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A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Mohammed Hanif

Start date: March 15, 2014

Finish date: April 1, 2014

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Emily

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Jul 21, 2010 Sheila rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I am not a great lover of satirical novels - to be quite honest I often don't get them! - but this one was topical, being set in the Indian subcontinent, and full of funny oneliners. The descriptions of the Americans arriving for the Texas - Afghan fancy dress dinner at the embassy are great - of course everyone came in Afghani dress - mixed politics, social commentary and sexual innuendo. The sexual references throughout the novel as well as the political aspects of the plot must have been diff ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2018 Ardita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My intermittent chuckles stopped halfway through the book as Shighri held hands with Obaid. I should've refrained from having that chicken dinner as I was finishing the book. Heart-wrenching.

Throughout the book, having done a bit of background research and even following Hanif Bhaiya's Twitter account, coming from a country with somewhat similar political and military landscape with Pakistan, I kept asking myself, what keeps the writer alive?

I couldn't stop gasping.

Loved Hanif's writing style. T ...more

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Jun 18, 2008 William rated it really liked it

Torture, CIA assassinations, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Taliban...a perfect backdrop for a comic novel, right? Sort of like a middle eastern Catch-22, the book is the story of an officer in the Pakistan army caught between his fathers military legacy, his own ambitions and the Nobel Peace prize sought by General Zia for ridding Afghanistan of the Russians. Not to mention the the protagonist is homosexual in a country where that particular sin can cost you very dearly. Then there is the case ...more

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Dec 08, 2008 Rashida rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

This was an entertaining read, and an interesting take on a period of world history that I confess to not know too much about- but it seems our current state of foreign affairs is quite tied to some of these goings on. Hanif uses his creative license well to illustrate and satirize the Cold War machinations and their effects. That said, I think that Hanif could have gone even farther in his interpretation, and there were some plot points that I would have like him to have wrapped up before endin ...more

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Mar 10, 2014 Katy rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I really liked this novel. Once I started I couldn't put it down. It is realistic, unpretentious, cynical, funny, well written, and above all, entertaining, in other words, brilliant. ...more

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