

title link	preview: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
avg rating	preview: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Goodreads rating: 3.72 (2708 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4657432-in-other-rooms-other-wonders?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348777446l/4657432.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4657432-in-other-rooms-other-wonders?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin[/url]

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (15)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Daniyal Mueenuddin

Books by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About In Other Rooms, O...