mobi Æ The Association of Small Bombs ✓ Karan Mahajan
Umes the globe Sam Sacks The Wall Street Journal Mahajan's eagerness to go at the bomb from every angle suggests a voracious approach to fiction making a daring imaginative promiscuity that moves beyond the scope of his first very good novel Family Planning The New Yorker A beautifully written novel Ambitious Carries us deep into the human side of a tragedy The Washington PostFor readers of Mohsin Hamid Dave Eggers Arundhati Roy and Teju Cole The Association of Small Bombs is an expansive and deeply humane novel that is at once groundbreaking in its empathy dazzling in its acuity and ambitious in scopeWhen brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana two Delhi schoolboys pick up their family's television set at a repair shop with their friend Mansoor Ahmed one day in disaster strikes without warning A bomb one of the many small bombs that go off seemin The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan is a 2016 Viking Books publication I’m on a kick this week reading books that have been nominated for awards mainly to branch out some and try new genres to become better read and expand my knowledge a little but also I like to figure out why certain books catch the attention of critics and to see if those books resonate with readers in the same way So far it’s been a hit or miss with me Only a few of these books have lived up to the hype The Association of Small Bombs was a National Book award nominee and was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award So how did it stack up The book is an interesting examination of how terrorism affects the victims and by proxy those closely associated with them or the crime When a small bomb explodes in a marketplace in India two boys are killed and their friend is injured The aftermath dissects the various ways the survivors cope The paths taken by the families involved couldn’t be different The Khurana’s endure a long period of limbo as they wait for answers then go through the lengthy trial phase once the terrorists are arrested Mansoor the child who survived the bombing endures physical and psychological damage which further isolates him leaving him vulnerable and easily influenced leading him down a dark and dangerous road The people of America realize they are not immune to terrorist attacks and we know somewhere in the back of our minds that we will probably face of them as time goes on However we couldn’t possibly understand what it is like to live with these ‘small’ bombings which occur at an alarming freuency sometimes daily in many parts of the world This book examines that reality as well as delving into the emotional uagmire that leaves families devastated and broken The author added in the chilling perspectives of the terrorists their mindset and ideology which was probably a realistic but toned down look at how those seeds are planted and how easily people get sucked into these groups and their causes However the author walked a very fine line by taking us down that road and I must confess I bristled a bit at the ‘humanizing’ of terrorists but giving the reader insight into their mindset and feelings goes a long way in explaining how self radicalization can occur which is something we hear about and often There are many fine points the author bravely but delicately addresses and somehow manages to step around uite a few landmines without detonating them Overall this book gave me a lot to think about often making me feel uncomfortable but it is mostly sad and tragic proving there is no such thing as a ‘small’ bomb 35 stars
Karan Mahajan ✓ The Association of Small Bombs eBook
The Association of Small BombsLonglisted for the National Book Award the FTOppenheimer of Small MOBI #242 Emerging Voices AwardA New York Times Editors ChoiceNamed a Best Book of by Esuire Time magazine Vulturecom Wonderful Smart devastating unpredictable and enviably adept in its handling of tragedy and its fallout If The Association ePUB #10003 you enjoy novels that happily disrupt traditional narratives about grief death violence politics I suggest you go out and buy this one Post haste Fiona Maazel The New York Times Book Review Brilliant Mr Mahajan's writing is acrid and bracing tightly packed with Association of Small PDF #203 dissonant imagery The Association of Small Bombs is not the first novel about the aftermath of a terrorist attack but it is the finest I've read at capturing the seduction and force of the murderous annihilating illogic that increasingly cons This was my May 2016 pick for Book of the Month Club And while I didn't absolutely love this book I'm glad I chose this one simply because it was a book I might not have picked up otherwise It tells the story of a small bombing car bomb that takes place in an Indian market one day and follows the effects it has on multiple people including victims their families and even the terrorists who set off the bombIf you're looking for a book with one narrative thread with action that rises and falls to propel you forward this is not the book for you Instead Mahajan zooms in and out of different POVs across many years to paint interesting pictures of grief coping methods and ideological shifts I feel like if I had tried to rush through this one I might have enjoyed it less because it's certainly a book that prompts reflection and maybe even a bit of research And the ending was anything but explosive This book looks at implosion how we devolve after tragedy and the ways in which different people respond to life's difficult circumstancesIt's thoughtful thought provoking and well written but not a book I can blanket recommend More for people who enjoy slow moving character studies and learning about cultures or seeing things in a different light