FICTION

Home Fire

by Kamila Shamsie
Riverhead. Aug. 2017. 288p. ISBN 9780735217683. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780735217706. F
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This latest from London-based Shamsie (God in Every Stone) depicts the lives of three Pakistani siblings from Great Britain, responsible older sister Isma and her younger siblings, brother-and-sister twins Parvaiz and Aneeka. After their mother's death, Isma spent seven years helping raise the younger children and now resides in the United States, where she is pursuing her PhD. At 19, the twins are on their own paths. Parvaiz, who harbors the secret of having a jihadist father, is befriended by the son of a man who was acquainted with him and in an effort to learn more about the father he never knew soon finds himself following in his father's footsteps. When Aneeka tries to help him, concerned for his safety, a twist of fate entangles her with Eamonn, a man to whom her sister is attracted.
VERDICT Written with great fluidity, Shamsie's work imaginatively addresses the issues of identity, culture, politics, religion, and nationalism in an absorbing story. Definite fodder for book groups, this well-crafted relational novel is at times hauntingly disturbing and will easily generate much discussion.
Reviewed by Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA , Aug 04, 2017
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