This is a hard book to love, even accounting for its scope and ambition.

At the basic level of the story itself, I think it works - I finished the book because I was compelled to learn more about Zafar. Of course there has been a lot said about how much the books digresses from the central plot, but this is clearly intentional. I think what I couldn’t get myself to like was the author imposing the readers with his perspective on the world with limited self reflection and meaningful character development. The book is littered with the authors opinions on the world masquerading as subjective reflections by his characters. Great novels are able to get under the skin of the character, and through this assumed voice reveal more of the world from conflicting perspectives. There are no conflicting perspectives here. , You two protagonists, who agree on everything. Even as they probe their own feelings and motivations, they are reduced to being props for the author’s world views, on class, gender and geopolitics.

To my mind, the writers treatment of female characters is especially revealing. For a modern novel, it is strange to find a book where almost every female character is portrayed negatively. I could still understand the way Emily’s character is built up given the reveal in the end, but the personalities of most other female characters are perceived through the authors lens on class and sexuality. The one exception to the rule (Nicole) is not only a minor side character, but also someone whose worth is defined by her marriage and children! Both central characters have meaningful formative moments with their fathers, and have nothing to say of their mothers.

All of this adds up over the course of a big ambitious novel - it’s hard to ignore. There is simply too much of the writer in these pages, and therefore a very narrow view of the world he wishes to describe.