Invitation by Shehryar Fazli

Previously published in the Herald magazine. 

Shehryar Fazli’s debut novel has made a timely appearance on the current Pakistani literary scene. There are many things Invitation is, but first, it is important to note what it is not. It is not about 9/11, terrorism or someone from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  It is not about week long weddings or funerals or fasting or praying or jihad. Fazli doesn’t really fit the mould of what the world has come to accept as ‘popular’ Pakistani literature in English and this is always welcome.

Invitation is self assured and well thought out story set in pre-prohibitionKarachi in the 70s, a city abuzz with cabarets, bars, parties, drugs, sexuality, political intrigue and possibility. The protagonist is a young man who has returned to the city of his birth after 19 years of his father’s exile forced him away toParis. Shahbaz returns toKarachi ostensibly in an attempt to settle matters concerning a family owned orchard. He wants very much to have the good life, the life he didn’t have in Paris as an immigrant, and the life he feels would have lived had he remained in Karachi; the life that was owed to him.

Of course, Shahbaz is still very much out of sorts inKarachi, not able to settle into the ‘right’ society immediately, not knowing how things are done, not knowing just how to read and understand the people he meets. He can’t speak the language well, so he does not understand the nuances; he can not eat with his hands as the true Karachiites do. Fazli’s protagonist searches for belonging, but perhaps is uncertain of what that truly means. Even though he wants very much to simply slide into a perfect fit with the city, he is weakened by his rootlessness – unable to come to informed decisions, he tends to not  make any at all, moving along with the flow of things instead, unwilling to risk facing the changing tides. Shahbaz’ sweaty nervousness makes him an unlikely protagonist - his cowardice stops him from being a hero, but it also makes him an interesting narrator.

The tone of Invitation initially feels a little distant – cold even. But as the narrative sets in, this begins to makes complete sense: the narrator himself is exactly this – distant and disassociated from the world he wants to inhabit fully. The book tends towards a hardboiled sort of style (Kamila Shamsie calls it ‘Karachi noir’ in her blurb), which is something Karachi in the 70s lends itself perfectly to. There are corrupt policemen and well connected ex-army officers, a potentially insane aunt, an Egyptian dancer who oozes sexuality and a pair of vaguely threatening and disturbingly comic Jamaat e Islami members. There is even a resourceful midget. Karachi of the 70s is a mythic place for many of Fazli’s generation, but many people for whom it was a reality may question before reading if Invitation does justice to that era of Pakistani history. They will probably all be placated though, because it is clear Fazli has done his research, and more importantly he captures the mood and the feel of a youthful city, one still uncertain of its future.

Invitation will leave its reader with a sense of openness and longing. The story is restricted to two cities, Karachi and Paris, and it clear that between the two that it is Karachi that resonates with an unnerving sense of low decibel tensions in wide open spaces, an uncanny feeling of youth and potential, longing and uncertainty. Invitation’sKarachi is not over crowded or confused or angry, it is young and ripe with possibilities.