Typhoon

by Qaisra Shahraz

"Typhoon" is set in Chiragpur, a Pakistani village warped in time, space and guilt, whose inhabitants are still traumatised by what happened some twenty years earlier in a courtroom (kacheri). With the arrival of a beautiful stranger from the city, the villagers are helplessly swept along by a typhoon-like series of events and become buried under the burden of their guilt. Closely guarding their small silk parcels containing a lock of a woman's hair, they all hope to return it to its rightful owner and beg her forgiveness."Typhoon" is a tragic tale of three young women, each one demonised by their Naghmana - the glamorous stranger from the city; Chaudharani Kaniz - the village land baron, and Gulshan - the innocent wife. One is caught in the arms of another woman's husband in the middle of the night; another was raped in her youth; and the third woman's world fell apart as she lost her husband, before her eyes, to a total stranger and her mother vowed revenge. For all three there is no escape from what fate has in store.

Genres: Fiction

318 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2013

About the author

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

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

Reviews

[Sophie]

I read this as part of Shelter Box book club but unfortunately struggled with it. The storyline is interesting as are the cultural insights it provided. It felt like the first 100 pages were too stretched out however and came across a bit like an episode of EastEnders set in Pakistan! After this I found it more enjoyable but I'm not sure I would have finished this had it not been a book club read.

[Steve Clayton]

The book which was last month’s chosen book of Shelterbox book club, has three main characters all women Naghmana, Gulshan & Kaniz, though the latter has a separate storyline. There are many other characters some with supporting roles and others we only get a brief introduction. The story is set in rural Muslim Pakistan, a world of inequality, male superiority and the importance of religion in a tight-knit community.
The main story is the reaction of the village to adultery between a young woman and a married man.
We are treated to some wonderful descriptions of the landscape and activities of the members of the village, however sometimes the language used was overly florid and melodramatic. “Her cheeks throbbing with heat…”; “Oh, these women! She thought crossly” “..boldly scanning her red face, and “the anger erupting from her eyes, dagger like.”
Some of the main plots were deliberately confused and there were points when the characters could easily have spoken truthfully but didn’t, which meant that some elements didn’t become clear until the middle of the book.
Ms Shahraz covers important topics in this book and that due to the culture the way certain things are hidden and not openly discussed, as they are in many countries. I just felt that these issues got a bit lost in the lengthy prose. The book might have been better as two short stories.

[Yoyovochka]

Baca ini bikin saya kesal. Entah karena formatnya kurang rapi dan terjemahannya kurang enak di versi digitalnya, entah karena memang ceritanya yang menurut saya agak khas cerita-cerita Bollywood yang agak hiperbol.

Kisah diawali dengan "perselingkuhan" Haroon yang tertangkap basah oleh mertuanya, Hajra. Nah, karena marah, si Hajra ini meminta kedua pelaku perselingkuhan diadili ramai-ramai di desa. Memang dasar orang desa, ya, senang main hakim sendiri. Jadilah pengadilan dibuat dan dihadiri oleh orang sedesa. Di sinilah ada pelintiran plot yang bikin saya bertanya-tanya sekaligus geleng-geleng kepala.

Pertama, memangnya statusnya masih menikah gitu kalau suami sudah meninggalkan istri selama lima tahun? Bukannya dalam Islam ada batas waktu tertentu, ya?
Kedua, lah ini rasa iba jadi ditujukan ke Naghmana, bukan Gulshan si istri yang meskipun salah paham tetapi statusnya masih tetap diselingkuhi dan disakiti. Kenapa yang disalahin malah mertua sama si Gulshan ini?
Ketiga, si bibi Fatima ini lebay abis. Pas udah kejadian baru bilang "kenapa kau tidak bercerita padaku?" ingin rasanya saya menjawab: "kalau saja kau mendengarkanku, Bibi, kisah ini pasti tamat di bab 10. Tidak sampai bab ke-41."
Iya. Serius dipanjang-panjangin masalahnya... khas Bollywood sekali.

Si Haroon ini pun kayak tokai, meski keduanya adalah istrinya, tapi tetep dong statusnya dia menyakiti Gulshan, eh dia yang marah.
Tokoh istrinya Baba Siraj Din, si Zulaikha juga bikin sebal. Lu kasihanin si Naghmana, tetapi nggak mikirin posisinya si Gulshan.

Ah, sudahlah, ini kisah dari sudut pandang yang tidak empati. Kisah tentang orang-orang yang enggan mendengarkan dan salah menyasar belas kasihan mereka.

Tapi, yah, mungkin kekurangpahaman saya ini didasarkan pada perbedaan budaya yang kita anut. Mungkin di Pakistan ya begitu itu budayanya...

Sebel? Tentu sebal. Untung nggak beli buku fisiknya.

[Francesca Morosini]

A consistently frustrating read. Incredibly melodramatic and overwritten - with adverbs everywhere - with thin characters who, when they are speaking, are either explaining the plot to the reader or crying dramatically at each other - and yet not saying the very basic things that would solve issues. If this was being done on purpose to show how little the characters feel able to talk to each other it could have had a more interesting message; instead it is clear that the author needs the characters to keep pointless secrets for the plot to work.
The story itself could have been interesting if handled more sensitively and realistically. In particular, I felt Haroon was incredibly unlikeable - and almost fully to blame yet never taking any blame - treating both his wife and mother-in-law horribly. I also felt the treatment of the widow Kaniz's story was in poor taste - the idea that her choosing to remain single was a problem that needed to be solved, or could only come from trauma. Her sister's meddling was insensitive and hugely overstepping, yet treated as a positive symbol of familial love.
It was interesting to read something set in rural Pakistan, though the drama of the novel makes me question how reliable a presentation it is. The divide between a "modern" woman and rural Pakistan didn't quite work either - it felt unnecessarily disparaging of anything not "modern".
I've given it 2 stars for the idea - the execution left much to be desired.

[Anne Tucker]

this was a delightfully straightforward read -yes there is a time jump back to an event 20 years earlier ... but this was consistent and the whole sad story of the betrayal and lack of honesty continues til the end of the section from the past .
I very much enjoyed learning how rural Pakistani villages might present the,selves, the values and concerns of people there -the dreaded fear about 'loss of izzat', which therefore gives rise to unspeakable tragedy - the typhoon in the title. How much sadness couyld have been saved if there had been more honesty, frpom all the characters - the 2 directly involved in the 'tug of war' for a husband, and the woan who ws raped qs a teenager, whose story runs alongside the other (not wholly successfully i didnt think)
Vrty clearly written, I enjoyed every page. Ad it really was a page turner ...

[Tansy Hepton]

I enjoyed the portrayal of this Pakistani village, which was vividly brought to life. The female friendships between the older women were well portrayed, as was the impact of an over-emphasis on honour. I know the author was exploring the impact of past events on the 3 women involved, but I'm not sure I found the endings entirely believable - or perhaps it was all revealed too quickly (and neatly) at the end. Having said that, I read it almost in one sitting and would recommend it.

[Emily]

This is not my normal genre at all! It was a book sent to me via my ShelterBox subscription.

I found it quite difficult to read. Lots of different characters, some we barely got to know and the story was fairly weak.

It was interesting to read something set in a rural village in Pakistan.

I needed more depth and character engagement.

[Shree Mandal]

Absolute garbage writing - everyone is always screaming or yelling, the dialogue is so so poor, it’s worse than a telenovela. The plot was so predictable too, just could not get into it well due to the lack of character development and the overly emotional writing and expressions in dialogue

[Bookish.Issy]

I think I am going to give it 3.5 stars as I enjoyed the stories within the book. It was interesting reading about the conflict that occurred when a modern Pakistani woman visited her aunt in a village. I found this in a charity shop and was intrigued by the cover and glad I picked it up.

[Bex Jeffrey]

Pretty bad - saved from getting 1 star by the interesting (baffling) insight into life in rural Pakistan. Otherwise read like an episode of coronation Street

[Sue]

I read this as a shelterbox bookclub read. Wasn’t sure at first , but got drawn into the story of this rural Pakistani village and the lives of the women in it. Found the last chapter very poignant.

[Jeremy]

Vivid and compelling.

[Maryam Khalid]

It's an amazing book. In love with the writing style of Qaisra Shahraz.♥️

[Aysia Stephens]

Finally finished this book.

It was a slow read of a book for me.
However, I was still intrigued and it kept me wanting to get to the end.

The ending, unfortunately I don’t know what to make of it. What happened to Naghmana in the end? Someone please give me insight into your understanding of this ending, I would really appreciate that, as I’m literally here with no conclusion towards this novel. (I now know what happened to her, I guess I was in denial to the fact, very sad ending)

Throughout this story, I struggled to connect properly with some of the characters. I mostly connected with Naghmana, Gulshan, Siraj Din and the second wife. Every other character for me was forgettable/bared no clear impact on me.

What I take away from this read, is that faith/religion in some cultures can misguide us and lead us down a lonely/the wrong path in life.

I unfortunately wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book.