BOOK REVIEW
The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi
Ali Sethi’s The Wish Maker serves as a time capsule for 1990s family life in Lahore, Pakistan. Making a wish Pakistani style means doing it yourself.
Instead of burying a box of lipstick and pens in a yard, he etches onto pulp. If Sethi upset the universe in any way by moving far from home to Boston, then he realigns it with his debut novel. The honest prose brings immediate familiarity with Lahore while making Boston sound more and more exotic. Meet the protagonists trustworthy Zaki Shirazi, his bighearted cousin Samar Api and his devoted grandmother Daadi. They all give and take from each other with unwavering love. Zaki and Samar keep each other's promises and secrets; their spicy conversation serves lime with marsala. Daadi holds her family together through the ruins of corruption and martial law; flashbacks to her distinct memories compel the narrative. As Samar would say, this book is "bloody amazing!" and you will be in "Ell Oh Vee Ee." So wrap a dupatta around your shoulders, jump into a rickshaw to your nearest book stall and go grab this book.