Fabulous anthology of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. The inferior pieces are balanced by overpowering stories and accounts. A must-read for anyone with an interest in South Asian writing.

A rockstar journal covering an urgent and important topic. Not to be missed.

I think everyone needs to read this. No, really. This small but dense volume brings home the realities, the hopes and dreams, the desperation, the creativity, the complexity of modern Pakistan in a way that lurid news stories about "Islamization" and the Taliban never can. It contains a myriad of explorations--fictional, journalistic, poetic, artistic--of what it means to be Pakistani. It was at times frightening, at times inspiring, but I came out of it feeling like I have a much greater unders...

This "magazine" consists of several talented authors, commentators and journalists. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this mix of writing voices and mediums. It's a great way to learn some about Pakistan and the region. I will say that Nadeem Aslam remains my wholehearted favorite. His writing, on so many levels, is pure joy and makes reading an absolute perfect activity.

Wonderful selection of work, mainly by Pakistani writers but also a few pieces by writers familiar with Pakistan. Many of the authors are well-known but there are several unknowns, as well as some translations.

I've only read "The Beheading," a harrowing short story. Love the photography and the colorful artwork on the cover. Need to read more.

outstanding

The subscription was a very welcome Christmas present (thanks, Mum...) I very much like the idea of a collection of writings: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photo-journalism, around a common theme. The highlights included the short story about a young woman kept as a virtual prisoner by a Machiavellian local politician, stories of Pakistan's pre-Al Haq pop scene(an aspect of the country I knew absolutely nothing of) and the poem about a plane coming in to land. Moreover, nothing in this editio...

Fascinating anthology. 'Leila in The Wilderness' touched a cord within me about the backwardness of obstetrical practice in countries like India and Pakistan where superstition still has most poeple tightly in its grip. The very fact that the characters don't know (or won't believe) that the gender of the new-born infant depends solely upon the man's ejaculation demonstrates the backwardness of their highly-chauvinistic belief system. The story on the Sheedi community by Fatima Bhutto also left

My favorite was "Ice, Mating" by Uzma Aslam Khan. I had read her novels Trespassing and The Geometry of God already; after reading this, I remain a true fan. (Some of the art in this granta edition was nice too.)

I enjoyed this issue of Granta way more than expected. This year I've been doing ok at expanding my reading horizons a bit further beyond my beloved American literature and I think this Granta came at the right moment.This issue has too many pieces that I liked. So, at the risk of not narrowing down enough, here we go with my long list of special mentions:- Leila in the Wilderness by Nadeem Aslam -- Opening short story of the issue. Also how I got to know Aslam for the first time.- Portrait of J...

I read the first piece, "Leila in the Wilderness" by Nadeem Aslam, last. It is a beautiful piece of magical realism whose story harkened back to the pieces, fiction, memoir and reporting, I'd read before. I guess if I read the Granta from beginning to end, it would have foreshadowed the pieces that followed. This was a collection of works, prose, poetry and graphic arts that offered a deep look into Pakistan. I was engrossed.

3.5 stars Every Pakistani MUST read Leila in the Wilderness by Nadim Aslam (titular story). It is absolutely mind-blowing and why I even read the rest of the stories. But every other work featured pales in comparison to the beauty of the first story. Definitely a must read

The Granta collection is a carefully edited, multi-facet read. It includes stories and essay, poetry and photography. And the cheerful, colorful cover itself gives the read a different tune, even though some of the stories are painful and tragic. But it also includes an amazing story about the mountains of Pakistan: "Ice, Mating" by Uzma Aslam Khan, about creating a glacier: ""After five winters, the ice blocks - one male, one female - would begin to creep downhill, growing into a natural glacie...

Interesting issue of Granta. When I started reading it, I was irritated by the characters of the mother and son in the first story, Leila in the Wilderness, so much so that I had to abandon the issue for a period of time. However, when I came back to begin reading the issue again, the story picked up its pace and proved more interesting with its mystical realism-like ending although those two characters continued to be so corrupt, self-serving, downright evil through out the remainder of the sto...

Granta,the British quarterly,published a Pakistan edition in 2010. It includes the work of some well known Pakistani writers,some history,some poetry and a look at terror attacks,that were taking place at the time. Also has some interesting photographs,and artwork.Mohsin Hamid's short story,A Beheading,is the best piece of fiction here. (It was written at the time,when the Taliban were actually beheading people). Fatima Bhutto's essay bored me. Basharat Peer's article,Kashmir's Forever War,was i...

A few very good stories but the rest was hard going.

When I began the first story in this issue, Nadeem Aslam's "Leila in the Wilderness," it felt eerily familiar. It happens that I had recently read Krupabai Satthianadhan's Kamala: The Story of a Hindu Child-Wife, a relentlessly grim 19th century realist novel about a child-bride oppressed by her husband's family. Though Leila is Muslim, rather than Hindu, the story began the same way -- a bride in her early teens, beaten for producing girl babies (who mysteriously disappear) and continually brow...

Memorable QuotesLeila in the Wilderness – Nadeem Aslam“The divide wasn’t just on the surface: an ‘underground wall’ – delving to the depth of fifteen feet – kept the dishonourable corpses separate from the honourable ones.”“The strength with which a molar holds on to the jaw when you have it extracted is as nothing to the strength with which the soul is attached to the body. When they begin to tear away from each other, the torment is unbearable.”“Allah in His wisdom gave us five external senses...

I liked this book, I did. The essays in particular, most of which I'd already read somewhere but enjoyed re-reading(Portrait of Jinnah by Jane Pelrez ended too abruptly for me but loved Declan Walsh's Arithmetic on the Frontier)BUT maybe one day I'll be able to read about brown men with a hankering for white women without grimacing and find some kind of significance in it, and maybe I'll be able to read one of Nadeem Aslam's novels/stories and be able to tell them apart, and maybe Hari Kunzru is...