So with fatigue in mind let's get to it. This debut short story collection, now available in trade paperback, is in my top five for the year. Don't ask me to put the exact number. Just know that I am very excited to see what Mr. Mueenuddin can do next.
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN: 0393337200. Trade Paperback. $13.95. By clicking on the book's image above and purchasing a copy of Mueenuddin's debut novel you will support the Devil's Accountant and W.W. Norton, a wonderful publisher. Too contrived?
As a former bookseller I have been allowed to know the reader at their most critical moment: when they are deciding whether or not to buy a book.
It is on those lines that I have over time classified readers by their prejudices more than their predilections.
Such a list is for another time, however. Instead here I'd like to briefly mention my least favorite brand of reader.
The reader of nonfiction alone.
This reader will often remark (casually mind you) that if they actually find time to read something (implying how little time they have to spare) they would prefer it to be true. Sidestepping the comically large discussion of “What is truth?” I will instead make their argument for them.
Indeed, I am nothing if not cordial.
They want information. That is essentially it. This specie of reader desires to learn something, which is certainly a noble task worth their precious time. What they fail to realize or tolerate is the notion that sometimes there is in fiction much of what is known as “truth” and information that otherwise might have been difficult or irresponsible to convey under the heading of nonfiction.
Daniyal Mueenuddin has written just such a work of fiction. Mueenuddin was born and spent his early childhood in Pakistan. He moved to the U.S. with his family and lived in the States through his college education at Dartmouth and Yale Law School. He then returned to Pakistan to live on his father’s farm in southern Punjab. He and his wife still live in Pakistan and manage a small farm.
This collection of short stories, which is his first published book, was gleaned form his experiences working on farms in Pakistan in his youth and adulthood.
Because of this he draws fully realized character portraits, with both internal psychic insight and external socio-political observation. It does this at a very impressive level, making me suspect that Mueenuddin may have a lifetime of writing stories ahead of him. Hopefully he does.
The first story tells the tale of a hardworking, mechanically minded peasant working for a wealthy landowner in Punjab. Because of his huge family and the responsibility that that entails this electrician, named Nawabdin, has need to make extra money. So he, for a small fee, will rig the electric meters to move slower than normal. Thus the name of this entry.
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is nothing short of spectacular, especially considering it is a debut work. Stretching the definition of “collection” versus joining the unified plotting of a novel, these overlapping stories instantly call to mind the tales in Joyce’s Dubliners. Just as Joyce’s work teaches the reader of the Irish middle class as it existed a hundred years ago, so does Mueenuddin’s stories inform us of the existences of people living at various social strata in rural Pakistan. The aspirations and struggles of each character come to life and form deeply convincing portraits of people.
There is much by way of humor in this book, but there is more by way of cruelty, as sexism and social inequality are commonplace in Pakistan. In his light hand (he is a tremendously convincing storyteller), Mueenuddin draws characters so realistically that the reader can’t help but hurt, hope and desire as they do. We learn not only of the big picture items like politics, economy, religion, civic rights and gender issues but also of the smaller daily items like cuisine, human mannerisms and that most common of all human traits, aspirations.
A book of nonfiction lacks the audacity to describe the motivations of a young woman to take an older lover so that she can maintain employment. It cannot plumb the slow usurping of power from a feudal landowner by his competent peasant land manager. It cannot capture the emotions of a maid as she massages the feet and legs of her master or his indecision concerning his lust for her. Nonfiction’s greatest power is that of its protocols, namely that there is a certain set of criteria that need to be met in order to allow a work to be successfully called “not-fiction.” We don’t want a lot of conjecture in a work of history. Yet a work labeled “fiction” can contain many truths and lessons, particularly for an outsider looking in on a very different culture. This is of course, despite a lack of protocols.
Despite the extreme differences between the “West” and the “East” of In Other Rooms the most evocative aspect of this collection might be the commonalities between people no matter where they call home. In any case, I dare someone who “hasn’t the time for fiction” to read this tremendous debut collection and not learn something about the culture of the southern Punjab.
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