Moth Smoke
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4.2 • 44 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The debut novel from the internationally bestselling author of Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
In contemporary Pakistan, Daru Shezad is fired from his banking job in Lahore and thus begins a decline that plummets him into a dangerous world of drugs and crime. Fast-paced and unexpected, Moth Smoke portrays a Pakistan far more vivid and complex than the exoticized images of South Asia that are oft protrayed in the West.
This complex story established Mohsin Hamid as an internationally important writer of substance and imagination and the premier Pakistani author of our time, a promise he has amply fulfilled with each successive book. This debut novel, meanwhile, remains as compelling and deeply relevant to the moment as when it appeared more than a decade ago.
Customer Reviews
Deterioration Done Almost Perfectly
Growing up as a Pakistani—American, I really only knew the contexts of my people when it involved terrorism. Upon engaging myself within literature, I found a need to explore such works within a scope I knew existed beyond what I had experienced throughout my early years. Moth Smoke is a brilliant commentary, in my opinion, on how the indulgences of selfish pleasures intoxicate common sense. Save one scene involving a palm reader and excessive sexual scenes (I’m a muslim), I can see this book being a literary Breaking Bad to someone. To me, it’s its own unique conglomeration of deterioration—save the included scenes that go against my beliefs.
Excellent
Hamid’s first novel and arguably his best. This story has so many levels to it. Are you the moth or the flame?
Oddly relatable
The story was very captivating!