The Scatter Here Is Too Great

by Bilal Tanweer

Overview

A vivid and intricate novel-in-stories, The Scatter Here Is Too Great explores the complicated lives of ordinary people whose fates unexpectedly converge after a deadly bomb blast at a train station in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.

Comrade Sukhansaz, an old communist poet, is harassed on a bus full of college students minutes before the blast. His son, a wealthy, middle-aged businessman, yearns for his own estranged child. A young man, Sadeq, has a dead-end job snatching cars from people who have defaulted on their bank loans, while his girlfriend spins tales for her young brother to conceal her own heartbreak. An ambulance driver picking up the bodies after the blast has a shocking encounter with two strange-looking men whom nobody else seems to notice. And in the midst of it all, a solitary writer, tormented with grief for his dead father and his decimated city, struggles to find words.

Bilal Tanweer reveals the pain, loneliness, and longing of these characters and celebrates the power of the written word to heal lives and communities plagued by violence. Elegantly weaving together these voices into a striking portrait of a city and its people, The Scatter Here Is Too Great is a tale as vibrant and varied in its characters, passions, and idiosyncrasies as the city itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062304445
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/05/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	484 KB

About the Author

Bilal Tanweer was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. His fiction, poetry, and translations have appeared in various international journals, including Granta, Vallum, The Caravan, and Words Without Borders. He was selected as a Granta New Voice in 2011 and was named an Honorary Fellow of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan.

Editorial Reviews

06/30/2014
The edgy account of Karachi life given in Tanweer’s stylish but flawed debut resembles a Pakistani La Ronde, so gracefully does the narrative waltz from one character’s life to another. The difference here is that most of the people we meet are connected not by love, but by a bomb blast. In one of the best sections of the novel, an unnamed boy and his sister, Aapa, are sent to live with their grandmother. When Aapa’s romance with a local boy is discovered, shame and calamity befalls the family. The narrative then jumps into the life of Sadeq, who is involved in the dangerous world of auto repossession and gradually revealed as Aapa’s lover—except the encounter that so disrupted her life is just a blip in his. Later, Tanweer follows Akbar, a young paramedic undergoing a spiritual crisis after witnessing the bombing. Although all the pieces fit, and many are beautifully written (the opening sequence, about a bus ride the boy and his father take to the seashore, is masterful), the overall thrust of the narrative is unclear. Nonetheless, this poetic novel-in-stories is an invaluable portrait of modern-day Karachi. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A vivid picture of a city blown to pieces by years of violence. . . . From his shards of stories he reconstructs a vibrant, hopeful panorama.” — The Wall Street Journal

“A thoughtful and original book.” — New York Journal of Books

“The Scatter Here Is Too Great [offers] nuanced characters, rich textures of fragmented experiences, and a distinct writing style. . . . One hell of a good read.” — Washington Independent Review of Books

“Bilal Tanweer has written a modern love letter — furious, passionate, playful, and longing — to Pakistan. And in his brilliant hands it becomes the universal story of home.” — Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet

“A superb and genuinely exciting debut.... He assembles a story of Karachi through lovingly-collected fragments. By the end of this book he had made me see that certain things are more beautiful and valuable for having been broken.” — Nadeem Aslam, author of Maps for Lost Lovers

“A beautiful debut, and a blood-soaked love letter to Karachi.” — Mohammed Hanif, author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes

“Bilal Tanweer uses his many gifts as a writer to evoke a Karachi of humor, violence, frustration, love — and breathtaking stories at every turn. A wonderful debut.” — Kamila Shamsie, author of Burnt Shadows

“A timely and unconventional debut. . . . Powerful. . . . Its beautiful fragments coalesce to form an elaborate, haunting portrait of urban Pakistan, one that is rich with acute sociological detail and subtle existential contemplation.” — The Guardian

“Edgy. . . . Stylish. . . . This poetic novel-in-stories is an invaluable portrait of modern-day Karachi.” — Publishers Weekly

“An eloquent, moving debut.” — Booklist

“In one slim volume of interconnected stories Bilal Tanweer creates characters so deftly alive they illuminate the world’s strangest and least-charted megacity in all its soiled and yes, hilarious, splendor.” — Lorraine Adams, author of Harbor

“This is a beautiful, deeply powerful novel. Tanweer is a talented writer who manages with simple, elegant phrases to draw a very touching, humane portrait with real characters that can almost breathe on paper.” — Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building

From the Publisher

Bilal Tanweer uses his many gifts as a writer to evoke a Karachi of humor, violence, frustration, love — and breathtaking stories at every turn. A wonderful debut.

Kamila Shamsie

A thoughtful and original book.

New York Journal of Books

An eloquent, moving debut.

Booklist

A vivid picture of a city blown to pieces by years of violence. . . . From his shards of stories he reconstructs a vibrant, hopeful panorama.

The Wall Street Journal

A beautiful debut, and a blood-soaked love letter to Karachi.

Mohammed Hanif

A timely and unconventional debut. . . . Powerful. . . . Its beautiful fragments coalesce to form an elaborate, haunting portrait of urban Pakistan, one that is rich with acute sociological detail and subtle existential contemplation.

The Guardian

A superb and genuinely exciting debut.... He assembles a story of Karachi through lovingly-collected fragments. By the end of this book he had made me see that certain things are more beautiful and valuable for having been broken.

Nadeem Aslam

Bilal Tanweer has written a modern love letter — furious, passionate, playful, and longing — to Pakistan. And in his brilliant hands it becomes the universal story of home.

Ben Marcus

The Scatter Here Is Too Great [offers] nuanced characters, rich textures of fragmented experiences, and a distinct writing style. . . . One hell of a good read.

Washington Independent Review of Books

This is a beautiful, deeply powerful novel. Tanweer is a talented writer who manages with simple, elegant phrases to draw a very touching, humane portrait with real characters that can almost breathe on paper.

Alaa Al Aswany

In one slim volume of interconnected stories Bilal Tanweer creates characters so deftly alive they illuminate the world’s strangest and least-charted megacity in all its soiled and yes, hilarious, splendor.

Lorraine Adams

An eloquent, moving debut.

Booklist