The Wasted VigilFrom the author of Maps for Lost Lovers, a new novel, at once beautiful and blistering, about war today told through the lives of five people who come together by chance–and tragically revealed circumstance– in post—9/11 Afghanistan. Five disparate lives intersect through decades of invasion, occupation, and violence. There’s Marcus, an English expat who was married to an outspoken Afghani doctor–she was murdered by the Taliban–who opens his home to the others, the house itself a strange and beautiful monument to the inconceivable losses his family suffered . . . David, an American, formerly a spy, who has seen the Afghanis through the invasion of the Russians, the domination of the Taliban, and, now, the incursion of the Americans, and who has seen his own ideas of purpose and reason turned inside out . . . Lara, from St. Petersburg, looking for evidence of her brother, a Russian soldier who disappeared years before . . . Casa, a young Afghani whose hatred of the Americans has plunged him into the blinding depths of zealotry . . . and James, an American soldier in the Special Forces in whom David sees a dangerous revival of the unquestioning notions of right and wrong that he himself once held. In mesmerizing, expressive prose, Aslam reveals the intertwining paths that these characters have travelled, and the complex ties–of love and desperation, pain and salvation, madness and clarity–that bind them. Through their stories emerges a portrait both timely and timeless, panoramic and achingly intimate, of the “continuation of wars” that has shaped, and continues to shape, our world. In its combination of radiant language, hypnotic imagery, and unflinching drama, The Wasted Vigil is a luminous work of fiction. |
Contents
Building the New | 33 |
Out of Separations | 61 |
Night Letter | 87 |
Street of Storytellers | 109 |
Book | 151 |
Casabianca | 153 |
The Silent Flutes | 201 |
The Caliphate of New York | 251 |
The Wasted Vigil | 297 |
All Names Are My Names | 315 |
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Common terms and phrases
Afghan Afghanistan al-Qaeda Allah Americans arrived asked Benedikt Bihzad birds body bomb Buddhas of Bamiyan Casa Casa's Chechnya child Christopher colour darkness David dead death djinn door Dunia eyes face father feel fire floor girl gone guerrillas Gul Rasool hand head heard Islam Islamabad Jalalabad James Palantine jihad Kabul Kalashnikov Kandahar kill knew Koran lake land landmine Lara later light living looking lover madrassa Marcus Marcus's house mosque moves Muhammad Muslim Nabi Khan Nadeem Aslam night orchard painted Pakistani Pashto perfume factory Peshawar Piotr prayer Qatrina remembers says shabnama side sitting smell someone sound Soviet soldiers Soviet Union stands Stepan stone suddenly Taliban talk tell things thought told tree turns Usha Uzbekistan walks wall wanted watches window woman women words young Zameen