Overtreding

by Uzma Aslam Khan

Een jonge, onafhankelijke Pakistaanse lukt het om zich te ontworstelen aan de vele regels en conventies van de samenleving, totdat ze verliefd wordt op een man die aan een andere vrouw is uitgehuwelijkt.

Genres: Pakistan, Fiction, Historical Fiction, India, Literature, Novels, Romance

462 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Uzma Aslam Khan is the prize-winning author of five novels published worldwide. These include Trespassing, translated in 18 languages and recipient of a Commonwealth Prize nomination; The Geometry of God, a Kirkus Reviews' Best Book of 2009; Thinner Than Skin, nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize and DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and winner of the French Embassy Prize for Best Fiction at the Karachi Literature Festival 2014. Her work has twice won a Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Prize, and appeared in Granta, The Massachusetts Review, Australian Book Review, Nimrod, AGNI, Calyx, and Guardian UK, among many other periodicals.

Khan’s fifth novel, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali, is set in the British penal settlement of the Andaman Islands during the 1930s, through the Japanese occupation during World War II. The book, 27 years in the making, writes into being the stories of those caught in the vortex of history, yet written out of it. The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali won the Karachi Literature Festival-Getz Pharma Fiction Prize and the UBL Literary Awards English Language Fiction category in Pakistan. In India, it was shortlisted for the TATA Literature Live! Best Book of the Year, Fiction. Released in the US in 2022, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali was a New York Times' "Best Historical Fiction 2022" as well as a New York Times' "Books for Summer 2022." In 2023, it won the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction.

See:
https://www.massbook.org/mass-book-aw...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/bo...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/bo...

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/t...

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2003 this novel looks at Pakistan in the late 1980s and 1990s (with a brief trip back to the 1960s). It is a complex novel revolving around two families, the main characters being Dia and Daanish. The main focus is Northern Pakistan and Karachi with Daanish spending a little time in the US.
The environs of Karachi are captured with some vivid characterisation of buses, fishing villages, slums, beaches, brothels, flora and fauna. There are explorations of society: periodic dissatisfaction with and struggles against the government: life and loves: arranged marriage, the perils of; friendships and betrayals with a few twists thrown in. There are strong minor characters. There is a queer thread through this as well. The reader also learns a good deal about the making of silk and the rearing of the caterpillars.
The story is told from five alternating perspectives: Daanish and his mother Anu, Dia and her mother Riffat and Salaamat, whose place in the puzzle takes a little time to work out. The Gulf War is going on, so that backdrop comes into play. There are contrasts between the developed and developing world. There is a sense of a struggle for a sense of nationhood in what is a post-colonial background as well as the erotic thread through it.
There are no easy answers here, just the messiness of complex relationships and this is certainly an interesting novel, by an author previously unknown to me.

[Hira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a regular when it comes to fiction, but this book opened up more about the place where I come from, the life in Pakistan, from bureaucrats dinners to the American academic system... If you really want to know about the people who are not just from Pakistan but from India as well..go for this one! Because somewhere in the novel i felt that this is exactly what is going on in India as well, same stories...same motherhood level.. the corruption, the tales of pretending to have qualities but in the end blaming each other for the bad times.. and not to forget the confused society where men are superior to women (without knowing why? or even considering this question! ) ..
This book is a wonderful example of how people in east make their decisions..their fears and more importantly what they think!

At last, all my thanks/praises to Uzma Aslam Khan (Author of Trespassing)

Bless you!

[David Maine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! Multiple strands of storyline, with parts set in the US, the UK, and the bulk of it in Pakistan. An unsolved murder, a budding love story, a sinister drifter who moves from Pakistan's fishing villages to the big city of Karachi. There is a lot going on here, with comments on th US war in Iraq (the fist one, in 1990) and local corruption too.

This is NOT another immigrant narrative, nor is it a sit-around-and-chitchat type of book. There's real teeth here, and while some people may be distracted by the political element, that's really a relatively small part of the drama. It's more than the human stories are played out against a backdrop of larger events, which is after all the way life is for most peple (at least, most people outside the USA).

The writing is lovely too, dreamy and poetic yet incisive and sharp when it needs to be. Highly recommended.

[Sorayya Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very successful novel that is am important precursor -- both in complexity and range -- to various English novels about South Asia today. It tells us about interwoven lives (first world/third world world, Pakistan/US, upper/lower classes, older/younger generations, etc.) and explores struggles and aspirations. It is indeed a novel about trespasses, and onel I wish I had read much sooner.

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love it when I read a book that is so phenomenal that I just want to shout it from the mountaintop! Trespassing is most definitely one of those books.

I will attempt to quickly summarize a somewhat lengthy and engrossing plot: in many ways Trespassing is a Romeo & Juliet-esque story of forbidden love set in Pakistan in the early 1990 19s. However, the beauty of Khan 19s novel lies in her decision to divide the book into sections, each narrated by a different character. Through this ever-changing narration, we learn about each character 19s past as well, so it becomes more than just a story about the taboo love affair happening in the present, but also how the past has had its influence on each character in the present. I can 19t say much more without giving away some major spoilers! And there are some great plot twists in this novel that I would hate to give away!

As I was reading Trespassing I kept thinking, 1COkay, pretty basic story. This could really be set anywhere, right? It doesn 19t have to be Pakistan 26or does it? 1D Well, yes, it does have to be Pakistan. If this story were transplanted to anywhere in the West it would completely disintegrate. On the surface it is a basic story about forbidden love, but, if we delve deeper, Trespassing is a story about culture clash. Several of the characters wrestle with their identity as Pakistani, and, furthermore, several of the characters study in the West and struggle with their identity as Pakistani in light of the personal awakenings they experienced while out of Pakistan. Also, Khan puts the issue of women 19s rights in the forefront of her novel. This could not be such a unique and multi-faceted issue if the story were set elsewhere.

Trespassing is one of those novels that has given me food for thought and that I can feel is going to haunt me for the next few days 13 exactly what I am looking for in a good read. This is not some average run-of-the-mill romance novel, but instead a thick, lush, intricately-woven tale of not just forbidden love of another person and the complications that come with, but also conflicting love and hate towards one 19s country, one 19s family, and one 19s own identity in light of all of that. I am declaring it a treasure of a novel!

[Baljit · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a story which about family, society and politics. The middle class dream in Pakistan is to send your sons abroad for education to the land of opportunity. The doctor’s son returns to a barrage of questions and expectation.... where does he begin to explain his experiences. And how can he avoid family expectations and restrictions. The story weaves through the political climate, the invasion of Kuwait, the crimes and shortages within Karachi, the illicit romance of past and the infatuation of youth in the present and the realization that the country you turn to, to fulfill your aspirations, is playing you and others like you as pawns in a game of human chess.
The language is poetic and I particularly liked the writers style of changing between voices of the characters. I did not like the romance being drawn out towards the last quarter, but I was happy it was not a cliched ending.

I was struck by the following phrase:
‘Here we have many restrictions but few rules, there it’s the opposite. There are few restrictions but many rules.’

I’ll be looking out for her other books.

[Danyal Effendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging story, perfectly created characters, good interlinking and much details about the silkworm farming and country's situation at the time of setting. Nice read.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Like Pakistan, the United States was not the place to study fair and free reporting. In the former, he risked having his bones broken. In the latter, his spirit.

He enrolled in a journalism class with a different professor but, like Wayne, she steered the discussion toward consumer happiness. If the public wasn't getting the story it wanted, it was being exploited.

The problem I sometimes have with literary fiction, and the occasional student essay, is the hook that some authors feel compelled to stick in in order to attract and/or keep readers hanging on till the last few pages. You see, I've read too much to not pick up like fly paper every, in the white Anglo realm at least, innuendo and metaphor and narrative coincidence that is oh so casually dropped along my path, and so I ferreted out the reason for this book's romance being "forbidden" a mile away. That, and few other more obvious twists and turns, unnecessarily complicated an already very complicated tale, although the other complexities I enjoyed because of its all too relevant cocktail of imperialism, racism, and terrorism in a country called Pakistan that most (white) people in this country of mine look upon through the eyes of I am Malala and despair. I'm interesting in reading other works by this author, as she has real potential (I also admit to extremely liking the, if unnamed, bisexual representation in the form of an imperfect but all too human character, although the very last mystery veers rather close to bury your queers), and I'd like to see what she can do when she stops worrying about plot and more about the bigger pictures as conveyed in prose and theme.

The Commander liked to say that anyone who claimed crime was chaos had never committed a gruesome enough one.

Imposed peace is not peace.

There's little I like more than US mainstream media narratives being turned on their heads to reveal the sordid atrocities that continue to propagandize into today. As such, most of my favorite bits consist of the golden boy being less than golden when struggling against the white supremacist system that will permit him to shell out international rates of tuition while simultaneously destabilizing his and every country within 50 miles of his homeland. Once he was back in Pakistan, it became clearer what the author was driving at in terms of revolution in the streets, patriarchy in the sheets, which would've been more effective if the most sympathetic character (in my book) had bee fleshed out beyond the realm of silk worms, failed exams, and first (heteronormative) love. The build up, namely, was better than the resolution, and I have trouble deciding whether this work could've used having 50-100 pages cut or another 300 pages added on. I lean towards the latter, of course, but that's not likely to get published, and this work's dismal rating is likely a side effect of the average (white) reader not being willing to put up with sprawling complexities while their favorite super power is indicted. Like I said, I'll definitely be acquiring more works by Khan, and hopefully she'll be in a stronger position to do more interesting things in the future.

["]Are you saying I can only stay if I'm silent?"
"This college is giving you aid."
"So I'm a beggar? And beggars can't choose? Has it occurred to you that by asking questions, I"m living up to your country's ideals better than you are?"

This work stands out from most of the ones I've read this year for being one of the most unique in content as well as the one most relevant to these beleaguered times of mine. It certainly doesn't deserve the low average rating it has, but as I said in another review of mine of a book written by a woman in color (this one also in translation, which makes the bias even more predictable), the proper response to such is to sigh and pull on my gloves. The work's nowhere near perfect, but of all the "ethnic"/multigenerational blurbs being dropped on contemporary lit these days, I feel this one does more than most to challenge conventional narratives, and one can never have too much of that in the days of the Momo Challenge when grown adults think it is only the child who needs training in the ways of information/media literacy. I wouldn't want a sequel to this, but I have discovered a craving for books about aspiring journalists following in an ancestor's politically engaged footsteps, for it is one of the best ways to experience a cross section of history and truly understand the worth it has for us as human beings today. All in all, a book with high highs and some lows that predictably struggles in today's market. A happy ending, or even a conclusive ending at all, it is not, but then again, what is Pakistan?

She was an atheist, she equated his religion with fanaticism, she could not explain the origins of the name of her home state, Massachusetts, but she really understood those [American] Indians.

On average, it took Daanish twenty minutes to read each article. On average, the air raids killed twenty-five hundred Iraqis daily. Approximately thirty would lose their lives by the time he'd finished reading how much they hate us.

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a well written and cleverly crafted story. there are multiple layers and intriguing twists that have the disparate strands within the book intertwine in seamless way.

I've also concluded that Khan's writing has, what I consider--to my ears/eyes, an American style or voice. By this, I mean it's up front and especially in this book, doesn't possess much frills and embellishments. (And while there is a prospective bride/groom viewing scene, I was quite pleased that the author did not produce a chick-lit type of book.)

The author often uses some scientific item or device as part of the story and does so in an engaging way. Here it is silk and silk-making as well as sea shells. In Thinner than Skin, it was glaciers and their development. And in the Geometry of god, which I started ages ago but will pick up again very soon, she uses fossils.

Excellent storytelling all around

[Sureena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is about Daanish, the doctor's son and Dia, the daughter of a silk merchant who fall in love with each other only to find out that they shared the the same father in the end. In this novel, the author draws a good picture on Pakistani culture, the wellbeing of the city Karachi as to compare to a small city in the US/London and the pressures most Pakistani youngsters faced about arranged marriage.

But most of all I'd like to know how is it now in Pakistan if daughters/sons were still not to be given a freedom to choose their own spouse and ended up having illegitimate relationships with the one they loved? This story also reminds me of a few bollywood movies I've watched before. Revolves around more or less the same plots such as wealthy families, arranged marriage, gangsterism and unapproved relationships.

[Mădă · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niciodată nu mi-au plăcut cărțile cu final deschis. Dar a fost interesantă și cu subiecte provocatoare, care puteau fi mult mai bine exploatate, în loc să se fi pus atâta accent pe detaliile banale. Iar personajele ar fi putut fi mai bine conturate. Aș fi preferat să văd o versiune a poveștii spusă de tatăl protagonistului și nu de fiul bucătarului, care a avut un rol aproape neînsemnat. Până la final, am tot așteptat să explodeze ceva, să fie spuse adevărurile cu voce tare, dar nu s-a întâmplat.
Am continuat s-o citesc din cauza fascinației mele pentru poveștile lumii musulmane, dar mă așteptam la mai multă credibilitate.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first it definately caught me into the story, and by the middle I was already building my own ending. Unfortunately a few chapters later I found myself dragged into the conflict of the time (the Gulf war) instead of the story that got me interested at first: The love story between Daanish and Dia and the silk worms. I won't reveal the ending, but for me, at least it left me in the air and with many questions unsolved. I believe that is what made me feel dissapointed. Though it's an entertaining book, it lacks of objectivity at telling the story.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, good insight into Pakistani and Muslim day-to-day culture. Well developed characters, families and story lines. However, I did get the feeling that the author would rather be writing political exposes on international affairs, if only they would reach more readers than a novel. So instead, she writes a good story, but uses the story to highlight international political realities involving Pakistan and the US.

The author often makes accurate, pointed jabs at western/American culture and politics... For example, when the main character lands for a stopover in Germany: "Only those ladies and gentlemen holding American, Canadian, or European passports could disembark for the duration of the stopover. Those naughty others might escape, so they must stay on board."

On the West's "War on Terror" post 9-11, particularly in regards to the wars in Iraq:"Graffiti was painted across the brick wall of a warehouse: SAVE AMERICA, KILL AN ARAB. A mosque was attacked, as was a Lebanese restaurant. And in the media, in the place of war coverage, article condemning Islam gained prominence. All the while, bombs dropped on Iraq every thirty seconds. On average, it took Daanish twenty minutes to read each article. On average, the air raids killed 2500 (!) Iraqis daily. Approximately thirty would lose their lives by the time he'd finish reading how much they hated us."

On international law and the UN: "I read how the US insists we [Pakistan] sign the nonproliferation treaty... Never mind that not one member of the UN Security Council has signed. Never mind that all five permanent members began the arms race. Never mind that the weapons on our streets come from them, or that US arms continue to escalate."

On America's belief that it was formed by those fleeing religious persecution: "That may be true, but whatever it was your parents or grandparents had to put up with, the fact is that you never did [a wealthy, white mail university student]. Now you're not the persecuted anymore, so don't turn to that every time your country screws another. People who fled here to escape being dumped on are now doing the dumping. Still you think of yourself as the victim... Even if your forefathers knew what it was like, you don't. Yet you want the kind of news that says you do. You want to hear about being wronged. Not about who you are wronging. A bombing raid kills hundreds in Panama or Iraq; it's not even on the news. But an American is harassed anywhere outside the United States and it's the lead story on every network." And then, "That's why you care nothing about breaking international law or the effects of the sanctions. They hate you, remember? So it's okay to kill them."

She also does a very good job illuminating what it's like for a non-western student (especially a Muslim student) to live within the wealth of American students at an American college.... the disconnect, the spoken and unspoken prejudice and racism, American ignorance towards much of the world (intentional and not intentional) and how that ignorance impacts non-Americans living in the US, etc., etc. Also, the beauty and peace of the US (i.e. homes and buildings not always bound by walls/gates). For example: "Up in the sky, white clouds drifted. No haze, no smog. No potholes, beggars, burning litter, kidnappings, or dismissed governments." But then, of course, Khan shows the hypocrisy of such peace: "Such beauty in a country that consumed 30 percent of the world's energy, emitted a quarter of its carbon dioxide, had the highest military expenditure in the world, and committed fifty years of nuclear accidents, due to which the oceans teemed with plutonium, uranium, and God alone knew what other poisons."

It's not all "attacks" on the West however, there is also criticism of Pakistani culture/life and a comparison of the two cultures. For example, Khan does a beautiful job highlighting how Daanish, after living in the US, felt divided, "like a rent had formed in the center of him." Because of this, he envied the "innocence" of his girlfriend, Dia, and the fact that by not traveling, she was "fully Pakistani." However, when Daanish describes a college campus containing a "town with gray stone buildings in fields of rolling green. His campus had no gates, the windows bore no grilles... a climate with four seasons and little dust," all Dia can think of is the characteristics of her own college. "airless and dingy, with wooden benches the women had to fight over to make room for themselves. The stench always made her head reel, but that was nothing compared to the books and the instructors, who tested students on how well they regurgitated passages, word for word. No discussion. No questions." Daanish, Dia thought, "who had the opportunity to see the world more than most, was cruel to deny her even the option of hoping it held more than a room in an attic with women squeezed into each other, a teacher snoring at her desk, and no questions asked."

[Sameen Borker · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’ve all read The Kite Runner, even those of us who haven’t. And suddenly, we all knew everything that was enough to finally place Afghanistan on our mental maps. The book and America have helped place the country in a space where stereotypes are broken and made. Make no mistake, I love The Kite Runner. I also admire the Afghani women, their landscape (thanks to William Dalrymple), and their unforgettable history. But until the book came out, there was no way the outside world could have put its finger on Afghanistan and found that it touched people. People like you and me, and sometimes much more breathtakingly beautiful than we could have imagined. It was a story that changed the narrative.

For me, Trespassing has done that for Pakistan. A country I had little flattering things to say about, and one that I found extremely difficult to empathize with. Yes, I admit openly to finding it hard to reconcile with our neighbor; in many ways it is customary. But that has thawed with the reading of this book, and I am glad it has done so. Of course, it should have been thawed by Coke Studio, too, but I’m a bit of a book worm. Trespassing has opened up a side of the country that I touched and found, guess what, humans. Like you and me, going about their lives wondering when it will make meaning.

Trespassing_Book CoverSet against the backdrop of a silk farm and a house in which a death has occurred, it weaves the stories of many, many people together. Right from the owners of the silk farm to the workers, and the help of the houses in which deaths occur to their inhabitants. It is also quite elaborately about silk worms and the process of making silk. And about sea shells and the process of identifying and collecting them. And then, the two people who harbor these uncommon interests meet, in secrecy.

Daanish, the America-return son of a doctor meets Dia at the Quran Khwani of his father’s death. Meanwhile, Dia has been grappling with the mysterious disappearance and death of her own father and a best friend who wants to leave everything aside to get married. Daanish is unable to come to terms with the doctored opportunities that his chosen profession – journalism – might provide him, and his father’s warning rings in his ear when his American professors discourage him from writing about the Gulf War. Dia has failed her economics exam and has to retake it at the University in Pakistan, which she attends in between visits to her mother’s silk farm escorted by armed guards.

The book also discusses the lives of secondary characters and their aches and aids to the protagonists. The role of both the mothers in the lives of their children as well as their relationships with their respective husbands. The integral and yet, intrusive part that house help play in the Pakistani families. The growing crimes and organized freedom-seeking groups in Pakistan. The scarcity of resources in Karachi and atrocities of weather on its people. The beaches, buses, humidity, and the valleys of Pakistan. Also, since this book was written almost a decade ago, it skims the participation of the media and America in the growing unrest in the Middle East. And yes, the part love plays in all our lives, and the things we do for love.

This is a layered book, and very finely done so. In some places, the writing is brilliant with shifting perspective, phrases, and the imagery. In others, it’s tedious at times what with the elaborate sub-plot of Salaamat, the house help. One may wonder how many people can relate to characters that observe silk worms with obsession, collect shells of rare kinds, and paint buses and fantasize about them, too. However, it doesn’t come across as if the objective of the novel is for us to relate to young love or hard labor, but to portray the human complexities with a universality. And it does achieve that.

The story could very well be set anywhere. But the precision with how it fits in Pakistan somehow solidifies its being. With secrets buried meticulously, and of them being found by others, this book opens up the everyday folk of Pakistan to censure and celebration. The weaved narrative works as both, a cliffhanger as well as a bother, specifically when the rest of the story is right there and you can’t wait to finish it. It’s also not difficult to pick favorite characters and mumble a curse or two for those who trouble your favourites.

All in all, it’s quite refreshing a read that adds perspective and intrigue. Khan’s storytelling helps the cause largely. I have quite enjoyed her writing. While the end is largely predictable, and also quite unremarkable at how it comes about, the rest of the storytelling makes it worth it. Trespassing is a book I picked up by pure chance and based entirely on its cover. It has been quite an enchanting discovery.

[Rashad Raoufi · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was one of the ebst books i ever read. very poigant, she has sucha gift in describing the 90s pakistani society with all its complexities and contradicitons.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only recently discovered this author who has apparently been around for some time (over ten years) and just loved this book. The writing is gorgeous and fiery and really makes you think.

[Cyril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. The story slowly reveals. The further you read, the more you're hooked.

[Dr Tanzeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

good novel

[Farheen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off well but Dia and Daanish turned out to be half siblings and it was too weird, Daanish's mom was insufferable, I didn't understand the point of Salamat's pov, some of the things he described were quite unnecessary like a 13 year old's body and his sisters nipples. What even happened to Dia? Would she forever be unhappy? What was the epilogue even about?

[Ghilimei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nu există prea multă violență explicită în cartea asta și totuși în perioada în care am citit-o violența surdă mi s-a prelins în subconștient și am avut numai vise ciudate care ilustrau cartea, cum rar mi se întâmplă.
Și nici măcar nu e vorba exact de violență... este mai degrabă o apăsare, o agresiune abia perceptibilă... cel puțin așa a fost pentru mine. Senzația unui cerc închis, a unui tavan foarte jos, a unui drum înfundat, a unei striviri. Titlul original, Trespassing, mi se pare foarte potrivit, spre deosebire de nefericita traducere în română, pentru că nu mi se pare că ar fi vorba de libertatea de a iubi, ci de libertatea de a fi. Nu știu cum e de fapt în Pakistan, dar din cartea asta m-a învăluit zădărnicia existenței umane. Stăteam și mă gândeam la personajele astea și încercam să-mi dau seama dacă vreunul din ele a realizat sau a trecut în viața lui ipotetică (prin) ceva pentru care să merite să trăiască, ceva frumos sau luminos în totalitate. Răspunsul a fost „nu„, puteau la fel de bine să nu existe, poate chiar era mai bine pentru cei din jur. Zădărnicia merge până-ntr-acolo încât orice-ar face aceste personaje asemănător cu libertatea de a fi este de fapt inutil pentru că ajunge să fie îngropat într-o mare de ciment cu uscare înceată și care nu se poate usca decât într-o singură formă, indiferent cât te-ai zbate - și tocmai, cu cât te zbați mai mult, cu atât te prinde într-o poziție mai incomodă și nenaturală atunci când se usucă.
Studii în străinătate, dragoste, alegeri personale și profesionale, nașteri, chiar și moarte - toate sunt zadarnice pentru că nu schimbă cu nimic forma prestabilită în care se usucă cimentul în jurul tău.

**SPOILER**

Cred că cel mai relevant pasaj mi s-a părut cel în care Daanish vorbea despre mama lui (și fără să-și dea seama, vom afla mai târziu, despre toate femeile): „[Anu] se schimbase. N-ar fi vrut să fie așa. Ar fi vrut să fie neclintită, ca stânca pe care stătea în timp ce el și tatăl lui plecau să exploreze.” La începutul cărții se creează iluzia că Daanish este diferit, că are o gândire progresistă și că natura lui curioasă și educația lui în „Amrika„ precum și faptul că este atras de nonconformismul Diei îl fac să privească femeile altfel decât ceilalți bărbați din Pakistan și să-și dorească cu adevărat un partener de viață și nu pe cineva care să-l „lumineze din spate, ca pe o strălucitoare vază de cristal”, însă sfârșitul cărții arată clar că ne-am înșelat. Trădarea cea mare este față de Dia, care este gata să sacrifice totul pentru el, crezând că el este diferit, că viața alături de el ar putea fi o oază de libertate a trupului și spiritului, însă devine evident în ultimele capitole că Daanish seamănă perfect cu tatăl lui și că nici nu a cunoscut-o bine pe Dia că a și început s-o privească la fel cum și tatăl lui le-a privit pe femeile din viața lui, cum tatăl lui și-a privit soția toată viața și cum l-a învățat implicit pe el să-și privească mama. Dia pare să se îndrepte inevitabil către una din două tipologii feminine: Anu sau Riffat.
„[...] ea devenise ciudată, ca un puț neacoperit. Iar lui îi era teamă să se uite prea adânc în el.” Disperarea este profundă în această lume construită de Uzma Aslam Khan, dar este și la ordinea zilei, motiv pentru care simțul datoriei și automatismele constructelor sociale și culturale par să ia locul gândirii profunde, extremismul politic pare să ia locul emoțiilor ca unicul lucru ce îi mai poate mobiliza pe oameni în fața zădărniciei generale, dragostea este o iluzie de scurtă durată, intimitatea nu există și tot ce este esențial spiritului uman este încălcat fie prin violență directă, fie printr-o sufocare (automutilare?) înceată a voinței și dorinței.
Paralela cu viermii de mătase mi se pare și ea extrem de potrivită, pentru că această încălcare pare să fie înfăptuită de cei aflați la finalul metamorfozei forțate, de cei în jurul cărora cimentul s-a întărit complet asupra celor ce încă mai luptă să imprime propriei metamorfoze un alt final și care încă nu au realizat zădărnicia acțiunilor lor.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

In awe with the silk worms and their production of silk - always appreciate an author when they weave science into fiction.
I actually enjoyed this book - much more authentic and filled with essence compared to: ‘Karachi, you’re killing me’. Different author. One of the few books that comes close to understanding the struggles of someone with multiple homes, or no home...the east or the west.

[Becky Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uzma Aslam Khan’s character driven tale of two young Pakistanis, Trespassing, lays out in sweaty detail the tension between the old adage “you can’t go home again” and the one that says you can take the Pakistani out of Pakistan, but you can’t take the Pakistan out of the Pakistani.

Through Daanish, a Pakistani studying in American, and Dia, the precocious daughter of a silk merchant, Khan explores the interplay between tradition and modernization, culture and prejudice.

Structurally, Khan’s book is told in alternating points of view. This works well for the novel because the characters are intriguing enough that the reader doesn’t mind the same events being told over by several characters. It also works well because the books ultimate destination isn’t where the reader might predict at the outset. It becomes apparent only about halfway through the novel that Khan is weaving a complex web of disparate people and events that slowly rise toward the climax of the story. The meaning of the title of the novel doesn’t become clear until you reach the center of the story web.

The picture of Pakistan painted by Khan is different than the stark and exotic desert landscapes of many recent books set in the Middle East. The setting is overwhelmingly suburban, mostly taking place in a Daanish’s depressing middle-class house in a neighborhood plagued by a lack of dependable utilities like water and electricity. With a few exceptions, the landscapes of this novel are of human nature.

Khan, raised in Karachi, Pakistan, succeeds in producing inner-dialogues of the important characters that ring true across cultural divides, while maintaining the texture of authentic Pakistani tradition.

[Bookaholic]

ăscută in Lahore, la o aruncătură de băț de granița cu India, Uzma Aslam Khan sare în Trespassing peste tot soiul de garduri și bariere, fie ele naturale sau sociale, ale Pakistanului anilor ’80 și ’90, cu ocazionale drumuri peste ocean, in Amrika cea cu ouăle de aur, sau în Londra anilor ’60 și atinge mai multe subiecte decât pot încăpea confortabil în 330 de pagini.

Primele scene ne primesc vijelios cu un tânăr pakistanez la studii in America, unde cunoaște atât minunile tehnicii și societății moderne, cât și pe cele ale femeii, teren interzis la el acasă. De asemenea, cunoaște, ca majoritatea emigranților “nu-chiar-din-lumea-întâi”, abia aterizați în El Dorado, străfundurile oalelor murdare din bucătăria unui restaurant fast food, slugărind pe câțiva bănuți sub talpa grea a industriei serviciilor ho-re-ca. Tânărul student studiază jurnalism, și este interesat intens de Războiul din Golf și de felul circumspect în care oamenii încep să îi privească pe cei din rasa brună, înghesuiți toți sub eticheta arabi.

Câteva tirade politice mai târziu, despre nepăsarea americanului de rând față de ce se întâmplă în Golf, se dă foaia spre Pakistan, unde aterizăm la un priveghi unde se discută tensiunile sociale dintre populația punjabi, separatiștii sindhi, armată, mujahirii emigranți și politicienii corupți. Câteva pagini mai încolo începe și povestea de dragoste din titlu. Ea va ține legata toata cronologia disipată a romanului, care alternează de la capitol la capitol atâtea planuri încât spre final arată precum un bici prost împletit. (cronică: http://bookaholic.ro/gata-uzma-aslam-...)

[Nikhil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to 3.5/5.

The text squandered an opportunity to be better by being a bit too polite. The premise has a great deal of promise: using acts of trespassing or transgression to depict how characters inhabit those acts and to outline the boundaries of different societies. The text contrasts acts of trespass by women (Dia, Riffatt, symbolically the turtle) depicted as life-affirming with those of men depicted as domineering and about control. Salaamat, the most interesting character, embodies both types of trespass, and is torn between them through his life, and ultimately chooses the former kind when returning to the sea. But the text tiptoed too much around violence and power and the symbolism around these; it could have benefited from being more blunt.

A juxtaposition of this text alongside Basti provides a useful contrast about strands of Pakistani nationalism. This text positions Pakistan as part of a broader Middle East, connected more to Iraq than India or Bangladesh. Basti grounds Pakistan as a South Asian Muslim homeland. Both strands have always existed within forms of Muslim nationalism in South Asia (see, eg, the Khilafat movement). I do find the latter strand more convincing, both because Islam has many regional variants, and because the former strand seems self-justifying in the aftermath of Partition and 1971 — violently separating from our neighbors made sense because they weren’t our neighbors at all, our community is further West.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off well, but petered out at the end. Daanish, a Pakistani student who attends college in the U.S., has returned home to Pakistan for the funeral of his father. Before long, his mother is trying to arrange his marriage to a young Pakistani woman. Danish is instead entranced by another young woman named Dia, whose family owns a silk factory. Dia is an unsuitable woman for Daanish for reasons uncovered in the book (and easy enough to figure out before the author explains why). I liked Dia -- she's a strong young woman unhappy with the norms that dictate the activities of females, yet I became aggravated by how she allows Daanish to treat her. The main problem for me with this book (and others like it) is that so often, the mother/female characters are very annoying. Especially the mothers of sons. I don't find it enjoyable to read about how these women dote on their sons; while I understand that this is a cultural tradition, it bugs the heck out of me. It's also hard to enjoy reading a book in which women are considered less worthy than males. So, while it was at time an interesting read, ultimately, I was ready to be done with it by the (non-conclusive) ending.

[Shelfari]

A minor character Hameed Bhai said, "We were born to water. We drown on land." I knew Riffat must have had a relationship with Shafqat (Dannish's dad) since that was the point when Riffat prohibited her daughter Dia to meet Daanish ever again! OMG - the gift that the doctor, or Shafqat, had left behind was Dia. I hate the fact that Dia ended up alone and realized how domineering Daanish was and that he was her half-brother. I still don't get what happened to Salaamat and the turtles in the end - that makes me feel so stupid!

[Hena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but the author tried too hard to weave several distinct themes (historical/political events, gender issues, science, etc.) into her novel and it just didn't work very well. The characters weren't well-developed, the glimpses at historical events were incomplete (though,to be fair, perhaps if I'd lived in Pakistan I'd feel differently), and the end just kind of left me hanging. This was a nice enough read but not much more than that.

[Mercia McMahon]

marketed as a story of forbidden love in Pakistan between the Dia, the daughter of a silk farmer, and Daanish, the son of a journalist. Had the story remained focused on that storyline it might have worked better as a novel. Instead Khan spins a series of stories involving the main characters and the affair appears to be little more than the hook to link disparate stories together.
Full review https://merciamcmahon.com/trespassing....

[Amina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if i loved the book - there was a sense of belonging, while reading it (my parents were born and raised in Pakistan, though not Karachi).

Some parts of the story were intriguing (the people who carry out randon murders and kidnappings in Karachi) but most of it reminded me of some Pakistani soap. I enjoyed her writing in some parts and the juxtaposition of America and Pakistan, especially for people straddling both places.

Good for a quick summer read.

[Yo-miah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was captivating and an amazing page turner till the very end. However the ending seemed a bit haphazard and unclear. Maybe, to relate to the way life works. But a good time spent overall. When it was revealed that they were siblings, I don't know why but it should have made them repulse each other instead of still thinking about a way to make it work.