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Insomnia
“Drawing on legend, history, memoir, literature, and film, Hussein’s stories are meant to be cupped in both hands and savored slowly.”—Guardian
In his fourth collection, Aamer Hussein charts the geographies of leave-taking and homecoming, the consolations and rivalries of friendship, the yearnings of adolescence, and maturity’s tentative acceptance of longing. Moving from Karachi to England, through India, Java, Italy, and Spain, these exquisite stories engage with the grand narratives of our time.
Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi and moved to London in 1970. He reviews regularly for The Independent and The Times Literary Supplement. He has held visiting posts at the University of Southampton and the University of London, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In his fourth collection, Aamer Hussein charts the geographies of leave-taking and homecoming, the consolations and rivalries of friendship, the yearnings of adolescence, and maturity’s tentative acceptance of longing. Moving from Karachi to England, through India, Java, Italy, and Spain, these exquisite stories engage with the grand narratives of our time.
Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi and moved to London in 1970. He reviews regularly for The Independent and The Times Literary Supplement. He has held visiting posts at the University of Southampton and the University of London, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
134 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2007
6 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Aamer Hussein
25 books42 followersAamer Hussein was born in Karachi in 1955 and moved to London in 1970 for further education after a year at boarding school in India. He has a degree in Urdu, Persian and South Asian studies from SOAS, and later studied French, philosophy and psychology. He began publishing fiction in the 1980s in journals and anthologies. His first collection of stories, Mirror to the Sun, appeared in 1993, to be followed by This Other Salt, Turquoise, Cactus Town, and Insomnia. He has also published a novella, Another Gulmohar Tree (2009) and a novel, The Cloud Messenger (2011). His stories have been translated into many languages, including Italian, Arabic and Japanese. In 2012, he contributed four original stories and a memoir in Urdu to the Karachi journal Dunyazad. Hussein, who is also an essayist and critic, is Professorial Writing Fellow in the Department of English and Humanities at the University of Southampton, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of English Studies at London University.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 18, 2016
I was in Mumbai, this summer, and I saw a quaint little book store called 'Wayward and Wise'. I was set to leave the city the next day but I had not visited a book store yet! So I decided to visit the place, perhaps buy a book to gift a friend. The book store was meant for bibliophiles. It had a splendid piano score by Rachmaninoff playing in the background. It had cushions every where, some chairs and tables and a coffee maker. The book store owner was an impressive looking man. He was middle aged, had a shaved head and was dressed smartly. He turned out to be a man of impeccable taste in books and told me that he opened up the book store just to meet book lovers. Alas! Book lovers don't buy books at a book store any more!
We spoke about books for a while after he left me to my devices. I decided to take my own sweet time to find that perfect book. After looking at a couple of books I ran into this book. I read the first page and I knew that I must have it. The writing was verbose but not long-winded. It broached a very cosmopolitan theme, but the writing style was inspired by Arabic/ Urdu writing. Not knowing any other language myself, I can't point to what was different about the writing. Was it the metaphor, the symbolism or the settings? I'll have to read it the second time to find out. But it did seem like the book had borrowed something from another culture. It was beautiful. It seemed to capture the conflict of writers of this age and time to capture the imaginations of the body politic,, the aspirations of the masses, while also creating a piece of art. It also seems to capture the cultural diversity that one experiences. The writer himself is from Karachi and presently resides in London. The old world nostalgia, the confluence of his cosmopolitan education and his love for both these languages are translated beautifully in the book.
It's a small book. This makes it easier to read. It's not a book everyone might enjoy. But if somebody wants to read good literature, writing that is almost poetic, lyrical- this is the book to read. Relish the language, don't struggle so much with how every piece fits into the plot- at least not the first time you're reading this book. Drink in the language, the whole makes more sense than the parts. The very first short story makes you feel that there is more between the lines. But the writing captures your attention so that you will have to revisit its layered intricacies to appreciate it all the more.
Discovering a new book at a book store was so much of an exciting experience that I've decided to buy new authors at book stores and read only classics on kindle so that I can encourage good writers in the interests of the art of writing.
We spoke about books for a while after he left me to my devices. I decided to take my own sweet time to find that perfect book. After looking at a couple of books I ran into this book. I read the first page and I knew that I must have it. The writing was verbose but not long-winded. It broached a very cosmopolitan theme, but the writing style was inspired by Arabic/ Urdu writing. Not knowing any other language myself, I can't point to what was different about the writing. Was it the metaphor, the symbolism or the settings? I'll have to read it the second time to find out. But it did seem like the book had borrowed something from another culture. It was beautiful. It seemed to capture the conflict of writers of this age and time to capture the imaginations of the body politic,, the aspirations of the masses, while also creating a piece of art. It also seems to capture the cultural diversity that one experiences. The writer himself is from Karachi and presently resides in London. The old world nostalgia, the confluence of his cosmopolitan education and his love for both these languages are translated beautifully in the book.
It's a small book. This makes it easier to read. It's not a book everyone might enjoy. But if somebody wants to read good literature, writing that is almost poetic, lyrical- this is the book to read. Relish the language, don't struggle so much with how every piece fits into the plot- at least not the first time you're reading this book. Drink in the language, the whole makes more sense than the parts. The very first short story makes you feel that there is more between the lines. But the writing captures your attention so that you will have to revisit its layered intricacies to appreciate it all the more.
Discovering a new book at a book store was so much of an exciting experience that I've decided to buy new authors at book stores and read only classics on kindle so that I can encourage good writers in the interests of the art of writing.
October 14, 2018
A wonderful collection of short stories by Pakistani-British writer America Hussein. He explores friendships, identity, creativity, and the experience of living abroad and longing for home. Full review here: https://roughghosts.com/2018/10/14/to...
February 25, 2019
I picked up this book on a whim, and I'm so glad I did. In these seven interconnected stories, Aamer Hussein weaves a love letter to India. We travel with him throughout Pakistan; Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad. This is an area of the world I know nothing about and had read nothing of previously.
All of the stories can be read as a love letter to India, but the underlying theme is that of loss and displacement, from places and people. Each story is beautifully and poetically written, with sadness at the heart of each. There were so many quotations I found beautiful that I had to add them here so they're not forgotten. A quick but unforgettable read.
"I bring you into being from your place of absence. Why do we see yesterday as shadow, call memory a haunting? Echoed crooked smiles, linked fingers. Should I write: sometimes I think of you and wonder if you really happened."
"One night you told me we had nowhere left to go. I'd dreamed that we might travel on. It doesn't matter anymore."
"I've often thought about this: there are people who are born to sorrow and others who learn to grieve along the way. But you were born to happiness. You were born to make others happy."
"It's a world peopled with shadows. I couldn't summon them back, all the ones I'd loved. I sometimes glimpse an unintentional resemblance to something I've lost: a smile, the angle of a shoulder, the turn of a neck, a black lock falling on a forehead."
All of the stories can be read as a love letter to India, but the underlying theme is that of loss and displacement, from places and people. Each story is beautifully and poetically written, with sadness at the heart of each. There were so many quotations I found beautiful that I had to add them here so they're not forgotten. A quick but unforgettable read.
"I bring you into being from your place of absence. Why do we see yesterday as shadow, call memory a haunting? Echoed crooked smiles, linked fingers. Should I write: sometimes I think of you and wonder if you really happened."
"One night you told me we had nowhere left to go. I'd dreamed that we might travel on. It doesn't matter anymore."
"I've often thought about this: there are people who are born to sorrow and others who learn to grieve along the way. But you were born to happiness. You were born to make others happy."
"It's a world peopled with shadows. I couldn't summon them back, all the ones I'd loved. I sometimes glimpse an unintentional resemblance to something I've lost: a smile, the angle of a shoulder, the turn of a neck, a black lock falling on a forehead."
September 3, 2018
The writing is heavily nostalgic, and dabbles with the concept of identity and search for the self, in a foreign country.
Like most Pakistani writers, Aamer Hussein's writing has a touch of the Urdu poetic style to it. However, this particular style of prose, with all its artistic flow and everything else considered, when placed within the parameters of an English linguistic setting, tends to lose pace and become a tad monotonous!
While I found a couple of the short stories in the collection quite interesting, a lot of the others seemed too self involved to me (this is just my opinion and tastes vary from person to person). Some of the descriptives almost wore the cloak of sleep inducing monologues, and seemed to drag on forever!
Like most Pakistani writers, Aamer Hussein's writing has a touch of the Urdu poetic style to it. However, this particular style of prose, with all its artistic flow and everything else considered, when placed within the parameters of an English linguistic setting, tends to lose pace and become a tad monotonous!
While I found a couple of the short stories in the collection quite interesting, a lot of the others seemed too self involved to me (this is just my opinion and tastes vary from person to person). Some of the descriptives almost wore the cloak of sleep inducing monologues, and seemed to drag on forever!
June 12, 2022
From his feelings of belonging and attachment to his search for home and love, Aamer Hussein has skillfully gathered many emotions in these few short stories. He's certainly a voice of the Pakistani diaspora.
September 13, 2018
Five stars aren't enough.
August 16, 2019
Enigmatic and engaing short stories.
July 18, 2013
Samar had a consuming need for Pakistan - I called it an addiction. It was all the more consuming when she was abroad. I'd tell her: 'The craving's more powerful than the cure, longing's your vocation and your profession, it's more important to you than I am.'
From the story 'Hibiscus Days', p56.
Exquisite, fragile stories that are really poems. An ineffable melancholia, diffused with a tip of paintbrush lightness of touch. Present falling into the future, future into yesterday, like watercolours, understated, sparse. Introspective looking glass world, hint of Lorca, echo of Mir. merest hint of kohl. twig of orange bougainvillea with no shadow and no smell, by a jug of sparkling spring water, resting by the bedside in a room facing the sea.
From the story 'Hibiscus Days', p56.
Exquisite, fragile stories that are really poems. An ineffable melancholia, diffused with a tip of paintbrush lightness of touch. Present falling into the future, future into yesterday, like watercolours, understated, sparse. Introspective looking glass world, hint of Lorca, echo of Mir. merest hint of kohl. twig of orange bougainvillea with no shadow and no smell, by a jug of sparkling spring water, resting by the bedside in a room facing the sea.
October 26, 2014
A real evocative book, refreshing memories.
Sometimes you're listening to music or looking at the landscape,enjoying the scenery ,or simply sitting in silence with someone and that feeling overwhelms you.you can call that happiness.Why do we only know we've been happy after the moment has gone?Do regret for the past and fear the future erode every possibility of recognizing...
Sometimes you're listening to music or looking at the landscape,enjoying the scenery ,or simply sitting in silence with someone and that feeling overwhelms you.you can call that happiness.Why do we only know we've been happy after the moment has gone?Do regret for the past and fear the future erode every possibility of recognizing...
November 17, 2017
An inconsistent collection. The first story is beautiful in its poetry and sparseness. What follows, sadly, never quite reaches those initial heights.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews