After Ann Patchett spoke about a 2009 book of short stories by this author, I found this recent one. If you are hoping to read an uplifting book with lovable characters, you should read the title of the book more carefully than I did.
The author is a Pakistani-American; he was born in the US, lived in Pakistan until he was thirteen, returned to the US for education and became a lawyer. He now divides his time between Oslo, Norway and his farm in Pakistan. Some of the characters in this book have spent time studying in the US and one practiced law in the US.
The book opens with the story of Bayazid, an orphaned boy taken in by the owner of a tea stall in the Rawalpindi market. He was noticed as he seemed to be waiting patiently for an expected parent to return until finally the shop owner took him in and put him to work. He was successful, showing himself to be likable, able, and tough. We later encounter him after he became the chauffeur of two generations of the Atar family, much trusted by this family of landowners, industrialists, and politicians. Hisham is the son of the Atar family patriarch who inherited Bayazid as his chauffeur. He and his brother were educated in the US and Nessim later left Pakistan and practiced law in New York.
The author turned the focus to a second cousin of Hisham, another American-educated man who struggled to learn to make his way in Pakistan. Rustom turned to the older Hisham when he realized the toughs his grandfather had hired in the past were breaking all the rules of decorum after he had bent the rules to give them a bit of respect. He appeared to be unable to exert his will on these hired guns and they were murderous rather than just intimidating as his westernized self would have preferred.
The story of Hisham and his wife Shanaz, also educated in the US, and their connection to Saqib, a protégé of Bayazid takes center stage. Saqib is uniquely capable and grows close to Hisham and Shanaz by being good at insuring their creature comforts. He is ambitious and sees that he can satisfy those ambitions by leaving the comfort of the household work and farming with modern techniques. He succeeded in making money, but only by cheating Hisham can he make enough to satisfy his ambitions. The most painful part for him was deceiving his mentor Bayazid but while he did so, he also left a clue for Bayazid revealing his great deception. The stories of these people over the course of 40 years reveals the farm life in Punjab for the pampered owners who escape the country for extended periods and those in extreme poverty who work themselves to death.
The contrast between the modern life that Hisham and Shanaz live and the world of the feudal life in the Punjab is dramatic. The contrast between the brothers, Hisham and Nessim mirrors that contrast; Hisham is comfortable being an overlord and able to operate in the Punjab, while Nessim was an academic, gentle soul, and the dynamic Hisham steals Shanaz away from him. Saqib sees Shanaz as understanding how cutthroat business works and more able to take the necessary actions.
Daniyal Mueenuddin, This is Where the Serpent Lives, Alfred A. Knopf, 2026, 343 pages (I read the kindle version). Available in the public library.