The Storm

March 15, 2018
A trio of storylines centers around the Partition of India.Anwar's debut novel is an ambitious one, with threads reaching back to World War II, to the more-or-less present day, and to 1970, to the devastating storm that killed half a million people in Bangladesh. The novel follows several storylines and a scattering of characters, straining by the end to bring them all together. To begin with, there's Shahryar, a young father who lives in Washington, D.C., but was born in Bangladesh. Shahryar's visa is about to expire, and he's desperately casting about for a way to stay in the country with his daughter, Anna. Then there's Claire Drake, a British doctor serving in World War II, first in Burma, and then in what was at that time East Bengal. There's also Ichiro, a Japanese pilot shot down nearby, whom Claire must treat. There's Rahim, too, a wealthy Muslim man living in Calcutta with his wife, Zahira, as that city erupts into riots in the midst of the Partition of India. To say the least, there's a lot going on. Anwar ups the ante even further with additional twists: Rahim is kidnapped by a Hindu gang, and Shahryar is caught up in what may or may not be a conspiracy. At this point, the book is practically bursting at the seams. Why Anwar shoved all these characters into one book is unclear: They would have done just fine each in their own respective novels. His prose doesn't help matters. It is sometimes overwrought ("a valley covered in cloaks of mist run ragged in places by trees crowned with fall's incipient fire") and sometimes plainly lacking (Zahira's response when the police appear in the nick of time: "You...how...what?"). Still, Anwar has an engaging voice that will perhaps improve with practice.An overstuffed narrative and sloppy writing mar a novel that, despite it all, still has its moments.

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April 15, 2018

In 1970, the Bhola cyclone, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, made landfall in India and Pakistan off the Bay of Bengal, killing approximately 500,000 people within just a few days. This event is ground zero for Anwar's poignant, warmhearted, multigenerational debut novel. The storm destroys an impoverished fishing village in Chittagong, East Pakistan (Bangladesh), orphans young Pakistani Shahryar, and sets into motion a complex drama that spans continents and decades. The narrative traces Shahryar's unlikely progress from East Pakistan to graduate school in America to fatherhood, which is ultimately a remarkable journey beautifully and poetically told. At its center are decent, hardworking people simply trying to make their way in a complex, dangerous world. Although historical events sweep into the characters' lives in a variety of devastating ways, this is ultimately a celebration of family and the sustaining power of love. With a sprawling cast of vividly drawn characters, most of whom must negotiate a dizzying array of religious, economic, and national boundaries, this powerful and important debut is a story for our time. VERDICT Essential for fans of literary fiction.--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 11, 2018
Anwar’s excellent debut braids together brief moments of sacrifice and love in the lives of many characters across decades in South Asia and Washington D.C. The novel opens in November 1970 Chittagong, East Pakistan, as mother and wife Honufa awakes to find her husband gone to work and a massive storm coming: “Iron-gray clouds are moving toward the shore on legs of lightning.” After sending her son off to safety with her friend, Rina, Honufa’s next choices may determine whether she will ever be reunited with her husband and son. In August 2004 D.C., Shahryar Choudhury must find work within three months or his visa will expire and he will be forced to return to Bangladesh, unsure whether he’ll ever see his daughter again. Chapters alternate between Shahryar’s dilemma and that facing what a first seem to be random characters in East Pakistan (which will become Bangladesh), India, and Burma. Anwar expertly threads together these vignettes with others about the lives of an English doctor, a Japanese pilot, a Muslim couple caught in a ransom plot, and residents of Chittagong. This first novel will touch and astound readers.

Starred review from April 1, 2018
In crystalline prose, Anwar tells stories that span continents and decades as his characters interconnect. It opens with a cyclone approaching Bangladesh in 1970 as the wife of an impoverished fisherman who's out on a boat entrusts their three-year-old son, Shahryar, to a friend to find shelter. The narrative then loops back and forth from that time and place to Burma in 1942, India in 1946, and Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s and 2004. Chapters focus on characters, including a privileged Indian husband and wife, a British doctor whose husband is a senior army officer, a Japanese pilot, and an American woman graduate student, as their stories illuminate and personalize historical events, such as the Japanese invasion of Burma and the partition of India. The common thread throughout is Shahryar, who is raised by the Indian couple and does graduate work in America, where he courts a woman with whom he has a daughter whose life he wants to be part of after the romance ends. While deceit and cruelty occur, these stories are suffused with love and compassion that most often motivate action. A remarkable debut, in which fiction vividly portrays specific events in history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)