In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Book

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 glancingly represented in 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 richer, in some cases they are merely keeping up appearances, more important to them than actually working.

Memorable female characters, who use their youth and sex-appeal in similar ways, are the focus of some of the stories. Though the families they come from and the men they 'use' (and who use them) are different from each other, their stories are basically the same -- intentional, I'm sure. (As shown in "About a Burning Girl," the girl is the last thing any of the men are considering.) That said, I may end up remembering longer the older male characters: one who encounters bewildering, startling violence from another more desperate than he is and one who, after well-meaning types try to help him, experiences the same kind of violence from corrupt policemen.

Depicting a society where protocol and the family you come from means so much (though increasingly not as much as it used to), the author's use of recurring characters and their descendants is effective. Subtle metaphors point out that change is not only a struggle that comes with a cost; but that it is also frustratingly hard to achieve, if at all.

A sense of place is very strong in all the stories, including one set in France.