Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz

 

Normally during November I don’t ready anything written by anyone else.  I’m afraid I will unconsciously pick up a scene, a phrase or a style that will influence my NaNoWriMo project.  One book I’ve been reading this month is Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz. From the book jacket:

Ali Eteraz’s Children of Dust is a spellbinding portrayal of a life that few Americans can imagine. From his schooling in a madrassa in Pakistan to his teenage years as a Muslim American in the Bible Belt, and back to Pakistan to find a pious Muslim wife, this lyrical, penetrating saga from a brilliant new literary voice captures the heart of our universal quest for identity.

Children of Dust is separated into several different sections.  I am still reading the first section when his family is still in Pakistan.  The fairy tale quality evident in Chapter One continues through this section.  The words convey a fondness for this time in Eteraz’s life.  It pulls the reader into the story through the universal experiences of children raised by loving family members.

Even though his parents are sometimes apart, the young Eteraz understands it is out of necessity.  His father is constantly trying to improve the income of the family.  This requires working elsewhere at times.  The emphasis on his father’s struggles foreshadow the second section about his family’s move to America.

The book has been slow reading for me but not because of the writing or the chronology.  Reading has been a reward for me in the evenings or something I’ve been able to do while on my lunch break at work.  This is a miniature review of what I’ve read to date and a more comprehensive review will follow later.  My thanks go out to FSB Associates for providing me a copy of the book for review.