A Case of Exploding Mangoes

A fictional story immersed in reality. General Zia is convinced that he is on a hit list and will be killed, so be barricades himself into his house. Who could possibly want to kill him? CIA? RAW? ISI? Generals waiting for their promotions? Or the mangoes? This is a very absorbing and intriguing account into the life of General Zia leading up to the fateful day when the plane he board crashes....more

A fictional story immersed in reality. General Zia is convinced that he is on a hit list and will be killed, so be barricades himself into his house. Who could possibly want to kill him? CIA? RAW? ISI? Generals waiting for their promotions? Or the mangoes? This is a very absorbing and intriguing account into the life of General Zia leading up to the fateful day when the plane he board crashes. Told from a view point of Ali, a junior officer, whose father is murdered by the army. I was reading the book hurriedly because I wanted to know what exactly happened to General Zia. I didn't get any answers, but instead had more question. Hanif, the author, has very cleverly inserted a quote from the Quran-- in Arabic. Which means I have to go and search out that phrase from the Quran and see how this verse would apply to the novel. However, Muhammad Hanif wrote a very intriguing novel and I look forward to his novel!   hide

I am not a big fan of fictin but still a good effort by Muhammad Hanif to combine few theories of death of Zia into one single story.

Decent read... engaging in it's quasi-historical-ness (or similar word that actually exists). Also somewhat surrealist... like a strange painting that exists even though it shouldn't really... the rampant homosexuality seemed a bit over the top, but each to his own, I suppose.

Amazing...read such good humor after such a long time