Publishers Weekly
★ 09/21/2020
Journalist Walsh debuts with an immersive and splendidly written portrait of Pakistan based on the nine years he spent in the country reporting for the Guardian and the New York Times. He begins with his 2013 arrest and expulsion from the country for “undesirable activities” (Walsh later came to believe that his reporting on an insurgent movement in Balochistan province got him kicked out), then profiles nine people whose stories provide valuable perspective on Pakistan’s volatile politics and “endearing absurdities,” as well as its cultural traditions and modern aspirations. Walsh’s profile subjects include the “most famous cop in Karachi,” Chaudhry Aslam Khan, whose office “had the gleam of a mortuary and the furtive bustle of a mobster’s den,” and human rights activist Asma Jahangir, a “cast-iron idealist” who “embraced the untouchable and advocated the unthinkable, leading indefatigable campaigns to reform Pakistan’s bigoted laws or to protect its most vulnerable minorities.” Walsh also probes the history of ISI, Pakistan’s fearsome intelligence agency, and interviews one of its best known spies, Colonel Imam, who trained mujahideen fighters in the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s and was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2010. Rich with incisive historical context, astute cultural analysis, and evocative language, Walsh’s account brings Pakistan’s contradictions to fascinating life. This masterfully reported account deserves a wide readership. (Nov.)
Telegraph - Memphis Barker
"[A] thrilling, big-hearted book....If Walsh’s guts take him places others have not reached, his prose – vigorous, cockeyed and clear – brings it home to the reader....This is not just a book for someone wanting to find out about Pakistan, although it performs that job admirably. It is also a richly observed study of how humans respond to the extraordinary pressures of a sometimes-choking society; empathetic, but hard-nosed and never veering into hagiography."
Amna Nawaz
"A vivid, complex portrait of a country at a crossroads….Walsh’s writing is elegant and expressive. It does what the best foreign correspondence should: transport the reader."
Guardian - Julian Borger
"Captivating.... Walsh is a wonderful writer, with a gift for sketching an impression of a place, time and ambience with a few brief lines. He knows how to interweave travelogue with an account of the relentless tensions that always threaten to burst through each vignette in the book. What also shines through is the relish with which Walsh throws himself into the far corners of Pakistan, into crowds, celebrations and rites, with a drive born of fascination with the land and its people."
Wall Street Journal - Tunku Varadarajan
"An enthralling account of Mr. Walsh’s near-decade as a correspondent."
Kamila Shamsie
"An irresistible combination of storytelling panache and in-depth knowledge; Declan Walsh brings vividly to life characters and situations that illuminate some of the most significant phases of Pakistan’s history."
Mohammed Hanif
"If you want to read one book about contemporary Pakistan, it has to be The Nine Lives of Pakistan, an intimate yet sweeping account of Pakistan’s contemporary history. Walsh is a rare foreign correspondent who doesn’t condescend, a storyteller who lets his characters speak. Although I am familiar with most of the events and characters Walsh writes about, his retelling left me breathless."
Bilal Qureshi
"Walsh is an engaging guide....Nine Lives of Pakistan is an unquestionably illuminating and engaging book…an elegantly crafted memoir of a gifted journalist."
Pankaj Mishra
"In The Nine Lives of Pakistan, Declan Walsh describes, with intellectual power and cool elegance, a much-misunderstood country. All those interested in South Asia and its complex politics and culture should read [this book]."
William Dalrymple
"A wonderful book which sets a new benchmark for non-fiction about the complex palace of mirrors that is Pakistan. Star New York Times foreign correspondent Declan Walsh has a rapier wit, a talent for skillfully sketched pen portraits and a sharp eye for tragedy, paradox and absurdity. With The Nine Lives of Pakistan he has produced a beautifully, lightly, fluently written book that is as profoundly nuanced as it is sharply perceptive."
