An orphan working at a tea stall in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, grows up to become head chauffeur for a feudal family in Daniyal Mueenuddin's contemporary epic This Is Where the Serpent Lives. Spanning six decades, this finely textured generational saga probes with rich irony the power dynamics between Western-educated Pakistani elites and the deferential but shrewd underlings who manage their agricultural estates and serve their tea.
Set in Pakistan, with scenes at a college campus in the U.S., This Is Where the Serpent Lives expands superbly on themes of ambition and betrayal introduced in the author's award-winning short story collection, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. Mueenuddin's writing has a satirical bite, featuring scheming farm managers, charming gangsters, and lazy landowners married to intelligent women. Worst are police officials who "under their uniforms" are "cousins to the thieves."
The story opens in 1955 when a child found abandoned on the roadside is taken in by Karim Khan, a kindly shop owner who teaches him the art of making chapattis. The boy, Bayazid, has a "cool temper" and grows up to be "exceptionally large for a Pakistani." He is hired by the Atar family in Lahore and rises swiftly up the ranks.
Hisham Atar is one of Pakistan's "gadgety wealthy men" who considers himself "free from old-fashioned views of the relation between master and servant." He met his brilliant wife, Shahnaz, when they were undergraduates at Dartmouth College. Enjoying the "frictionless ease" of exceptional staff like Bayazid and his protégé Saqib, the Atars' marriage, an intriguing partnership, stays on a low, indifferent simmer until a stinging betrayal spirals into a crisis.
Mueenuddin juxtaposes depictions of simple rural life at the Atars' farm with their extravagant, cocaine-fueled parties and art deco homes in the city. When Bayazid, now Hisham's right-hand man, and Saqib accompany the Atars to their friend's cliffside mansion for a party, Saqid inadvertently witnesses an incident he shouldn't have and it shatters his reverence for his master. With a family to care for, Saqib lets his personal ambitions overshadow his loyalty towards the Atars, leading to a fallout that is as shocking as it is swift.
The central conflict in This Is Where the Serpent Lives unfolds with fable-like simplicity: Will Hisham and Shahnaz, with their Dartmouth education and modern sensibilities, embrace change when challenged or will they fall back on the harsh feudal ways that have kept their family comfortably on top for generations? Crafted with elegant prose, Mueenuddin's conclusions are infused with thrilling tension. --Shahina Piyarali
Shelf Talker: Set in Pakistan, with scenes at a U.S. college campus, this contemporary epic expands superbly on themes of ambition and betrayal introduced in the author's award-winning short story collection.