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A Splintering
An unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition
In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either. She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire for wealth and freedom becomes an obsession. But can she truly shake her past? And what of the menacing spectre of her brother, a reminder of the threads that tie her to the life she left behind?
Set against a hypnotic, oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition. Disquieting and utterly gripping, it is an extraordinary achievement by Dur e Aziz Amna, an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.
In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either. She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire for wealth and freedom becomes an obsession. But can she truly shake her past? And what of the menacing spectre of her brother, a reminder of the threads that tie her to the life she left behind?
Set against a hypnotic, oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition. Disquieting and utterly gripping, it is an extraordinary achievement by Dur e Aziz Amna, an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.
238 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2025
9 people are currently reading
725 people want to read
About the author
Dur e Aziz Amna
3 books88 followersDur e Aziz Amna is from Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, among others. She won the 2021 Salam Award and the 2019 Financial Times / Bodley Head Essay Prize, and was longlisted for the 2020 Sunday Times Short Story Award. She graduated from Yale College and the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, AMERICAN FEVER, is forthcoming from Sceptre in the UK and Arcade in the US (August 2022).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
November 14, 2025
They HATE to see a girlboss win
September 4, 2025
"As I tell you my story, will you find it hard to empathise?"
A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna is a ruthless tale of a working-class woman from rural Pakistan tearing through the unforgiving patriarchal system in pursuit of a wealthier lifestyle in this empowering sophomore novel.
Dur e Aziz has a unique and powerful writing style, gripping me from the very first sentence. The novel opens with Tara asking the reader for some grace as she tells her life’s story and the motives that led her to commit questionable acts. From her childhood in Mazinagar 35 years ago, we are introduced to her family (mother, father, sisters) and her antagonistic brother, Lateef. Life in rural Pakistan is not easy. Society is extremely misogynistic and religious, where poverty and domestic violence lurk persistently. There are no opportunities to grow, especially for women, who serve as dowries for suitors, frequently three times their age or even their relatives. Education was a luxury many couldn’t afford, so Tara’s mother made sure at least one daughter received a formal education against her brother Lateef’s wishes, which sold her younger sister's dowry for a TV. Education was Tara’s only way out of Mazinagar to the city. This forms the core of the novel, and it would be a disservice to explain the whole scope of A Splintering spoiler-free.
In the backdrop of Tara’s story, Pakistani politics play an important role. Dur e Aziz weaves politics and history into compelling prose. The social critique is outstanding, and I was engrossed in every sentence. The pace is strikingly fast, and the novel packs much into just over 240 pages, a literary feat. Tara is a strong-willed woman with the sole objective of becoming wealthy and having the life she deserves. Why should she live in poverty when so many men have it easier? When Tara leaves for Islamabad, her life changes completely after she meets the Chaudhary. Through him, she learns how to use her female body to achieve her goals. Empowered, she becomes fearless, except of her brother Lateef, whom she suspects could be the death of her. One must understand that Pakistani society is utterly conservative, and a man has the right to act upon a woman he deems a “whore”; even so-called “corrective” gang rape is socially acceptable. A woman must be subdued and subservient.
Sexuality and femininity are strong themes in this novel and are masterfully explored through Tara’s character development. Tara is every woman in pursuit of the freedom to choose, to express herself, to simply be. A Splintering is a necessary novel with a strong feminist message in a society where religion crushes women into a domestic and subservient life. This is a powerful tale, and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding more about Pakistani society, the suffocating power and violence of patriarchy, and female empowerment.
Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher Duckworth Books via NetGalley and BookSirens in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna is a ruthless tale of a working-class woman from rural Pakistan tearing through the unforgiving patriarchal system in pursuit of a wealthier lifestyle in this empowering sophomore novel.
Dur e Aziz has a unique and powerful writing style, gripping me from the very first sentence. The novel opens with Tara asking the reader for some grace as she tells her life’s story and the motives that led her to commit questionable acts. From her childhood in Mazinagar 35 years ago, we are introduced to her family (mother, father, sisters) and her antagonistic brother, Lateef. Life in rural Pakistan is not easy. Society is extremely misogynistic and religious, where poverty and domestic violence lurk persistently. There are no opportunities to grow, especially for women, who serve as dowries for suitors, frequently three times their age or even their relatives. Education was a luxury many couldn’t afford, so Tara’s mother made sure at least one daughter received a formal education against her brother Lateef’s wishes, which sold her younger sister's dowry for a TV. Education was Tara’s only way out of Mazinagar to the city. This forms the core of the novel, and it would be a disservice to explain the whole scope of A Splintering spoiler-free.
In the backdrop of Tara’s story, Pakistani politics play an important role. Dur e Aziz weaves politics and history into compelling prose. The social critique is outstanding, and I was engrossed in every sentence. The pace is strikingly fast, and the novel packs much into just over 240 pages, a literary feat. Tara is a strong-willed woman with the sole objective of becoming wealthy and having the life she deserves. Why should she live in poverty when so many men have it easier? When Tara leaves for Islamabad, her life changes completely after she meets the Chaudhary. Through him, she learns how to use her female body to achieve her goals. Empowered, she becomes fearless, except of her brother Lateef, whom she suspects could be the death of her. One must understand that Pakistani society is utterly conservative, and a man has the right to act upon a woman he deems a “whore”; even so-called “corrective” gang rape is socially acceptable. A woman must be subdued and subservient.
Sexuality and femininity are strong themes in this novel and are masterfully explored through Tara’s character development. Tara is every woman in pursuit of the freedom to choose, to express herself, to simply be. A Splintering is a necessary novel with a strong feminist message in a society where religion crushes women into a domestic and subservient life. This is a powerful tale, and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding more about Pakistani society, the suffocating power and violence of patriarchy, and female empowerment.
Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher Duckworth Books via NetGalley and BookSirens in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
October 7, 2025
"I am what some call an unrelatable character, and I have done something unthinkable. But I implore you to listen."
Tara tells us what she has done and it makes for a thought-provoking story about the role of women, race and especially class in Pakistan in the '90s and '00s.
I was gripped from the start to the end.
Tara is from a small village in Pakistan, she is ambitious, good at school and dreams of moving to the big city, Islamabad. When she finally succeeds and starts a family, she learns that the struggle for upward mobility only continues.
A little point of critique is that the many men in the novel are all stereotypes and caricatures - but the book is not about them, it's about Tara and she is a fascinating main character that carries the novel.
With books such as these I always wonder whether they are written for a foreign audience and how they are perceived in their home country.
Highly recommended.
Tara tells us what she has done and it makes for a thought-provoking story about the role of women, race and especially class in Pakistan in the '90s and '00s.
I was gripped from the start to the end.
Tara is from a small village in Pakistan, she is ambitious, good at school and dreams of moving to the big city, Islamabad. When she finally succeeds and starts a family, she learns that the struggle for upward mobility only continues.
A little point of critique is that the many men in the novel are all stereotypes and caricatures - but the book is not about them, it's about Tara and she is a fascinating main character that carries the novel.
With books such as these I always wonder whether they are written for a foreign audience and how they are perceived in their home country.
Highly recommended.
July 23, 2025
I hope this becomes an instant bestseller when it is published in September 2025, I loved this novel so much.
We follow Tara, a young woman in Mazinagar, a rural village in Pakistan in the 1990s, as she is the only girl in her family to go to school, her mother determined to let her get an education despite her older brother Lateef's opposition. She dreams of escaping the poverty of her upbringing, the shared bedroom with her sisters, the tedious daily chores of washing and feeding a family, the dust, and what she sees as backwards attitudes. On a day trip to Islamabad, she decides that moving to the big city will be her goal and she eventually does it, marrying a wealthy enough accountant and moving into his family home with her condescending step-mother. But Tara is never satisfied, and is soon hungry for more, observing with envy the mothers at the school gate, their perfect hair, their designer coat, their neat cashmere jumpers...
I loved Tara as a character - she is unlikeable, petty, convinced of her own superiority, resentful of everyone's good fortune, contemptuous towards her family and anyone she considers beneath her, greedy and ready to do anything... The first paragraph of the novel warns us that we may judge her for the awful things she has done, so part of the thrill of this book is reading to find out how awful exactly she gets. (Spoiler: Pretty awful!)
It's well written, kind of funny at times, a really fascinating novel about money and greed, which I highly recommend.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
We follow Tara, a young woman in Mazinagar, a rural village in Pakistan in the 1990s, as she is the only girl in her family to go to school, her mother determined to let her get an education despite her older brother Lateef's opposition. She dreams of escaping the poverty of her upbringing, the shared bedroom with her sisters, the tedious daily chores of washing and feeding a family, the dust, and what she sees as backwards attitudes. On a day trip to Islamabad, she decides that moving to the big city will be her goal and she eventually does it, marrying a wealthy enough accountant and moving into his family home with her condescending step-mother. But Tara is never satisfied, and is soon hungry for more, observing with envy the mothers at the school gate, their perfect hair, their designer coat, their neat cashmere jumpers...
I loved Tara as a character - she is unlikeable, petty, convinced of her own superiority, resentful of everyone's good fortune, contemptuous towards her family and anyone she considers beneath her, greedy and ready to do anything... The first paragraph of the novel warns us that we may judge her for the awful things she has done, so part of the thrill of this book is reading to find out how awful exactly she gets. (Spoiler: Pretty awful!)
It's well written, kind of funny at times, a really fascinating novel about money and greed, which I highly recommend.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
May 22, 2025
i believe a book well written is one that makes you feel exactly what it aims for. tara may be the character whose eyes we see the world through, but she is far from being the only main character of the story. the women present are all main characters in their respective ways, different in many facets of life, but one thing joins them, and it is anger.
female rage is splashed across the story like fuel. It's a kindling behind every word, behind every emotion, and behind every action that the women do. be it fighting tooth and nail for her daughter to finish her education, trying to shed and distance oneself from a past that kills unabashedly, or letting the pain gnaw slowly and fester for years, the main drive of the book is pure unfiltered anger that you feel throughout every line.
Hunger and rage are what drive the story forward, are what make it almost impossible to hate tara. as an audience to her bathe to strive for more, we watch her from wanting the simplest things in life to growing incessantly unsatisfied and knowing that her hunger will never subside. Tara strives for one thing, and that is to feel complete, to be able to look at all the times she had been humiliated, and think them to have been worth surviving. however, there is no more dangerous thing than the appetite of the poor, and some watch as tara does her impossible to become the thing she claims to hate but envies.
throughout the book tara kept say my how much she hated those rich housewifes who do nothing all day, while actually meaning that she hates having to go and slave away at a job or for a man, to afford half the lifestyle these other women have. for a projects her feelings of inadequacy on to every other woman she meets, to try to feel superior. she mocks other women for putting on a show to showcase their wealth when she herself does the same thing. she hates any mention or association to her village on it brings her back to being the girl that used to be beaten by her brother, she is put back in a place where she has no power, at the mercy of other men, determined to get away, which makes it all the more morbidly funny when she finds herself later in the book, still at the mercy of the men in her life simply in a different font, but with the illusion of power; be it for her main drive for success is to one up her brother, her deadbeat husband with no backbone mascarading as a modernist, or the countless men who she relies on for income.
even when her big bad villain goes away at the end, there is no sign she feels a sense of relief because her greatest enemy has always been herself.
there is so much i could talk about with the different ways how motherhood is portrayed through the generations, the illusion of women's choices under a patriarchal society, how tara spent so long distancing herself from her village just to end up under the sheets of one, how this man got to feel good about his village as it serves as an inspirational coming of age stories, while women have to feel ashamed and disgusted from where they came from, that tara has this delusion that money will provide her safety and having that proven false with the earthquake... there is so much from this book to dissect it's truly a masterpiece.
final thing i will say is that this book proves that life is a circle, that no matter how fast you try to outrun your family, there will come a day where you will look at a mirror and see them staring back at you, but worse.
female rage is splashed across the story like fuel. It's a kindling behind every word, behind every emotion, and behind every action that the women do. be it fighting tooth and nail for her daughter to finish her education, trying to shed and distance oneself from a past that kills unabashedly, or letting the pain gnaw slowly and fester for years, the main drive of the book is pure unfiltered anger that you feel throughout every line.
Hunger and rage are what drive the story forward, are what make it almost impossible to hate tara. as an audience to her bathe to strive for more, we watch her from wanting the simplest things in life to growing incessantly unsatisfied and knowing that her hunger will never subside. Tara strives for one thing, and that is to feel complete, to be able to look at all the times she had been humiliated, and think them to have been worth surviving. however, there is no more dangerous thing than the appetite of the poor, and some watch as tara does her impossible to become the thing she claims to hate but envies.
throughout the book tara kept say my how much she hated those rich housewifes who do nothing all day, while actually meaning that she hates having to go and slave away at a job or for a man, to afford half the lifestyle these other women have. for a projects her feelings of inadequacy on to every other woman she meets, to try to feel superior. she mocks other women for putting on a show to showcase their wealth when she herself does the same thing. she hates any mention or association to her village on it brings her back to being the girl that used to be beaten by her brother, she is put back in a place where she has no power, at the mercy of other men, determined to get away, which makes it all the more morbidly funny when she finds herself later in the book, still at the mercy of the men in her life simply in a different font, but with the illusion of power; be it for her main drive for success is to one up her brother, her deadbeat husband with no backbone mascarading as a modernist, or the countless men who she relies on for income.
even when her big bad villain goes away at the end, there is no sign she feels a sense of relief because her greatest enemy has always been herself.
there is so much i could talk about with the different ways how motherhood is portrayed through the generations, the illusion of women's choices under a patriarchal society, how tara spent so long distancing herself from her village just to end up under the sheets of one, how this man got to feel good about his village as it serves as an inspirational coming of age stories, while women have to feel ashamed and disgusted from where they came from, that tara has this delusion that money will provide her safety and having that proven false with the earthquake... there is so much from this book to dissect it's truly a masterpiece.
final thing i will say is that this book proves that life is a circle, that no matter how fast you try to outrun your family, there will come a day where you will look at a mirror and see them staring back at you, but worse.
May 17, 2025
Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Tara is born in rural/pre-industrial Mazinagar, and yearns for more from a young age. But as we follow her life story, something in her shifts from aspirational to avaricious; from hungry to heartless. But is this shift inevitable, and will she really stop at nothing to protect what she has claimed for herself?
This is an utterly stunning (in many ways) read, with a deliciously unreliable narrator. Tara has an excellent narrative voice but constantly assesses and judges others in a way that the author masterfully encourages the reader to examine for themselves. None of the characters are particularly lovable but they are all clearly complex individuals, each affected by their lot in life with their actions clearly motivated by their own insecurities and beliefs. Tara doesn't do much genuine self-reflection but being inside her head is fascinating.
The book deftly explores topics including misogyny, classism, sex work, corruption, toxic family relationships, domestic violence, etc with nuance and grace; set against a backdrop of various "levels" of Pakistani society. As the physical settings morph and shift over time, so do the characters and their relationships with each other. I felt challenged at several points, wanting to believe (for example) in the assertion that Tara's sex work felt empowering, but seeing the reality of what it was doing to her and her family (especially her daughter - which she avoids facing) and how she repeatedly chooses to put financial gain above all else.
The writing really provokes the senses, it is often deeply lyrical and there are several passages that really spoke to me. (I would love to come back to a paper copy at some point and annotate it.) There are many interesting repeated motifs, such as Tara's reflections on the nuclear family in Islamabad, which really drive home how she is changing over the years.
I love the ending, which is fitting and moving, but also love that not everything is left completely resolved. What will happen to Tara next? She is actually still in quite a volatile situation and it is left up to the reader to contemplate on where her life might lead in the near and distant future.
This is a clever and original book which will stay with me for some time.
5 stars
17.05.25
---
10.05.25
hoooooooo boy i can't wait to dissect this one in a book club once it's been released.
full review to follow soon.
Tara is born in rural/pre-industrial Mazinagar, and yearns for more from a young age. But as we follow her life story, something in her shifts from aspirational to avaricious; from hungry to heartless. But is this shift inevitable, and will she really stop at nothing to protect what she has claimed for herself?
This is an utterly stunning (in many ways) read, with a deliciously unreliable narrator. Tara has an excellent narrative voice but constantly assesses and judges others in a way that the author masterfully encourages the reader to examine for themselves. None of the characters are particularly lovable but they are all clearly complex individuals, each affected by their lot in life with their actions clearly motivated by their own insecurities and beliefs. Tara doesn't do much genuine self-reflection but being inside her head is fascinating.
The book deftly explores topics including misogyny, classism, sex work, corruption, toxic family relationships, domestic violence, etc with nuance and grace; set against a backdrop of various "levels" of Pakistani society. As the physical settings morph and shift over time, so do the characters and their relationships with each other. I felt challenged at several points, wanting to believe (for example) in the assertion that Tara's sex work felt empowering, but seeing the reality of what it was doing to her and her family (especially her daughter - which she avoids facing) and how she repeatedly chooses to put financial gain above all else.
The writing really provokes the senses, it is often deeply lyrical and there are several passages that really spoke to me. (I would love to come back to a paper copy at some point and annotate it.) There are many interesting repeated motifs, such as Tara's reflections on the nuclear family in Islamabad, which really drive home how she is changing over the years.
I love the ending, which is fitting and moving, but also love that not everything is left completely resolved. What will happen to Tara next? She is actually still in quite a volatile situation and it is left up to the reader to contemplate on where her life might lead in the near and distant future.
This is a clever and original book which will stay with me for some time.
5 stars
17.05.25
---
10.05.25
hoooooooo boy i can't wait to dissect this one in a book club once it's been released.
full review to follow soon.
May 8, 2025
A Splintering is captivating and insightful in to the Pakistani society I found myself engrossed from the start and finished this in a few hours.
The protagonist doesn’t want to live a mediocre life and dreams of marrying a man from the city and getting a job and living freely away from her family. Her obsessive nature and her persistence in becoming more than a farmers daughter and living just above the breadline makes Tara want to live outside of the traditions and expectations of hers and her husbands family.
Once free from these chains and living and supporting her own family she realises that it isn’t enough for her and her children and wants endlessly for more. Tara is callous, ruthless and willing to do what ever it takes to make sure she can give her family everything and that’s what makes the book compelling and fascinating at the same time.
Amna’s way in which she writes is elegantly composed and expertly constructed throughout.
The protagonist doesn’t want to live a mediocre life and dreams of marrying a man from the city and getting a job and living freely away from her family. Her obsessive nature and her persistence in becoming more than a farmers daughter and living just above the breadline makes Tara want to live outside of the traditions and expectations of hers and her husbands family.
Once free from these chains and living and supporting her own family she realises that it isn’t enough for her and her children and wants endlessly for more. Tara is callous, ruthless and willing to do what ever it takes to make sure she can give her family everything and that’s what makes the book compelling and fascinating at the same time.
Amna’s way in which she writes is elegantly composed and expertly constructed throughout.
April 27, 2025
Inhaled it. Deserves a longer, sharper review, which I will take a proper stab at in the coming months.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
September 24, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
A Splintering gripped me from the very first page, and my fascination with Tara’s hunger for more than the world offered her carried me straight through to the end. I was especially absorbed by her frank, sharp voice and the steady development of her character arc. Her flaws, and the way she wrestles with ambition, motherhood, and class expectations, made her a complex and relatable protagonist I was deeply invested in.
The novel explores feminist themes in an organic, unforced way. It doesn’t shy away from asking hard questions about what women owe their families, their children, themselves, and whether it is ever truly possible to “have it all.”
I highly recommend A Splintering to readers who enjoy literary fiction that delves into the messy complexities of ambition, motherhood, and identity.
4.25/5
A Splintering gripped me from the very first page, and my fascination with Tara’s hunger for more than the world offered her carried me straight through to the end. I was especially absorbed by her frank, sharp voice and the steady development of her character arc. Her flaws, and the way she wrestles with ambition, motherhood, and class expectations, made her a complex and relatable protagonist I was deeply invested in.
The novel explores feminist themes in an organic, unforced way. It doesn’t shy away from asking hard questions about what women owe their families, their children, themselves, and whether it is ever truly possible to “have it all.”
I highly recommend A Splintering to readers who enjoy literary fiction that delves into the messy complexities of ambition, motherhood, and identity.
4.25/5
Want to read
November 14, 2025When the author’s mom gifts you the book you have to read it
April 18, 2025
Wonderful ARC from Duckworth Books! A hesitant 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. This is a compelling narrative about our main character, Tara, a Pakistani woman that finds a way to move from the provincial areas of Pakistan into the city. Tara is filled with a desire to continually move “upward.” Societally, capitalistically, and every other way. If one is not careful reading this book, it may seem like all of Tara’s decisions are for gaining her individuality. In reality, it is a cautionary tale of the dangers of being unsatisfied.
September 4, 2025
If you felt haunted and breathless while reading Kamila Shamsie’s “Home Fire,” meet its literary cousin: “A Splintering.”
It follows Tara’s journey from the crushing poverty of her village to the glittering promise of the city. The farther she moves, the smaller and more shameful her past feels. Her education becomes both a source of pride and a tool for distance, feeding a quiet sense of superiority and judgment toward her family.
But ambition demands sacrifice. In chasing a vision of success shaped by the city’s standards, Tara begins to give up pieces of herself—first subtly, then irreversibly. What she once considered unthinkable becomes necessary. By the time she looks back, what she’s lost is no longer recoverable.
What makes Tara’s story so arresting is how vividly it renders a reality that may not resemble my own, but exists right alongside it. Tara’s pursuit of financial freedom, and her struggle against the volatile, often violent, men around her, mirrors the harsh realities faced by many women across both rural and urban parts of the subcontinent. The tension between what she wants and what she's been told to accept runs through the entire novel.
As a reader, you're not just watching her story unfold. You feel complicit. You root for her, but you also judge her. You celebrate her choices, but question them too. That conflict mirrors the very pressures she's fighting against. The discomfort is intentional, and it’s powerful.
The novel also captures the toxicity that lives inside families. The unspoken competition, the betrayals, and the uncomfortable silences all deepen the sense of suffocation. Every interaction feels charged, every silence heavy, building a kind of narrative breathlessness that doesn’t release until the final moment.
It follows Tara’s journey from the crushing poverty of her village to the glittering promise of the city. The farther she moves, the smaller and more shameful her past feels. Her education becomes both a source of pride and a tool for distance, feeding a quiet sense of superiority and judgment toward her family.
But ambition demands sacrifice. In chasing a vision of success shaped by the city’s standards, Tara begins to give up pieces of herself—first subtly, then irreversibly. What she once considered unthinkable becomes necessary. By the time she looks back, what she’s lost is no longer recoverable.
What makes Tara’s story so arresting is how vividly it renders a reality that may not resemble my own, but exists right alongside it. Tara’s pursuit of financial freedom, and her struggle against the volatile, often violent, men around her, mirrors the harsh realities faced by many women across both rural and urban parts of the subcontinent. The tension between what she wants and what she's been told to accept runs through the entire novel.
As a reader, you're not just watching her story unfold. You feel complicit. You root for her, but you also judge her. You celebrate her choices, but question them too. That conflict mirrors the very pressures she's fighting against. The discomfort is intentional, and it’s powerful.
The novel also captures the toxicity that lives inside families. The unspoken competition, the betrayals, and the uncomfortable silences all deepen the sense of suffocation. Every interaction feels charged, every silence heavy, building a kind of narrative breathlessness that doesn’t release until the final moment.
June 12, 2025
As soon as I looked authors name I requested ARC right away. I'm so glad I did as I haven't been able to stop reading it this week! Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This story is about Tara, who had an exceptional desire to keep moving upward in the society and how her never ending desire affected everyone around her. There are so many lines that were relatable. As In our life at sometime there is something that we desperately want to escape from, to get something. The way writer has described that rage and all other emotions of Tara is exceptional.
This story is about Tara, who had an exceptional desire to keep moving upward in the society and how her never ending desire affected everyone around her. There are so many lines that were relatable. As In our life at sometime there is something that we desperately want to escape from, to get something. The way writer has described that rage and all other emotions of Tara is exceptional.
June 2, 2025
Vividly told through descriptive scenes, this was a brilliant read. From the beginning it’s made clear that Tara is different to her sisters, her mother and her aunties. She will not live the same life as them, she dreams of escaping to the city and carving something better for herself. In doing so, she makes decisions that had me in shock as a reader. I loved reading about her, she was fiercely ambitious, to a point that was damaging.
Her relationship with her husband was a little lacklustre but I can see why, given the type of character he was. I loved her inner monologues as she questioned her motherhood, life as a woman, and decisions she had made that led her to the life she once so desperately craved. This was a book full of big emotions, regret and sacrifices and highlighted a woman’s need to control her own life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #ASplintering #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Her relationship with her husband was a little lacklustre but I can see why, given the type of character he was. I loved her inner monologues as she questioned her motherhood, life as a woman, and decisions she had made that led her to the life she once so desperately craved. This was a book full of big emotions, regret and sacrifices and highlighted a woman’s need to control her own life.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #ASplintering #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
March 30, 2025
I absolutely devoured this book.
After American Fever I knew I’d love whatever Dur e Aziz Amna blessed us with next and damn, what a brilliant read!
Tara’s story completely took over me, and I found myself obsessing over her every move.
The timeline the story is based in brought back so many memories of seeing those same events unfold on TV as a child.
Wow.
This one is going to stay with me for a whileeeee.
Idk how I’ll move on to my next read.
After American Fever I knew I’d love whatever Dur e Aziz Amna blessed us with next and damn, what a brilliant read!
Tara’s story completely took over me, and I found myself obsessing over her every move.
The timeline the story is based in brought back so many memories of seeing those same events unfold on TV as a child.
Wow.
This one is going to stay with me for a whileeeee.
Idk how I’ll move on to my next read.
October 16, 2025
100% not what I was expecting but non the less blown away by the experience of this one. This book follows the FMC through her Pakistani heritage. She has a rather challenging start to life and lives in a rather unpredictable environment with her family and rather aggressive brother who is ‘the man’ of the house. Her life changes the day she lays eyes on a young family with impeccable wealth compared to Tara’s rags she’s wearing. She was totally enamoured with the perfect hair, the clean clothes and the perfectly manicured nails and the brand new outfits the children wore. This flipped a switch in her brain and from that moment on everything she had and would gain from this moment on would never be enough, fulfilling or satisfying. She wanted the perfect hair, the perfect life, the fancy car, the big house and the grass to be sooo much greener than her dusty courtyard back home. How far do you think she was willing to go and when would enough be enough? What would be the cost of it all? Does it stop? You’ll have to read to find out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2025
This book has an original premise with an unlikeable protagonist living in Pakistan caught in an obsession about bettering herself and rising above her humble origins. She notices every nuance of the class divide and we see how her ambition becomes more and more destructive. I found the writing a bit straightforward and the plot, although interesting on the surface, did not particularly pull me forwards. There was not enough investment for me as a reader of this book. However, I’m sure many will enjoy this, especially fans of The Bandit Queens.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
September 5, 2025
The best part of this book was the Pakistani setting from the turn of the century. I did felt like the writing was sort of uninteresting and the characters quite two-dimensional. The plot was interesting though and I kept wanting to read to find out what was going to happen. The themes of patriarchy and money were on every page but not in a way that I felt hadn't been done to death before.
October 27, 2025
Really cool plot, but let down by very weak writing. The main character is a full-on antihero: desperate to escape her stifling Pakistani village, Tara endlessly strives and fights for a better life and more money, societal norms be damned, and is completely unlikeable while doing so. She was such a horrible bitch the entire time but I was in proper yaas queen mode. Why shouldn’t (fictional) women be allowed be money hungry psychopaths?
Unfortunately the writing just didn’t keep up with what could’ve been a fascinating character study. Characters’ personalities, actions and motivations mostly made no sense from one scene to the next. Part of it is down to the POV character herself (even her daughter thinks Tara is a cold hearted psycho lol), who has no true affection or love for basically anyone. But I don’t think this was actually on purpose most of the time, the writing was just that rough. It’s hard to describe, it was almost kinda like a screenplay? Which was extra weird because we’re in first person and should be right there with the main character’s thoughts and feelings.
Not that I regret reading this or anything (and it’s short and succinct, so that’s good), but it probably needed more time in the oven.
Unfortunately the writing just didn’t keep up with what could’ve been a fascinating character study. Characters’ personalities, actions and motivations mostly made no sense from one scene to the next. Part of it is down to the POV character herself (even her daughter thinks Tara is a cold hearted psycho lol), who has no true affection or love for basically anyone. But I don’t think this was actually on purpose most of the time, the writing was just that rough. It’s hard to describe, it was almost kinda like a screenplay? Which was extra weird because we’re in first person and should be right there with the main character’s thoughts and feelings.
Not that I regret reading this or anything (and it’s short and succinct, so that’s good), but it probably needed more time in the oven.
October 7, 2025
I read this book in one day. A brilliant read about women’s right, class, money and poverty in Pakistan. I couldn’t put this book down! The protagonist was such an interesting character with good development.
November 4, 2025
I have mixed feelings about this book, but may we have more ambitious and angry brown women out in the world this way please!
July 17, 2025
Thank you, NetGalley for letting me borrow an online ARC. I have been an Amna fan ever since I read her The American Fever, and couldn't wait to lay my hands on her latest book!
This book was, wow, it was something else! It is going to make me think for a long long time! Amna's analysis and portrayal of the longing and ambition in a woman is so raw and fresh and neutral - at no point does she villainize her clearly not-a-good-person heroine, but also she doesn't give in to glorifying her by using her circumstances as an excuse, either.
I loved the interactions between all the women in the book and the easy language that the author has used - not too exotic, not too western, just right!
I did feel like the ending was a bit abrupt - and a little too expected at the same time. What happens to Tara after the book ends is also what I will wonder about for a long time! May be that's the success of the book? I don't know- but I enjoyed reading this one!
This book was, wow, it was something else! It is going to make me think for a long long time! Amna's analysis and portrayal of the longing and ambition in a woman is so raw and fresh and neutral - at no point does she villainize her clearly not-a-good-person heroine, but also she doesn't give in to glorifying her by using her circumstances as an excuse, either.
I loved the interactions between all the women in the book and the easy language that the author has used - not too exotic, not too western, just right!
I did feel like the ending was a bit abrupt - and a little too expected at the same time. What happens to Tara after the book ends is also what I will wonder about for a long time! May be that's the success of the book? I don't know- but I enjoyed reading this one!
May 4, 2025
I have always thought women are complex species; unlike men, they have hidden layers to their outward look with makeups and mascaras, especially conservative women—especially women from a country that is still backward in all ways.
Tara is one such species from one such country. She grows up in a village but has always been scheming to leave her home (and her macho, dominating brother Lateef) for a better future, which is obvious for any sane woman to do.
But, of course, our Tara is insane, to say the least, as she has other life plans for herself. Yes, she is a damn selfish and opportunistic woman who turned out to be a murderous monster (in the later part of the novel).
Tara—our narrator, is the third sister of four in a house of seven, with an only brother who is the breadwinner of the family—grows to be a studious girl in the family.
As she attains the marriageable age, she moves to city life by marrying a decent man, an accountant called Hamad. She soon becomes a mother of two and works as a teacher in a nursery school to complement her husband’s unreliable job status.
However, she is not satisfied with the middle-class life of a city and country that is constantly hit by economic, natural, and political turmoil.
She wants to outlive Lateef, the only motivation in her life and the only reason for Tara to be financially superior to her businessman brother.
Now, she takes an unthinkable step to turn her life's fortune to hit gold in accomplice with her sissy husband that transforms the once shy village girl into a suave, elegant madam boss in a male-dominated crowd of vultures and snakes.
How does she accomplish her dreadful, heinous act by being a mother, sister, and wife? What are her moral values that she follows in life—if at all, does she have one?
These questions are answered in the second novel by the author that will be sure-shot polarising unless you have a thick skin and are a feminist.
I hated the character Tara as she indulges in what she did when she moved to the city. That is a victory for the author, I suppose? Not sure why a woman has to go to such an extent to prove her mettle.
What happened to her education, which she was good at? She would have achieved a whole lot through her academic merit. But a cheap and terrible path she takes waters down the story and turns this literary piece into some kind of wishy-washy, agenda-driven feminist story.
It just took me two days to finish this 200-page novel. The author’s writing is lucid, sharp, and taut, unlike her intentions, which looked contrived.
Overall, this forthcoming novel is somewhere between mediocre and decent and had great potential to explore other nuances of the lead character in Tara, which was quite disappointing.
Tara is one such species from one such country. She grows up in a village but has always been scheming to leave her home (and her macho, dominating brother Lateef) for a better future, which is obvious for any sane woman to do.
But, of course, our Tara is insane, to say the least, as she has other life plans for herself. Yes, she is a damn selfish and opportunistic woman who turned out to be a murderous monster (in the later part of the novel).
Tara—our narrator, is the third sister of four in a house of seven, with an only brother who is the breadwinner of the family—grows to be a studious girl in the family.
As she attains the marriageable age, she moves to city life by marrying a decent man, an accountant called Hamad. She soon becomes a mother of two and works as a teacher in a nursery school to complement her husband’s unreliable job status.
However, she is not satisfied with the middle-class life of a city and country that is constantly hit by economic, natural, and political turmoil.
She wants to outlive Lateef, the only motivation in her life and the only reason for Tara to be financially superior to her businessman brother.
Now, she takes an unthinkable step to turn her life's fortune to hit gold in accomplice with her sissy husband that transforms the once shy village girl into a suave, elegant madam boss in a male-dominated crowd of vultures and snakes.
How does she accomplish her dreadful, heinous act by being a mother, sister, and wife? What are her moral values that she follows in life—if at all, does she have one?
These questions are answered in the second novel by the author that will be sure-shot polarising unless you have a thick skin and are a feminist.
I hated the character Tara as she indulges in what she did when she moved to the city. That is a victory for the author, I suppose? Not sure why a woman has to go to such an extent to prove her mettle.
What happened to her education, which she was good at? She would have achieved a whole lot through her academic merit. But a cheap and terrible path she takes waters down the story and turns this literary piece into some kind of wishy-washy, agenda-driven feminist story.
It just took me two days to finish this 200-page novel. The author’s writing is lucid, sharp, and taut, unlike her intentions, which looked contrived.
Overall, this forthcoming novel is somewhere between mediocre and decent and had great potential to explore other nuances of the lead character in Tara, which was quite disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2025
A Splintering — The Mirror We Avoid Looking Into
A Splintering unsettles you in the best possible way. It resists easy sympathy and instead forces you to sit with discomfort — the kind of discomfort that comes from recognizing parts of yourself, your family, or your country in its pages.
For those of us who grew up in Pakistan through the 1990s, Tara’s story despite its moral fault lines feels uncannily familiar. It captures a nation in transition — when middle-class restraint was giving way to the shimmer of new money, when Suzukis cloned on roads with owners desperate to upgrade to SUVs, and when the quiet neighborhoods of cities like Rawalpindi began to hum with a new, anxious ambition. The novel moves between that restless city and Tara’s ancestral village, Mazinagar — a place whose very name, Mazi, meaning “past,” seems like an elegy for everything being left behind.
Tara herself is the embodiment of that tension. She is a woman you want to hate for her choices — her dissatisfaction, her social climbing, her compromises — but you can’t. Beneath her sharpness is an empathetic mother, someone both shaped and scarred by the life she’s trying to transcend. You condemn her in one chapter only to forgive her in the next. Even your feelings as a reader become fractured — a splintering of love, pity, and judgment.
No one in A Splintering escapes this ambiguity. Hamad, too, is flawed — weak, human, tender one moment and absent the next. There are no heroes here, only people doing what they can to survive the shifting moral ground of a changing country. And that, to me, is the novel’s genius: it refuses to grant anyone moral clarity, because neither Pakistan nor the people who built their lives within it ever had that luxury.
Reading it, I was reminded of the world I saw growing up — a Pakistan learning the grammar of modernity, still clinging to its older dialects of decency and shame. A Splintering doesn’t romanticize that world; it exposes its fault lines. It shows how love, ambition, and guilt can exist in the same breath — how every act of reinvention leaves behind a wound.
It’s a novel that lingers long after the final page, not because it gives answers, but because it leaves you looking inward — wondering which parts of your own story, too, have splintered along the way.
A Splintering unsettles you in the best possible way. It resists easy sympathy and instead forces you to sit with discomfort — the kind of discomfort that comes from recognizing parts of yourself, your family, or your country in its pages.
For those of us who grew up in Pakistan through the 1990s, Tara’s story despite its moral fault lines feels uncannily familiar. It captures a nation in transition — when middle-class restraint was giving way to the shimmer of new money, when Suzukis cloned on roads with owners desperate to upgrade to SUVs, and when the quiet neighborhoods of cities like Rawalpindi began to hum with a new, anxious ambition. The novel moves between that restless city and Tara’s ancestral village, Mazinagar — a place whose very name, Mazi, meaning “past,” seems like an elegy for everything being left behind.
Tara herself is the embodiment of that tension. She is a woman you want to hate for her choices — her dissatisfaction, her social climbing, her compromises — but you can’t. Beneath her sharpness is an empathetic mother, someone both shaped and scarred by the life she’s trying to transcend. You condemn her in one chapter only to forgive her in the next. Even your feelings as a reader become fractured — a splintering of love, pity, and judgment.
No one in A Splintering escapes this ambiguity. Hamad, too, is flawed — weak, human, tender one moment and absent the next. There are no heroes here, only people doing what they can to survive the shifting moral ground of a changing country. And that, to me, is the novel’s genius: it refuses to grant anyone moral clarity, because neither Pakistan nor the people who built their lives within it ever had that luxury.
Reading it, I was reminded of the world I saw growing up — a Pakistan learning the grammar of modernity, still clinging to its older dialects of decency and shame. A Splintering doesn’t romanticize that world; it exposes its fault lines. It shows how love, ambition, and guilt can exist in the same breath — how every act of reinvention leaves behind a wound.
It’s a novel that lingers long after the final page, not because it gives answers, but because it leaves you looking inward — wondering which parts of your own story, too, have splintered along the way.
September 4, 2025
My story begins with a sense that many of us have, that life is unfair, and that there is no socially sanctioned way of remedying that unfairness. Most people make tepid peace with it. They watch television shows about the ultra-wealthy, follow tabloids about film stars, and track the money-laundering schemes of billionaires. They make up for inequities by opiating on the lives of these modern kings. But I could not bring myself to do that. I was driven instead to drastic action. I did something inconceivable, knowing even then that the act had the potential to destroy me and my family.
The second novel of a Pakistan born and raised author now US based – it is already a Radio 2 Book Club pick and I would think has a very strong prospect of prize recognition in the year ahead – in particular for the 2026 Women’s Prize.
It is most notable for its first party narrator Tara – who establishes from the very first paragraph that she is “what some call an unrelatable character, and I have done something unthinkable” something with which we will “find it hard to empathise” – and an act which was a conscious and risk taking act to deal with the economic unfairness of life – not via some form of altruism or promotion of social justice for others, but to gain her own economic freedom.
The novel told when Tara is 35 and after the action (and their most drastic consequence has occurred) starts with her birth in a small rural village in Pakistan – the second youngest of four daughters (with one older brother – who from 17 gets increasingly arrogant and aggressive). Unlike her siblings Tara stays in school – at first at her mother’s insistence but increasingly Tara sees education as a potential escape route to her dream of a more independent, part Westernised life in the City (having visited Islamabad on an outing with her siblings) – a dream she fulfils when a village born now City dwelling family first ask for her (already promised) friend’s family for an arranged marriage.
There though, living with her in-laws, she eventually looks for greater independence and economic freedom– first by way of finding a job teaching at a prestigious school (which will also school her now two children for free) and then persuading her husband they should move closer to the City and have their own house. But even their her frustration remains – contrasting her own life (not helped by her husband’s lack of work ethic which causes him a series of sackings) with the huge richness of the parents at the school.
Around half way through the novel in despair at her husband’s latest sacking – Tara takes the more drastic action that the start of the novel has promised, one sure I think to divide opinion and from then on her money situation improves alongside the greater risks she is taking of eventual ruin (or something even more drastic at her brother’s hands).
All through the novel – we learn also of the differing fortunes and circumstances of her parents, siblings (particularly her small businessman brother) and in-laws which builds a really interesting picture of an evolving society.
At while at one the stage Tara says “I know that the aim of a successful life was to avoid history at all costs” – in practice the novel plays out explicitly against political events local (a number of attacks and incidents occur close to the family), regionally (particularly in Afghanistan) and globally – all of which do impinge on Tara’s life.
And the novel ends not perhaps on the note of justice or redemption some readers might prefer but on Tara’s final drastic action.
A memorable protagonist which makes for a fascinating novel.
My thanks to Duckworth Books for an ARC via NetGalley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2025
How far would you go before it’s too far.Once you have it all, will you still want more? Perhaps for many it’s never far enough.
At the outset we are told by Tara, the narrator, that she has done something unthinkable, but she requests that we listen to her story before making judgement.
Born into a generation of poverty in a small Pakistan village called Mazinagar. It is clear that Tara is not like her sisters who settle down into marriage and children. She is more aligned with her brother, Lateef, who despite having left school early has quickly established himself as a business owner. Their relationship is turbulent with the older sibling constantly threatening to withdraw her from school. His cruelty remains with her. Through the help of her mother, she manages to complete her studies before being married to a son of a wealthy family and moving to the city. Hamad, however, is placid and happy to do just enough to allow him a peaceful life. Tara on the other hand is resentful under the watchful and critical eye of his mother and quickly sets a plan to advance the couple. First, she fixes her ugly teeth and gets a teaching job which allows free education for their two children. The exposure to the middle classes sets her on a further mission. She desires to be one of them or at least have access to the power they have. Everything, however, has a price, and while she plays a risky game there is always something sinister lurking in the background.
The book challenges the notion of misogynism wrapped under the guise of honour which forces women into becoming secretive and manipulative in order to have a voice. At times you loath Tara for her brazen and cold behaviour while at other times you champion her.
Dur e Aziz Amna has a wonderful ability to bring both the village and city to the reader. Together we witness the development of the population and its precarious state. I was totally captivated and look forward to reading the next book.
Thank you NetGalley and Duckworth publishing for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication
At the outset we are told by Tara, the narrator, that she has done something unthinkable, but she requests that we listen to her story before making judgement.
Born into a generation of poverty in a small Pakistan village called Mazinagar. It is clear that Tara is not like her sisters who settle down into marriage and children. She is more aligned with her brother, Lateef, who despite having left school early has quickly established himself as a business owner. Their relationship is turbulent with the older sibling constantly threatening to withdraw her from school. His cruelty remains with her. Through the help of her mother, she manages to complete her studies before being married to a son of a wealthy family and moving to the city. Hamad, however, is placid and happy to do just enough to allow him a peaceful life. Tara on the other hand is resentful under the watchful and critical eye of his mother and quickly sets a plan to advance the couple. First, she fixes her ugly teeth and gets a teaching job which allows free education for their two children. The exposure to the middle classes sets her on a further mission. She desires to be one of them or at least have access to the power they have. Everything, however, has a price, and while she plays a risky game there is always something sinister lurking in the background.
The book challenges the notion of misogynism wrapped under the guise of honour which forces women into becoming secretive and manipulative in order to have a voice. At times you loath Tara for her brazen and cold behaviour while at other times you champion her.
Dur e Aziz Amna has a wonderful ability to bring both the village and city to the reader. Together we witness the development of the population and its precarious state. I was totally captivated and look forward to reading the next book.
Thank you NetGalley and Duckworth publishing for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication
August 24, 2025
The story of a Pakistani woman, who, born into abject poverty in rural Pakistan, decides to fight to leave said poverty at all costs, and fights to claim independence and freedom with every step. We learn about her childhood and the oppression she endures from her family (and brother), her arranged marriage, which brings her into the city but forces her to love under the yoke of her inlaws, and her constant struggle to find creative ways to release herself from that yoke, and from the frustration of her underachieving husband.
The story is complex, multi faceted, and provoking. What I loved most was the protagonist, whose struggle was so easy to identify with, and her choices too easy to make, regardless of their moral ambiguity, and, often, plain contemptible nature. Her development as a human being and an independent personality shed light both on the oppressive nature of tradition and religion, and also on the importance of education as a vehicle to propel (some, a minority) women out of the traps they are born into. The layered and multi faceted approach to revealing and building up the protagonist's personality is exceptional and captivating, with the interplay between her emotional state and the oppressive (and duplicitous) environment at the core of what makes this book an inspiring experience.
Reading it I was reminded of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, but brought forward into 20th century Pakistan and the even more oppressive societal construct that it represented (and perhaps still represents). Highly recommended to anyone interested in women's liberation, the role of women in traditional societies, and the tradeoffs (both moral and otherwise) that sometimes are deemed necessary by these women to find a modicum of freedom.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to its broad release.
The story is complex, multi faceted, and provoking. What I loved most was the protagonist, whose struggle was so easy to identify with, and her choices too easy to make, regardless of their moral ambiguity, and, often, plain contemptible nature. Her development as a human being and an independent personality shed light both on the oppressive nature of tradition and religion, and also on the importance of education as a vehicle to propel (some, a minority) women out of the traps they are born into. The layered and multi faceted approach to revealing and building up the protagonist's personality is exceptional and captivating, with the interplay between her emotional state and the oppressive (and duplicitous) environment at the core of what makes this book an inspiring experience.
Reading it I was reminded of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, but brought forward into 20th century Pakistan and the even more oppressive societal construct that it represented (and perhaps still represents). Highly recommended to anyone interested in women's liberation, the role of women in traditional societies, and the tradeoffs (both moral and otherwise) that sometimes are deemed necessary by these women to find a modicum of freedom.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to its broad release.
September 8, 2025
In A Splintering, Dur e Aziz Amna delivers a visceral and haunting portrait of a woman trapped between worlds — between village and city, tradition and rebellion, silence and selfhood. Set in a rural Pakistani village heavy with dust, decay, and expectation, this novel is a quiet storm of a story — unflinching, lyrical, and deeply intimate.
At its center is Tara, a woman suffocating under the weight of a life she never chose. The presence of her violent, domineering brother looms over every page like a bruise that never heals. Yet Tara is not merely a victim — she’s watchful, fiercely intelligent, and burning with a desire to escape. Her longing isn’t just for distance; it’s for possibility, for reinvention, for a world where she can exist on her own terms.
Amna’s prose is taut and poetic, every sentence laden with mood and menace. The world she evokes — all cracked earth, monsoon floods, and whispered resentments — is as much a character as Tara herself. Through the lens of rural life, Amna exposes the rot of patriarchy and class, showing how violence festers in places where escape routes are few and shame is inherited like land.
But what makes A Splintering truly stand out is its refusal to offer simple catharsis. Tara’s story is one of resistance, but also compromise. Her ambitions are constantly in tension with her roles as daughter, mother, and woman. The “splintering” here is both literal and symbolic — a breaking apart of identity, family, and possibility.
Some readers may find the novel’s pacing deliberately slow, its narrative more atmospheric than plot-driven. But this is intentional. Amna isn’t rushing toward resolution; she’s excavating a life, layer by painful layer. The reward is a character study of rare empathy and precision.
Final Verdict:
A Splintering is a searing, meditative novel about a woman’s quiet rebellion in a world that demands her silence. Dur e Aziz Amna writes with fierce compassion and unsparing truth, offering a story that lingers like smoke in the lungs. This is not just a tale of escape — it’s a reckoning.
At its center is Tara, a woman suffocating under the weight of a life she never chose. The presence of her violent, domineering brother looms over every page like a bruise that never heals. Yet Tara is not merely a victim — she’s watchful, fiercely intelligent, and burning with a desire to escape. Her longing isn’t just for distance; it’s for possibility, for reinvention, for a world where she can exist on her own terms.
Amna’s prose is taut and poetic, every sentence laden with mood and menace. The world she evokes — all cracked earth, monsoon floods, and whispered resentments — is as much a character as Tara herself. Through the lens of rural life, Amna exposes the rot of patriarchy and class, showing how violence festers in places where escape routes are few and shame is inherited like land.
But what makes A Splintering truly stand out is its refusal to offer simple catharsis. Tara’s story is one of resistance, but also compromise. Her ambitions are constantly in tension with her roles as daughter, mother, and woman. The “splintering” here is both literal and symbolic — a breaking apart of identity, family, and possibility.
Some readers may find the novel’s pacing deliberately slow, its narrative more atmospheric than plot-driven. But this is intentional. Amna isn’t rushing toward resolution; she’s excavating a life, layer by painful layer. The reward is a character study of rare empathy and precision.
Final Verdict:
A Splintering is a searing, meditative novel about a woman’s quiet rebellion in a world that demands her silence. Dur e Aziz Amna writes with fierce compassion and unsparing truth, offering a story that lingers like smoke in the lungs. This is not just a tale of escape — it’s a reckoning.
July 29, 2025
“I wonder where to start. As I tell you my story, will you find it hard to empathise? I am what some call an unrelatable character, and I have done something unthinkable. But I implore you to listen. As the storyteller, I need you on my side. And we know that a story is only as good as its beginning.”
.
It is perhaps cliche to describe reading as an act of transportation to the land of enlightenment, and certainly not all books are particularly enlightening, or need to be enlightening. Occasionally however you come across a book that unveils one’s eyes to a world vastly different to my own. At the very least, ‘A splintering’ opens my ignorant eyes to a culture and world I knew very little about. Aziz Amna paints in detail the lives of Pakistani women, that one suspects this level of detail can only come through being a part of that culture.
.
I have to say the writing in this is tight, simple and direct. It is probably the one thing that kept reading, alongside the heavily hinted twist in the book. One can guess fairly easily what that twist is. I started this with so much promise. The insight into village life of Pakistani women were thoroughly interesting, but it felt like the novel ran out of ground with Tara, the main protagonist who wants to escape the restrictive and poor former life.
.
Despite the heavy foregrounding of the twist it somehow felt unbelievable. The second part felt less interesting, rushed and just a bit shallow. Even the first part, it was interesting, but it felt like Aziz Amna ran into a dead end and needed to think of an out for the character. The writing is taut and it is the only thing that kept me going through the book.
.
An interesting read, but the content made this a distinctly average read. Still I’ll be interested to read her other novel ‘American fever’. A very grateful thank you to Duckworth publishing and netgalley for being the chief literary matchmaker.
.
It is perhaps cliche to describe reading as an act of transportation to the land of enlightenment, and certainly not all books are particularly enlightening, or need to be enlightening. Occasionally however you come across a book that unveils one’s eyes to a world vastly different to my own. At the very least, ‘A splintering’ opens my ignorant eyes to a culture and world I knew very little about. Aziz Amna paints in detail the lives of Pakistani women, that one suspects this level of detail can only come through being a part of that culture.
.
I have to say the writing in this is tight, simple and direct. It is probably the one thing that kept reading, alongside the heavily hinted twist in the book. One can guess fairly easily what that twist is. I started this with so much promise. The insight into village life of Pakistani women were thoroughly interesting, but it felt like the novel ran out of ground with Tara, the main protagonist who wants to escape the restrictive and poor former life.
.
Despite the heavy foregrounding of the twist it somehow felt unbelievable. The second part felt less interesting, rushed and just a bit shallow. Even the first part, it was interesting, but it felt like Aziz Amna ran into a dead end and needed to think of an out for the character. The writing is taut and it is the only thing that kept me going through the book.
.
An interesting read, but the content made this a distinctly average read. Still I’ll be interested to read her other novel ‘American fever’. A very grateful thank you to Duckworth publishing and netgalley for being the chief literary matchmaker.
October 12, 2025
This was the kind of book that had me hooked from the very first chapter. It doesn’t ease you in or linger too long on introductions. It dives straight into the story. And from that moment, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it down. I actually had to pause myself not because I lost interest but because I didn’t want to rush through it. It’s not every day that you come across a book you want to slow down for. One you want to savor even when you’re dying to know what happens next.
The story itself is layered, dark and at times deeply uncomfortable. It doesn’t shy away from harsh realities, the kind that make you think about how easy it is to judge when you’ve never been in someone else’s position. You read and find yourself conflicted: you judge and yet you also empathize. Because what Dur e Amna Aziz does so brilliantly is make you understand why people make the choices they do even when those choices are hard to accept.
There’s no clear line between right and wrong here. Only circumstance, consequence and the quiet weight of having to live with your actions. It’s a story that doesn’t ask for sympathy or justification. It simply shows you everything: the good, the bad and the ugly. And leaves you to sit with it.
I also loved how the writing keeps you invested even when you’re uncomfortable. How it makes you feel everything while constantly questioning what you feel. And by the end you’re left wanting just a little more. To know what becomes of these characters, to see where their lives go from here. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s meant to end where it does. Abstract, unresolved, letting you think and wonder.
This was my first book by Dur e Amna Aziz and it’s safe to say I’d read anything she writes. Her storytelling is raw, fearless and thought-provoking in all the right ways. It’s the kind of writing that stays with you long after you’ve finished the last page.
The story itself is layered, dark and at times deeply uncomfortable. It doesn’t shy away from harsh realities, the kind that make you think about how easy it is to judge when you’ve never been in someone else’s position. You read and find yourself conflicted: you judge and yet you also empathize. Because what Dur e Amna Aziz does so brilliantly is make you understand why people make the choices they do even when those choices are hard to accept.
There’s no clear line between right and wrong here. Only circumstance, consequence and the quiet weight of having to live with your actions. It’s a story that doesn’t ask for sympathy or justification. It simply shows you everything: the good, the bad and the ugly. And leaves you to sit with it.
I also loved how the writing keeps you invested even when you’re uncomfortable. How it makes you feel everything while constantly questioning what you feel. And by the end you’re left wanting just a little more. To know what becomes of these characters, to see where their lives go from here. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s meant to end where it does. Abstract, unresolved, letting you think and wonder.
This was my first book by Dur e Amna Aziz and it’s safe to say I’d read anything she writes. Her storytelling is raw, fearless and thought-provoking in all the right ways. It’s the kind of writing that stays with you long after you’ve finished the last page.
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