Highly entertaining comic novel that gives a highly fictionalised account of events leading up to the real life plane crash that killed the President of Pakistan General Zia in 1988. The crash which also killed the leader of Pakistan's military as well as the US ambassador to Pakistan has long attracted conspiracy theories but Hanif sidesteps the old chestnuts and throws together his own humorous collection of plots and motivations.
As I said before the book is well written and highly entertaining but I have to be wary about recommending a book that plays fast and loose with historical events. I did not remember the plane crash or the circumstances surrounding it before reading this book so there was always a danger of artistic license being accepted for fact, particularly as time dims the memory of what parts of the tale came from where. Happily this novel is sufficiently absurd that I am unlikely to forget it was fiction.
As I said before the book is well written and highly entertaining but I have to be wary about recommending a book that plays fast and loose with historical events. I did not remember the plane crash or the circumstances surrounding it before reading this book so there was always a danger of artistic license being accepted for fact, particularly as time dims the memory of what parts of the tale came from where. Happily this novel is sufficiently absurd that I am unlikely to forget it was fiction.
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