The Return of Faraz Ali

A Novel

De: Aamina Ahmad

Narrado por: Homer Todiwala, Nina Wadia

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES AND NPR

WINNER OF THE 2023 L.A. TIMES ART SEIDENBAUM AWARD

“Stunning not only on account of the author’s talent, of which there is clearly plenty, but also in its humanity.” —New York Times Book Review (cover)

Sent back to his birthplace—Lahore’s notorious red-light district—to hush up the murder of a girl, a man finds himself in an unexpected reckoning with his past.

Not since childhood has Faraz returned to the Mohalla, in Lahore’s walled inner city, where women continue to pass down the art of courtesan from mother to daughter. But he still remembers the day he was abducted from the home he shared with his mother and sister there, at the direction of his powerful father, who wanted to give him a chance at a respectable life. Now Wajid, once more dictating his fate from afar, has sent Faraz back to Lahore, installing him as head of the Mohalla police station and charging him with a mission: to cover up the violent death of a young girl.

It should be a simple assignment to carry out in a marginalized community, but for the first time in his career, Faraz finds himself unable to follow orders. As the city assails him with a jumble of memories, he cannot stop asking questions or winding through the walled city’s labyrinthine alleyways chasing the secrets—his family’s and his own—that risk shattering his precariously constructed existence.

Profoundly intimate and propulsive, The Return of Faraz Ali is a spellbindingly assured first novel that poses a timeless question: Whom do we choose to protect, and at what price?

Beautiful story

The story is absolutely amazing very sad and so real.

The author Amina Ahmad has done an excellent job.

Powerful

A real education. Loved the sensitivity given to such a difficult topic. All to real for anyone who has seen this portion of Lahore. A must read/ listen.

A bit long

but absolutely worth it. Tells a story of Pakistan without pandering to an Anglo audience.

Heartbreaking & complex, but faulty narration

The mispronunciation of numerous names and words particularly by the male narrator was disappointing and distracting from what otherwise is a complex and heartbreaking story detailing complicated family dynamics and common difficulties and injustices faced by Pakistani women and men, set in various historical times before and after partition. I really wish a native Urdu speaker would have narrated this book or that I had read it via a physical book instead. If you are from the subcontinent or a native Urdu speaker, I would not recommend the audiobook!

Awful narration

The man who narrates is so awful that he ruins the book. Horrible fake accent.

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

A beautiful saga of a son's lifetime journey to reunite with his long lost family.

accents weren't a bother

I enjoyed the book, it was sad... and I didn't mind the English accent reading it... if I were reading the book I wouldn't have any idea on accents...

The story

This is a lovely and poignant story. Sadly it was ruined by the narrators who clearly have no idea of the language and expressions used in S. Asia. Is it really that hard to find a quality narrator from the subcontinent? The female narrator was much better and she actually got most of the local slang and idiom right. The male narrator was simply terrible. He was unable to pronounce the names of people or places and badly botched up all the Hindustani expressions that give the story its colour. And when he tried to go native and speak like one, I thought I was listening to Apu from The Simpsons. If you are from the subcontinent, I highly recommend the print version of the book. It will save you a lot of aggravation.

Narration

The book is excellent. The narration horrible. A British accent! Seriously for a Pakistani novel. The words are mispronounced and mangled. No one talks like that in Lahore.

Wonderful! But probably easier as a book

Loved the book and the multifaceted characters. Every single character was complex.
My only drawback is that as someone unaccustomed to these names and customs I had a hard time in audio format of recognizing and re-recognizing all the various names and places. In addition, a little knowledge of the history of Pakistan and Bangladesh history is helpful. At one point I looked it up on Google.
Great book.