Exploring Pakistan's Complexity: A Journey Through its Nine Lives

Taranvir Singh: Almost true account of the past and current condition of one of the diverse country where people of different faiths and culture live. Good to read and understand about our neighbouring country. Good job buy the author. Looking forward for more work from the same author about other neighbouring countries...

India on Feb 14, 2024

saad s.: As expected

Germany on Jun 19, 2023

Dhiraj Chopra: Very interestingly written book, providing multiple colours of the country, its diverse people, culture, history, beliefs, traditions etc. Very good non fiction work, especially for readers who are eager to know about multiple variables prevailing in this diversified region.

India on Apr 22, 2023

John R. Dykers, Jr. MD: The author used his good looks and charm to have the ladies of Pakistan introduce him to their own intrigues and to the men in their orbits who devastated the country as well as those who struggled to make Pakistan functional. You feel like you have ridden in the truck and had tea at the table with Pakistanis from the peasantry to the crime lords to the Presidency to the hit men. Then the reality strikes you how much each is like the other.

United States on Jan 02, 2023

orla phillips: A wonderful review of Pakistan and the fabrics that make up its troubled and checkered past, present and gives hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

United States on Jul 12, 2022

Robert B: I liked Walsh's writing style. Although loaded with details, the stories are read fast. His personal inputs are also funny and smartly told.

United States on Jan 03, 2022

Dave: An excellent book on the history and politics of Pakistan interweaved with the experiences of the decade that Declan Walsh spent in the country as a journalist. Declan describes his travels through the country and the larger than life characters that he comes across, as well as the reach of the Pakistani intelligence service and Pakistan's fraught relationship with India from Partitian to the present day. A must-read book for those interested in South Asian / Pakistani history and politics, you won't be disappointed.

United Kingdom on Apr 23, 2021

RTM: The author, a New York Times reporter formerly based in Pakistan, gives the reader a hodgepodge of his personal experiences, recent events, and historical background about this country. My overall reaction was "Is it really this bad?". Pakistan was cursed with serious political, religious and cultural schisms, as well as incompetent government, from its birth as a country, and these problems have only festered over time. The author travels throughout the country, and describes his encounters with people on many sides of the various conflicts, including bureaucrats, political figures, military officers, and religious leaders. He finds little agreement about fundamental issues of national identity. Some indications of this unfortunately still exist, including "honor" killings of women, persecution of Christians, paranoia about India, and widespread corruption. The national government's love/hate relationship with Islamic radicals continues. As someone with little previous knowledge about this country, I learned a lot from this book. My only criticism is that the author often shifts perspectives in time and place, making his book sometimes confusing to read.

United States on Apr 05, 2021

Muhammad A. Quddus: The book is a work of art. It begins with covering the founding father. In America, the American founding is crystal clear. In Pakistan, as the book makes it clear, Mr. Jinnah remains a mystery. To his admirers, his Jeffersonian ideals should had been obvious to any casual observers. The fact that they are not drive them mad. All nine chapters show that Pakistan lacks the intellectual soil to absorb the ideals Mr. Jinnah had enunciated. For example, in a school in Quetta, the students read A for Allah, J for Jihad and C for collision. The collision is presented with a picture of two American planes colliding the twin towers in New York in 2001. Its not just how Pakistan treats violence and cruelty with casualness but actively promotes religious hate. No need to wait for the Red mosque siege in 2007 in the following chapter. The cleric of the Red mosque admires Che Guvera and Fidel Castro. First three chapters set the theme of the book and the theme is of the absence of the intellectual content. The journalist ought to be praised for keeping his center intact among the headless people.

United States on Jan 02, 2021

Fred in TO: An amazing, amazing book. Declan goes right to the heart of Pakistan.

Canada on Dec 11, 2020