Revolt

by Qaisra Shahraz

A brilliantly incisive portrait of small-town life, exploding into a panoramic portrayal of the nature of change, freedom, pride and prejudice. Evocative, family drama and love story, rich with contemporary issues, humour, tragedy and conflict. Think Pakistani Jane Austen!

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Qaisra Shahraz, born in Pakistan, is a critically acclaimed novelist and scriptwriter and has lived in Manchester since she was nine. She has degrees in English and two Masters in European Literature (Manchester Universities) and Scriptwriting ( Salford University ). Qaisra has a successful career in education – school teacher, examiner, teacher trainer, lecturer, development officer and quality improvement manager etc. She is currently a college inspector for Ofsted and Estyn, and an education consultant.

Qaisra is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Member of the Royal Society of Literature and recipient of the Arts Council Award. Her novels are translated into several languages. The Holy Woman won the Golden Jubilee Award and was Book of the Month . Her drama serial The Heart is It won two TV Awards in Pakistan . Her award-winning short stories are studied in schools, including her first story, A Pair of Jeans, for the German ‘A level' equivalent. Qaisra has written extensively as a journalist including for The Times. She is available for readings, workshops and consultancy.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revolt by Qaisra Shahraz
Arcadia Books
978-0-9573304-9-8
Submitted by the publisher
£11.99, 431 pg

“But I did what I did before love came to town” – B.B. King

What fun this is! Revolt by Qaisra Shahraz puts me in mind of The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, Pakistani village style. You have the zemindars, the landlords, in the hevalis, the mansions. You have the villagers: servants, shopkeepers and artisans. What happens when the lines begin to blur? What happens when people begin to forget their places in a caste society? What happens when East meets West?

Revolt takes place in the fictional Pakistani village of Gulistan and tells the story of three wealthy sisters and the tectonic changes that happen in their lives when the phenomenon of immigration and the Western notion of romantic love threaten to dismantle all they’ve ever known. As the story opens Mehreen’s son Ismail is flying home from London for his wedding; Gulbahar’s son Arslan is flying in from New York, a homecoming after completing his studies; and Rani is preparing for her daughter Saher’s wedding to Ismail. One more person has also come home to Gulistan for this important week: Gulbahar’s exiled daughter Laila has returned in hopes of seeing her brother. Laila hasn’t seen her family in 10 years, since she ran off and eloped with the potter’s son. Laila is persona non grata, as is her daughter who has never met her grandparents.

It is almost impossible to tell you anything else that happens because there are so many plot twists and surprises and secrets that seemingly-endless spoilers would be unavoidable. And none of Revolt should be spoiled. So let’s say this:

Ismail returns with a stow-away within a stow-away no one knew existed.

Arslan has harbored a love for someone else’s fiancée since he was a child and is bent on forcing his parents to reconcile with Laila.

Saher, a thoroughly modern woman in many ways – a lawyer in the city, will extend that same modernity to her private relationships and this will allow her, ironically, to remain in the village she loves.

Laila, dear Laila. I’m not going to tell you about Laila.

One of the elements I particularly appreciated is that the servants and villagers are as fully-realized as the figurative royalty living in the hevalis. Their stories are told just as faithfully, their humanity never slighted, at least not by Shahraz. One of my usual complaints about family-saga-type novels is that they drag along, what with all the jumping back and forth between the past and present. That doesn’t happen in Revolt. We are provided with the flashbacks necessary to advance the story and nothing more (or less). Accordingly, the pacing is relentless and the plotting practically flawless. The land itself is fondly rendered by the author, a native Pakistani who moved to the UK with her family as a small child.

Qaisra Shahraz is a novelist, short story writer and scriptwriter. Previous works include The Holy Woman (which won the Golden Jubilee Award and is a best-seller in Turkey and Indonesia) and Typhoon. Shahraz was recognized in the Pakistan Power 100 List in 2012. She is currently at work on her fourth novel.

A closing thought: Revolt also reminded me of a Mexican telenovela, in the best way possible. Sure there’s melodrama but, unlike telenovelas, it never descends to farce and that’s what made this work so much fun to read. It’s not “heavy literature” but Shahraz handles her material with such affection for human foibles and a deft comedic touch that she examines some weighty issues without beating you about the head and shoulders with it. This planet of ours is shrinking by the day and by the end of Revolt you will have learned something about a culture clash that has instigated chaos across the globe. Like us, the characters here don’t handle the complexities well in the beginning but by The End they’ve come to realize that when you get right down to it, people everywhere are simply people. Our differences are much less important than our commonalities.

[Pooja Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qaisra Shahraz's 'The Holy Woman' made me pick up 'The Revolt' with a lot of expectations. Unlike the usual notion that expectations lead to disappointment, the wonderfully spun story and the vivid description surpasses all notions.

The story revolves around the lives of three sisters through which are highlighted problems of tradition, culture, sexism, racism and classism. Although the story is fictional, it is a representation of the society. It has all the ingredients of a great story with the added bonus of a mysterious and intriguing culture which really does give this story the edge. Although the end is a bit predictable, the story remains very interesting till the end. A very captivating and a beautifully written book.

[Maryline M's Bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was first published at M's Bookshelf - http://mssbookshelf.blogspot.be

Wow. What a novel.
It took me a while to get into the story. I found the amount of Urdu words used in the book very confusing at first. A lot of characters were introduced in the first few chapters, with (for me) difficult names, all of which made it a bit harder to really get absorbed into the story and the character's lives. But once you got used to some of the Urdu words and the characters, it became such an amazingly intriguing read.
One of the great things about Revolt is the very large amount of characters, and their diversity. One big story with all those individual stories intertwined... Such a "rich" book. Not only are the characters very different from one another, they each got a different story to tell and the book introduces so many different themes... You never get bored!

Qaisra Shahraz is obviously a very talented story teller and she transported me to another, unknown, part of the world.

Revolt is an amazingly intriguing and rich story. It brings so much diversity in both characters and themes. Qaisra Shahraz introduces you to a new world and transports you to a little Pakistani village, while making you forget the world around you.

[Jenny Nagle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why this book was well rated. I found it repetative, predictable and clumsy, a shame as the topic was interesting.

[Asma Zakiyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sebuah novel dengan latar belakang Asia Selatan kedua yang ku baca. Sejujurnya ndak terlalu berminat dengan buku-buku asal Asia Selatan (maupun belahan bumi lain) simply karena merasa buku terjemahan selain dari bahasa Inggris asli, sepertinya belum benar-benar cocok dengan selera ku dalam membaca. Selera. Ehe.
Novel ini menghadirkan konflik yang... bisa kalian bayangkan ada di film atau drama India, meski latar tempat di novel ini Pakistan ya, tapi mirip lah menurutku. Cara novel ini menghadirkan cerita sungguh detil, rumit, berkelindan, menyentuh seluruh aspek sensitif negara ini.
Yang pasti satu: setelah ini janji untuk gak takut baca buku terjemahan lagi 😄

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable, but rather a hollow, simplistic, and in the end amoral, enterprise. I learned more about Pakistan’s village culture, but within that the secrecy, feudalism, misogyny, the gaslighting and the ability to hate and hurt almost on a whim, was uncomfortable reading. It was really just a Mills and Boon with every thread awaiting its neat tying up. We’re we really supposed to think well of a man who could knock a child down with a horse? We’re we meant to share in Begum’s joy that he was prepared to take a child from her father? Also, would that racists in any country were so easily appeased in real life.

[Dániel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Granular detail of small village life and mentality depicted well. However it drags on for too long and everything magically works out in the end with all threads neatly tied up.

[Elisa LH · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un poco telenovela, el lenguaje dificil de seguir pero al final te acabas metiendo en la familia. Interesantes las tradiciones y la manera de vivir en el pueblo de Gulistan

[Supriyadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

pertama baca alur ceritanya tidak paham tapi setelah pertengahan cerita sedikit paham 😅

[Leanne de Cerbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qaisra Shahraz brings you into a world that you have most likely never visited or known. She sets up photographic shots of details that morph open into cinematic scenes: you can feel the hot sun on your skin; hear the chatter around the table; and see the anguish and laughter etched into characters that become as familiar to you as people you know. And although you feel you are there, you must watch, listen, and wait to see what will happen next.

Revolt is a family saga woven through a diversity of stories and many people, and this is where the author (also a talented scriptwriter) really shows her skill in bringing characters to such fullness of life, you can see the roundness of their flesh and hear their voices.

Traversing from England to small town life in the fictional village of Gulistan in Pakistan, the different story strands all interweave to the central point of focus; three wealthy sisters, their children and servants, and the effect of choices that reverberate on family and outsiders.

Many emotions and beliefs are explored through the themes of family drama, love, loss, abandonment, desire for reconciliation, and age-old and contemporary issues of conflict; political and religious chaos and Pakistani Muslim values in juxtaposition to the modern West. The intrusion of the West comes via the necessity and desire of immigration. Bringing notions of romantic love, modern values shake traditional beliefs and customs when East meets West. The resentment and envy of those left behind is a relative parable to those who dared to leave and now find themselves straddling two worlds in which they find they belong to neither - and the riches that it brought them also brings them down.

Having been compared to Jane Austen and Isabel Allende, Qaisra Shahraz has established her own combination of parody, magic realism, wit and charm. She writes beautifully, but accessibly, and precisely details intricate outlines of human character and behaviour. This is an author who should be on everyone’s Books to Read list.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, where do I start with this lovely, long novel? Complicated and large in scope, Qaisra Shahraz’s Revolt had me hooked and drawn into the plight of a large family in the rural village of Gulistan in Pakistan. Centred around three sisters, Rani, Mehreen and Gulbahar, and their children and servants, Revolt chronicles the twists and turns of marriages and secret loves, and the ripple effect the choices of the children have on their mothers and fathers and the rest of the village.


I’m not going to lie, Revolt is greatly complicated and there’s a large list of characters. At the start, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who but once I finally got into the swing of it, keeping tabs on relationships between different characters became easier. There were also some tough themes to deal with in this book, like women’s rights, family values and tradition, and as a Western woman I found some of these issues to be frustrating, particularly the issue of arranged marriages.

Shahraz’s writing is very rich and warm, sprinkling words and phrases in the native tongue throughout the book. Don’t let the foreign language put you off; there is a glossary in the back of the book to help with translations!

This was one of those books that I read slowly, pausing in my reading to put the book down and actually reflect on what I’d read. I think I might have even had a dream or two about the characters -it’s that realistic and affecting. I really didn’t want the book to end. I didn’t want to close the cover on Gulbahar, Mehreen and Rani. This book was just rich – in setting, in characters, in everything. There’s no other word to describe this book.

If you’re looking for a total cultural immersion, Revolt is definitely the perfect book for that. I also have Shahraz’s The Holy Woman on my shelf to read and I’m greatly looking forward to it.

[Midnighteclipse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story that nearly every pakistani/ Indian has dealt with at some level in their life, a very relatable storyline. I loved the beginning but in all honesty I found the rest average, it didn't meet my expectations. For me it was probably too close to home.
The accuracy of the landlords was spot on, the way they were in the book is how I have experienced them in reality, their fierceness and pride overruling their hearts and tenderness with the women left to deal with the harshness of the situation, proving money can't buy happiness.
The villagers storyline was very good but I would have preferred to read a book purely about village mentality rather than a few chapters here and there, it was interfering in the landlords story as opposed to showing diversity of class or status.
It could have been grittier given the topic at hand but it finished too sweetly and perhaps unrealistically. Jubails character in particular, we barely hear from him but it's his actions that give the story it's core, it would have been good to see his pov in more detail or even the love for he has for Laila.
It's worth reading purely about the accuracies of village life and culture and I loved the cross over of cultures between east and west but I prefered the authors other book 'Holy woman'.

[Luisa نور · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reviews here and there made me want to buy this book but ... I've been a bit disappointed. The story is the story as exposed elsewhere, which I liked, and I appreciated the attempts of getting the point of view of different characters from diverse socio-economic status and age, but the writing style didn't impress me.
I guess it's a matter of personnal taste but the view points were changing too quickly, often several times throughout a single conversation, so that it was actually hard to know who felt what.
Overall, it gave me the impression of reading the novel equivalent of a Dallas-style TV series more than a "proper" novel (and since I don't especially like that kind of show ... But if you do, then you'll be happy !).
Too many tears and big words (often the same ones, a bit repetitive) for too many different things. In the end I didn't care much what happened to the characters, a bit like getting bored of the Game of Thrones TV series' thing of killing characters for principle more than any other reason (and certainly not keeping the reader's interest or making the plot advance).
Anyway, great potential, but ... Well, nothing's perfect. But it should make a great scenario and a great movie, though. Or TV series.

[David Grieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this tale of an extended family in rural Pakistan. Although set in modern day, it could mostly have been set at any time as it is mainly a study of how the family and the community reacts to events surrounding them. It is a very interesting insight into the workings of a rural community in Pakistan and the relationships between the members of that community. Also, how the family members react to certain events is fascinating when seen through western eyes.

The story rattles along, the characters are well formed and believable and the sense of place is superb. The quality of the writing is patchy and tends to be repetitive but you can't take away from a good story.

Very enjoyable - not quite up with Jane Austen as claimed by the sleeve notes - the story might be but the writing certainly isn't!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere, I saw this book described as a Pakistani 'Pride & Prejudice', and there is definitely something of the Jane Austen about this story, revolving around the lives of three sisters and their families in rural Pakistan. In the same way as Austen, Shahraz draws you into this wonderful, vibrant world and into the lives of a whole cast of characters, from the imperious landowner down to the lowly laundrywoman. It is a fascinating glimpse into a world very different from the West, a world that does almost seem like something from the 18th Century at times. There are so many wonderful strands to this story, so many characters to invest oneself in. I found it to be a truly captivating read and will definitely be looking into Shahraz's other work.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of old Pakistani traditions and classes is told in a long rambling manner. The parents have to deal with the paradox of after sending their children to be educated they no longer fit in either the West or East. Family pride is at the centre of every action. This is an interesting book but one that could have been shortened.

[Seawood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Typhoon and The Holy Woman I'm sad to say I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as it took me *forever* to get a grip on all the characters. Still, I managed to get ahold of it halfway through and the rest was a decent read.

[Antillanca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. I enjoyed it a lot and I couldn't put it down. It's an interesting family story, but it's also a very good way to learn more about the Pakistani way of life, the immigration issues and so on. It was great.

[Mai-ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the cultural aspect of this book. However I thought that the family issues were solved a bit easily, maybe that is part of the culture as well.

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never a dull moment, intricately crafted characters and wonderful parallel plots.

[Umma]

*review to come*

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing Read

I really enjoyed this book and the insight it gave. It was easy to read and a definite page turner.