A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Hanif, Mohammed

ISBN 10: 0307268071 / ISBN 13: 9780307268075

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008

About this Item

Octavo. Orange boards quarterbound in a mustard yellow backstrip with black lettering on the spine. Book has a faint bumping at the head and tail of the spine and a 1/32" closed tear in the head of the spine. White endpapers. Binding is straight and tight. Pages are all clean, white, and crisp. 323 pages. Dust Jacket - has no discernable flaws - jacket is clean, bright, and sharp. Hanif's "witty, elegant" (John Le Carre) literary debut drew much praise on it's appearance, and has drawn comparrisons to Autumn of the Patriarch and Catch-22.

Seller Inventory # 011241

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Case of Exploding Mangoes
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0307268071
• ISBN 13: 9780307268075
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: NF
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature & Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

A first novel of the first order—provocative, exuberant, wickedly clever—that reimagines the conspiracies and coincidences leading to the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed Pakistan’s dictator General Zia ul-Haq.

At the center is Ali Shigri: Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of Fury Squadron. His father, one of Zia’s colonels, committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. Ali is determined to understand what or who pushed his father to such desperation—and to avenge his death.

What he quickly discovers is a snarl of events: Americans in Pakistan, Soviets in Afghanistan, dollars in every hand. But Ali remains patient, determined, a touch world-weary (“You want freedom and they give you chicken korma”), and unsurprised at finding Zia at every turn. He mounts an elaborate plot for revenge with an ever-changing crew (willing and not) that includes his silk-underwear-and-cologne-wearing roommate; a hash-smoking American lieutenant with questionable motives; the chief of Pakistan’s secret police, who mistakenly believes he’s in cahoots with the CIA; a blind woman imprisoned for fornication; Uncle Starchy, the squadron’s laundryman; and, not least of all, a mango-besotted crow. General Zia—devout Muslim and leering admirer of non-Muslim cleavage—begins every day by asking his chief of security: “Who’s trying to kill me?” and the answer lies in a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen . . .
Intrigue and subterfuge combine with misstep and luck in this darkly comic book about love, betrayal, tyranny, family—and a world that unexpectedly resembles our own.

About the Author

Mohammed Hanif heads the BBC’s Urdu service. He graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy and has since worked as a journalist and playwright. He lives in London.